Coffee & Viz: Visualizing the Microbial Ecology of Sourdough Starters

In 2016, the Public Science lab (led by Rob Dunn in Applied Ecology at NC State) launched the Sourdough Project, an effort to characterize the microbial diversity associated with sourdough starters across the globe. We partnered with researchers at UC-Boulder and Tufts University to collect and analyze 500 sourdough starters from 17 countries. In addition to discovering novel patterns in microbial membership and function across sourdough starters, we also discovered that bakers—the people who grow and tend sourdough starters—are uniquely attentive to their microbial gardens; and their collective observations, anecdotes, and questions greatly enriched our research. But how to report our findings effectively to our stakeholders?

In this presentation, Erin McKenney will share the different goals and strategies associated with designing effective data visualizations for publication versus public education.

This event is part of the NC State University Libraries on-going Coffee & Viz series. Attendees will be entered into a drawing to receive (via mail) their choice of a coffee bag or tea tin and a mug from locally-owned sweet shop Anisette.

This event will also be streamed live from our Twitch page. Anyone can watch the livestream, and if you have a free Twitch account, you can send your questions and comments in the live chat.