• Dea Bankova Graphics Journalist, Reuters News & Media

• Sawako Shirahase TCJS Director

In my work, I use data visualization and data art, combined with analysis and machine learning as a means to facilitate an exchange of information, ideas, and even emotions with the audience. Between 2020 and 2021, I worked at the Watanave Lab on several projects that explore topics unique to Japan, and in this talk, I will showcase a few, as well as discuss the creation process (analysis, design decisions, and story). Specifically, I will discuss a project with Watanave Lab and Iwate Nippo to create a digital archive of thoughts and experiences of survivors of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, and a separate visualization of the biggest earthquakes in recent Japanese history. I will also present a personal data art project that explores Japanese anime over the past 50 years from the point of view of international fans. Time permitting, I will demo other creative visualization work.

Dea Bankova is currently a Graphics Journalist at Reuters on the EMEA desk in London, UK. Previously, she worked as Project Researcher at the Watanave Hidenori lab at the University of Tokyo, as well as an independent data visualization consultant. Her interests are in interactive and creative visualization. She also has experience working in machine learning in the UK at Microsoft and a data science start-up company. She obtained her Master’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Oxford in 2015. Dea is originally from Bulgaria and the UK. She has been interested in Japan for many years and lived in Tokyo from 2019-2021.