Amber Thomas

I'm a data-lover, story-teller, and pro question asker. Fun things on the internet are my jam.

Senior Journalist-Engineer at The Pudding

Person sitting on stack of paper-back books

project

Hipster Summer Reading List

June 24 2019 • 1 min read

Forget the books that everyone is reading. Here are 200+ books that no one has checked out from the Seattle Public Library in a decade.

d3.js, The Pudding
Pug dog wrapped in a beige blanket on a bed, looking sad.

post

Dear Career Switchers: You are not a Failure

June 2 2019 • 10 min read

I have always struggled with failure. Switching careers brought that back full force. Here's what I learned along the way.

failure, random thoughts

project

Sing My Name

May 23 2019 • 1 min read

How many artists sing about you (or at least, your namesake)?

d3.js, data viz, The Pudding
Person out of focus, with smaller image visible through camera lens held in hand

project

Colorism in High Fashion

April 24 2019 • 1 min read

We looked at 19 years of covers to find how Vogue magazine represents women of all shades.

The Pudding, d3.js, data viz
Person in orange jacket with flowered cap holding basketball above head about to shoot into hoop.

project

How many High School Stars Make it in the NBA?

March 4 2019 • 1 min read

Every year the top high school basketball recruits get hyped up. How often do they pan out?

d3.js, The Pudding
Woman in black sports bra wraps measuring tape around her hand.

project

The Sexualized Messages Dress Codes are Sending to Students

February 7 2019 • 2 min read

What we learned about sexualization from analyzing 481 high school dress code policies.

d3.js, text analysis, The Pudding
BTS performing "Fake Love" at Seoul Music Awards, 15 January 2019

project

Internet Boy Band Database

November 27 2018 • 2 min read

Every boy band to chart the Hot 100 since 1980, rendered as adorable, data-driven, dancing illustrations.

d3.js, lottie, The Pudding
iPhone sticking half way out of back pocket of jeans, while woman looks at mountains in distance

project

Women’s Pockets are Inferior

August 15 2018 • 2 min read

If you wear women's clothes, you already know this. But now we've got the data to show it.

d3.js, The Pudding
multicolored condoms aligned on a table

project

Let’s Talk About Birth Control

July 17 2018 • 1 min read

There's no TMI here, just 20,000 people talking about their experiences with contraception.

d3.js, The Pudding
Unfocused image of young boy playing Jenga by stacking blocks

post

Making Data Viz Without SVG Using D3 & Flexbox

July 6 2018 • 2 min read

Bye bye tricky SVG alignments.

The Pudding, d3.js, flexbox
three makeup brushes on top of compact powders

project

The Diversity of Makeup Shades

June 14 2018 • 1 min read

Rihanna's Fenty Beauty is a champion for makeup inclusivity. But how do other brands across the US and the world compare?

d3.js, The Pudding
Leaning stack of chocolate chip cookies, next to a glass of milk, on a white table.

project

Baking the Most Average Chocolate Chip Cookie

May 10 2018 • 1 min read

Cookie recipes written by computers. What could go wrong?

d3.js, The Pudding, text analysis
Orange cat sleeping inside fluffy white pet bed

post

Making Multi-Argument Functions & Data Frames Purrr

March 26 2018 • 5 min read

Using the purrr package to iterate over lots of values and return a data frame.

purrr, R
Photo of the space needle against a purple and orange sky.

project

A Tale of Two Cities

March 21 2018 • 1 min read

Using data and our own experiences to write love letters to the cities we call home.

d3.js, maps, The Pudding
Pen resting on postcard on table

project

Greetings from Mars

February 1 2018 • 1 min read

Exploring today's weather on Mars and in your area through postcard correspondance with the Curiosity Rover.

d3.js, data viz, The Pudding
zoomed in keyboard with pink key with heart on it

project

10 Things Everyone Hates About You

December 4 2017 • 1 min read

Exploring over 30 million feelings towards 3,000+ topics using data from a dating app

data viz, The Pudding, d3.js

post

Adding Syntax Highlighting to Blogdown Posts

November 15 2017 • 7 min read

My journey into making the code in my blog posts colorful

blogdown, R, tutorial

project

How Far is Too Far?

September 8 2017 • 1 min read

An analysis of driving times to abortion clinics in the US

d3.js, maps, The Pudding
two women embraced and laughing

project

She Giggles, He Gallops

August 22 2017 • 1 min read

Analyzing gender tropes in film with screen direction from 2,000 scripts.

d3.js, The Pudding
A burger on a white plate on a large white table

project

Table for One

July 27 2017 • 1 min read

The dining habits and companions of Americans.

d3.js, The Pudding
Silhouetted people of various ages stare into aquarium at several dolphins underwater

project

Free Willy and Flipper by the Numbers

July 6 2017 • 1 min read

The past, present, and future of captive whales and dolphins according to data and pop culture.

d3.js, The Pudding, data viz
Blurred image of infant feet.

project

The Timing of Baby Making

May 24 2017 • 1 min read

Are more babies born after storms? Or superbowl wins? We investigate the data on timing and geography of births in the US.

d3.js, The Pudding, data viz
Pink, yellow, and green dyed eggs sit in their own individual small nests.

post

Nesting and Accessing Data in D3v4

May 2 2017 • 17 min read

My explorations of d3's nesting functions

d3.js, tutorial
Two film reels against a patterned background

project

Gender Parity and Dialogue in 2016’s Highest Grossing Films

January 7 2017 • 22 min read

Text parsing, analytics, and d3.js interactive data visualization of movie transcripts

text analysis, R, d3.js

project

Mapping Student Course Activity

December 27 2016 • 51 min read

Exploring the courses taken and performance of 103,091 Free Code Camp students.

R, machine learning, data viz

post

Making a Website Using Blogdown, Hugo, and GitHub Pages.

December 19 2016 • 23 min read

Wonder how I set up this website using just GitHub pages, Hugo, and RStudio package blogdown? This tutorial walks you through every step.

tutorial, blogdown, github
Hands resting on MacBook keyboard

post

Online Data Science Classes

December 17 2016 • 8 min read

A list of the data science courses I've taken, my ratings on them, and comments for future learners.

R, courses
selective focus photography of three brown puppies

project

Dog Ownership in Seattle

November 16 2016 • 21 min read

Cleaning, exploring, and mapping dog ownership data in Seattle

R, maps, data viz, data cleaning
Orange and purple bike leaning against a white brick wall

project

Bicycle Sharing in Seattle

November 10 2016 • 28 min read

Exploring the usage of Pronto! ridesharing bikes in Seattle

maps, data viz, R

project

Ghosts, Goblins, and Ghouls

November 9 2016 • 12 min read

Data exploration and machine learning in RMarkdown for a Kaggle Playground Competition.

data viz, machine learning, R
Blurred image of a ship on the water.

project

Machine Learning from Disaster

November 5 2016 • 18 min read

Data exploration and machine learning in RMarkdown for a Kaggle playground competition.

data viz, machine learning, R