Netflix and Dataviz

My first Wired post on is now live. I look at some of the ways that Netflix uses information and dataviz in interesting ways. Here's an excerpt:

In a data-driven environment like Netflix, data visualization plays a key role. It must. In The Visual Organization, I offer the following definition of data visualization. Dataviz signifies the practice of representing data through visual and often interactive means. An individual dataviz represents information after it been abstracted in some schematic form. Finally, contemporary data visualization technologies are capable of incorporating what we now call Big Data.

According to its corporate blog, Netflix considers data visualization to be of paramount importance. Many of Netflix’s major systems contain significant dataviz components. And, like other Visual Organizations covered in this section, Netflix uses data-visualization tools on a continuous basis, not occasionally. That is, Netflix employees routinely look to existing dataviz tools to tweak algorithms, garner new insights, and solve pressing business issues.

I've been writing quite a bit about Netflix lately. Here's a post that I wrote about how the company employs people to watch and rate movies in a very specific way.

To read the whole thing, click here.