The plots for this comic were created in R using ggplot2‘s geom_rect and coord_polar commands. This may have been accompanied by a little bit of swearing. When the swearing increased, it was handed over to Jess to redo the text, fix the colours, and improve the formatting.
There is a tendency for academics to have terrible diagrams and graphs. But as use of programs like R increases, we’re slowly seeing fewer “screenshots of excel” or “unformatted SPSS output” graphs. It also helps that libraries are stocking The Visual Display of Quantitative Information and websites like Information is Beautiful and /r/dataisbeautiful are popularising infographics and more interesting diagrams.
It’s been fun to work together to design these graphs, although searching for tips on creating ring plots reveals several warnings telling you that you’re probably an idiot for not choosing a different graph format.
Mid-Term Project Report
Name: Prof Panda
Designation: Professor of Pandology
Role in Project: Principal Investigator. Responsible for coordinating research plan and "managing" a certain Co-PI.
Time allocated to project: 10%
Prof Panda's Timesheet Analysis Inner Ring:
Meetings = 90%
Administration = 5%
Teaching = 2%
Keynote Speeches = 2%
Research = 1%
Prof Panda's Timesheet Analysis Outer Ring:
Research Meetings, = 10%
Departmental Meetings = 10%
Faculty Meetings = 10%
University Meetings = 10%
Funding Meetings, = 5%
Meetings about Meetings = 5%
Ethics Committee Meetings = 5%
Ethics Meetings about Dr Mad = 15%
Administration Meetings = 20%
Panel 2.
Name: Dr Mad
Designation: Assistant Professor (Research)
Role in Project: Co-Investigator. Responsible for groundbreaking research that will change the world!
Time allocated to project: 25%
Dr Mad's Timesheet Analysis Inner Ring:
AMAZING RESEARCH OF DOOM = 50%
Tedious Interactions = 40%
Avoiding Teaching = 5%
Making PhD Students Panic = 5%
Dr Mad's Timesheet Analysis Outer Ring:
Creating Monsters to do my bidding = 10%
Fighting Monsters that do not do my bidding = 12%
Disciplinary Hearings = 20%
Networking = 5%
Pointless Meetings = 15%
NOTE: That monster was not my fault - Dr Mad
Panel 3.
Name: Kit
Designation: PhD Student
Role in Project: Project Student. Responsible for researching whatever the professors decide is important.
Time allocated to project: 100%
Kit's Timesheet Analysis Inner Ring
Existential Dread = 5%
Crying = 5%
Worrying = 5%
Battling Imposter Syndrome = 5%
Thesis Writing = 60%
Experiments = 20%
Kit's Timesheet Analysis Outer Ring
Staring at PC = 5%
Panic Writing = 5%
Failed Experiments = 18%
Successful Experiments = 2%
NOTE: NORMAL