The R-Podcast Episode 8: Visualization with ggplot2

I’m happy to present this jam-packed episode of the R-Podcast dedicated to using the ggplot2 package for visualization. This episode will have a companion screencast released in the next few days. I use data from the Hockey Summary Project to demonstrate how to create a series of boxplots of NHL regular season attendance for each team. The R code used in this episode will be available via GitHub. I also extend my thanks to the Going Linux podcast for plugging the R-Podcast. If you are interested in providing a listener tip about R, please call the voicemail hotline at +1-269-849-9780 or record an audio clip and send it to theRcast(at)gmail.com. Please keep the wonderful feedback coming and hope you enjoy this episode!

The following resources are mentioned in this episode:

• The Going Linux Podcast: http://www.goinglinux.com
• Hockey Summary Project: http://hsp.flyershistory.com/
• Plot Code on GitHub: https://github.com/thercast/nhl_analysis/blob/master/src/plot_demo_code.R
• The R Inferno: http://www.burns-stat.com/pages/Tutor/R_inferno.pdf
• Cookbook for R by Winston Chang: http://wiki.stdout.org/rcookbook
• ggplot2 0.90 Transition Guide: http://cloud.github.com/downloads/hadley/ggplot2/guide-col.pdf
• ggplot2 online reference: http://had.co.nz/ggplot2/
• ggplot2 GitHub wiki: https://github.com/hadley/ggplot2/wiki/
• ggplot2 blog: http://blog.ggplot2.org/
• ggplot2 mailing list: https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/ggplot2
• Kaplan-Meier Survival Plot with ggplot2: http://mcfromnz.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/kaplan-meier-survival-plot-with-at-risk-table/
• Learning R Series: http://learnr.wordpress.com/2009/06/28/ggplot2-version-of-figures-in-lattice-multivariate-data-visualization-with-r-part-1/
• Code A La Mode ggplot2 articles: http://codealamode.blogspot.com/search/label/ggplot2
• ggplot2 textbook by Hadley Wickham: http://tinyurl.com/ggplot2-book
• Theme music provided by WillRock from the Return All Robots Remix Album at ocremix.org
• The closing theme is entitled “The Way” and provided by Jewbei from the Wild Arms: ARMed and Dangerous album at ocremix.org

Episode 8 Time Stamps

00:00 The R-Podcast #008 Visualization with ggplot2
00:34 Introduction
01:45 Thank you Going Linux
05:01 Listener feedback
14:14 ggplot2 background and philosophy
23:00 Description of data 
30:20 Setting up our plot with ggplot function
38:15 Adding boxplot layer
44:31 Customizing appearance
60:35 Facet by era
67:02 Making code reproducible
73:03 Helpful ggplot2 resources
85:30 Wrapping up: subscribe to the podcast, theRcast@gmail.com, + 1-269-849-9780, Twitter @theRcast
89:29 End