Sharon Machlis
Executive Editor, Data & Analytics
Sharon Machlis is Director of Editorial Data & Analytics at Foundry (the IDG, Inc. company that publishes websites including Computerworld and InfoWorld), where she analyzes data, codes in-house tools, and writes about data analysis tools and tips. She holds an Extra class amateur radio license and is somewhat obsessed with R. Her book Practical R for Mass Communication and Journalism was published by CRC Press.
PDF to Excel conversion: Your ultimate guide to the best tools
Need to extract data from PDF files into a spreadsheet so you can analyze it? Find out how seven PDF to Excel conversion tools fared in head-to-head tests with increasingly complex data sources.
Beginner's guide to R: Syntax quirks you'll want to know
Why x=3 doesn't always mean what you think it should, about data types and more.
Great R packages for data import, wrangling, and visualization
Here are my go-to R packages — in a handy searchable table.
How Slack, Airtable and open-source software connected New Yorkers during the pandemic
Astoria Mutual Aid Network uses Slack, Airtable, and geocoding to match those needing help with neighbors who can assist. It's now available to other groups.
DataCamp CEO steps down indefinitely in wake of 'inappropriate behavior'
Following an uproar in the R community over what was seen as an inadequate response by the company — including increasing calls to avoid the platform — the CEO and its board spoke out today.
R community blasts DataCamp response to exec's 'inappropriate behavior'
RStudio, satRdays, and some instructors themselves are cutting ties with the online education company because they say DataCamp's response to the incident has been inadequate.
4 data wrangling tasks in R for advanced beginners
R is mighty, but it can be complex for data tasks. Learn how to get summaries, sort and do other tasks with relative ease. (Now updated with dplyr examples.)
Google will shut down Fusion Tables
After more than a decade in service, Google's easy-to-use cloud visualization service is being shuttered.
Useful R functions you might not know
One of the best way to find cool, new-to-you R functions is to see what other useRs have uncovered. Here are some of mine -- and yours.
Top R language resources to improve your data skills
From books to videos to online tutorials -- most free! -- here are plenty of ideas to burnish your R knowledge.
These R packages import sports, weather, stock data and more
Want to look at salary trends? Check a stock's price history? Look at the performance of your favorite sports team? Here's how to easily pull publicly available data into R.