Rowland’s Links

The clip above is from infosthetics – a website devoted to data visualisation. This a big trend at the moment, out there in geek-land. As is interactive computer stuff – check out Jeff Han’s TED talk for a glimpse of the future.

Hans Rosling’s amazing TED talk has some incredible number-pictures. His company is Gapminder, but I actually find Many Eyes a more useful site. Here, you can upload your own datasets – is there an RSA Network in that?

In the UK, the Social and Spatial Inequalities Research Unit does some interesting academic work on this. Swivel are also good – and again, they have a user research programme.

Of course, like everything else in the world, data visualisation has been turned to the service of the US Presidential Elections. The Christian Science Monitor has a patchwork map of the nation; the New York Times has a visual of candidate schedules. Strangely addictive, actually.

• Jeff The Spoon - 05 Jun 2008 1:50pm

  Rowskis, you are on fire.

• Mike Kinghan - 05 Jun 2008 1:49pm

  errrrr.......does anyone understand what this is about? I have a degree in Social Science (admittedly 35 years ago) and I havent a clue - Pseuds corner entry?

• Spanner - 05 Jun 2008 1:49pm

  Go Rowland

• Stuart B - 05 Jun 2008 1:47pm

  I love the double decker bus calculator. Thanks for the link.

• Robert Muetzelfeldt - 05 Jun 2008 1:45pm

  We seem to think of happiness as something instantaneous: yesterday I was happy, today I'm sad. Draw the curtains, and the room is dark. I feel distinctly uncomfortable with the idea of writing off past happiness the moment something bad happens. I prefer to think in terms of a rainwater tank: it fills up with happy rain, and draws down with the sad tap. This is what my head says, but the odd thing is that it really does colour my feelings. Maybe inculcating this view in our kids might raise the general level of 'happiness' in our materialist society?

• Rowland Manthorpe - 05 Jun 2008 1:43pm

  Who is your most hated member of the commentariat then Matthew? There's such a choice: Hari, Monbiot, mad Maddy Bunting...

• Michael - 05 Jun 2008 12:16pm

  Lovely calculator, thank you. Right thatit includes Wales. Sometimes the Guardian makes the mistake of using units of eg. size of Isle of Wight to explain eg. areas of rain forest destruction. They always publish the inevitable letter reminding them that Wales is the accepted and proper unit for large scale areas. Always raises a laugh with me.

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