Ravenwood Studios

Alexandre Bovey

About

About

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us

Gandalf, The Lord of the Rings

Hi, my name is Alex. As a freelance journalist and visualization/information designer, my mission is to highlight the insights from complex data and topics through compelling visualizations and stories. I strive to support the public in grasping the fundamental issues of our time, and in fighting for social change and justice.

I also aspire to work in investigative journalism, focusing on today’s crucial sociopolitical topics, including border and state violence, social movements and revolts, the various forms of injustice, inequality and oppression, contemporary disinformation and propaganda, the threat of the far-right, and society’s responses to the ongoing ecological crisis. I am particularly interested in data-driven, open-source and visual investigations, and online journalism in general.

Lastly, I am a longtime football enthusiast with a passion for tactical analysis and scouting. GGMU!

There is more information about my background and specific skills on my CV page.

Curriculum Vitae

Academic Background: Political Sociology

I graduated (Bachelor and Master’s degrees) in Political Science at the University of Lausanne. As a student and researcher in social science, I acquired a range of scientific skills and knowledge: the organizing and carrying out of research projects, analyzing quantitative data, using qualitative methods such as interviews and audiovisual/multimedia content analysis, and a general ability for rigorous theoretical, analytical and methodological/epistemological work/reflection My main area of interest was the sociology of political life, and I specialized in the study of mobilizations, to which I contributed with my dissertation on the transnational Milk Tea Alliance movement.

Data Visualization & Information Design

For me, data/information visualization combines and connects several aspects that I am really passionate about: research and detailed investigations on interesting and socially-relevant topics, visualization tools to explore and clarify complex data and information, and engaging with – and as part of – the public/communities in their pursuit of understanding the world and acting upon it.

I have almost exclusively learned what I know about programming and data visualization on my own after completing my studies, with the help of online resources and countless tutorials by generous and helpful individuals. There is still a lot for me to learn and improve in my visualization work, but this is partly what makes this field so exciting because the possibilities and room for creativity and improvement are endless. My current goal is to build a sustainable freelance visualization design studio that can be the central part of my work moving forward.

Visualization/Information Design Gallery

Journalism & Investigations

Near the end of my Master’s, I became interested in datajournalism as well as OSI (open-source investigations, sometimes called “OSINT”), and because of my academic and political interests, I have a longstanding interest in “traditional” investigative journalism as well, especially the kind that exposes the crimes and actions of states, governments, organized crime, companies and elites/oligarchs. While my current priority is data viz/information design, as well as freelance writing/journalism, this is definitely something I wish to get into in the future!

Football Scouting & Analysis

My longtime passion for the game of football combines neatly with my affinity for research, data-based analysis and even visualization. I’ve already completed several training courses run by the PFSA (UK), the APFA (US/UK), Statsbomb, FC Python, and Soccermatics/David Sumpter. Put together, these courses included an extensive introduction to and training for professional scouting (talent identification, opposition analysis, match reports, etc.) on the one hand, and football-specific data analytics, on the other.

I have learned to use public/free data sources: websites such as FBref, Understat, Opta Analyst, FotMob, WhoScored, Transfermarkt and Sofascore, but also “open” (publicly available) data from Statsbomb and Wyscout (Pappalardo et al. 2019, Wyscout.com samples, PFSA samples). Using Python, R, Tableau and Excel/Google Sheets, I can collect data from these websites (webscraping), organise, clean and sometimes complete the datasets, and finally carry out analysis and visualisations concerning team performances and tactics, player profiles, recruitment, and so on.

My work and writing:

Up to this point I have mainly learned and explored football scouting and analysis because of my love for this sport (and for examining it!), but I am certainly ready for and open to professional opportunities (either freelance or full job, preferably remote) should they arise!