Cool Stuff

In light of Mike G’s talk on Tue at the Physics dept., the following article from NYT today is very relevant.

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/photoshop-and-photography-when-is-it-real/?ref=technology

http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=47264

This is a really simple, but a simply amazing visualization. Proof that one doesn’t need moving parts, fireworks and sound-effects to make a wonderful visualization that conveys the subject matter effectively.

Movie Narrative Charts (by Randall Munroe)
http://xkcd.com/657/

This infographic shows the interaction between various characters in movies. Though mainly intended for geek humor, some valuable insights can be drawn from such approaches nonetheless. It is effective at visualizing which events involve more complex interaction between key characters, while at the same time making it possible to see the narrative trail each character followed before that (surprisingly, the visual encoding is also perceptually clear enough). This approach could prove valuable in studying historical material with focus on interaction between key figures.

http://blog.duarte.com/2010/01/your-data-wants-a-makeover/

This amazing visualization uses animation and great story telling, but, wait, there is more… it also explains how it went from a spreadsheet full of numbers to the little movie. What a journey. Munzner would be proud.

I know most of our examples are from the digital world, but this is very cool indeed: a paper map, zoomable by virtue of clever folding:

http://www.thezoomablemap.com/

Hans Rosling’s TED presentation on international economic development issues. Pure genius of information visualisation, transforming time-series changes into a kind of sportscasting.

http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html