Andrew Odewahn is the CTO of O'Reilly Media, where he helps define and
create new products, services, and business models that will help O'Reilly continue to make the transition to an increasingly digital future. The
author of two books on database development, he has experience as a software developer and consultant in a number of industries, including
manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and publishing. Andrew has an MBA from New York University and a degree in Computer Science from the University of
Alabama. He's also thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine.
The Health 2.0 / MAKE Developer Challenge is happening this weekend, Feb 19th, in Boston. If you haven't signed up already, register now, because it's filling up fast. read more
Following on their success last year, Health 2.0 is hosting code-a-thons in three cities as part of their Developer Challenge: San Francisco, CA on January 29th, Washington, D.C. on February 12th, and Boston, MA on February 19th. O'Reilly and Maker Media are co-sponsoring the Boston event by bringing in a… read more
After launching just over a year ago with only 47 data sets, the Data.gov catalog now has 2,326 entries that have been collectively downloaded almost three-quarters of a million times. Of course, even these sizable download counts understate the actual impact of this data, which is being embedded in a… read more
There's nothing wrong with taking a strong position, assuming the underlying data and facts are accurate. But it's important for the audience to recognize it as advocacy, not as strict science, even when it comes wrapped in a really cool visualization. read more
The App Store has exposed incumbents in the mobile industry to the same sort of asymmetric competition that has reshaped the media industry over the past decade. Developers are responding in droves to the economic incentives that lower barriers to entry create, as well as the fact that the App… read more
The addition of animation and interactivity breathes new life -- and insight -- into a Senate voting visualization. Andrew Odewahn discusses his visualization process and how revisions made a big difference. read more
Basic product attribute questions (what's the best price, size, length, etc) are crucial elements in any product or marketing strategy, but it's often too difficult or expensive to get timely market information. However, a quick script that pulls data from a relevant website's API can often give you an answer… read more
Arlen Specter's party switch was big news, but a quick visualization technique shows it was a long time coming. What other surprises might lurk in the Senate Social graph? read more
Business research usually starts with a list -- brands, competitors, people, products, whatever. This post describes a quick Python script that uses the Google Search API to automate the routine parts of the task, giving you more time to analyze and understand the results. read more
To help make the most of this week's Web 2.0 Summit, I wanted to understand the overall audience gestalt - what are the broad themes, interests, and ideas that are important to the people going to the conference? A tag cloud can be a great (but admittedly imperfect!) way to… read more