mediascience's posterous http://mediascience.posterous.com Most recent posts at mediascience's posterous posterous.com Thu, 28 Apr 2011 06:23:00 -0700 Many Eyes : Tour http://mediascience.posterous.com/many-eyes-tour http://mediascience.posterous.com/many-eyes-tour

Tour

The heart of the site is a collection of data visualizations. You may want to begin by browsing through these collections—if you'd rather explore than read directions, take a look!

On Many Eyes you can:

1. View and discuss visualizations
2. View and discuss data sets
3. Create visualizations from existing data sets
If you register, you can also:
  4. Rate data sets and visualizations
5. Upload your own data
6. Create and participate in topic centers
7. Select items to watch
8. Track your contributions, watchlist, and topic centers
9. See comments that others have written to you
 

View and discuss visualizations

All the visualizations on Many Eyes have an attached discussion forum. As you explore a visualization, you may find a view that you'd like to talk about or share. If you post a comment, your "view" is saved along with your comment so others can see what you're seeing.

Each visualization lets you select data items by clicking. Your selection will be highlighted in a bright color, so that you can refer to those items in your comments. This simple feature is very convenient: it's much nicer to say "Look at the circled part of the graph" than "look at the thing sort of at the upper right".

    screenshot of interactive visualization
Interactive visualization


screenshot of visualization comments
Comments about this visualization


screenshot of form for posting a new comment
Form for posting a new comment

 

comment screenshot
Detail of a comment contributed by anonymous user


visualization list screenshot
Screenshot showing part of the collection of visualizations on the site

 

 

View and discuss data sets

All visualizations in Many Eyes are based on a collection of shared data sets held on the site. You'll see that many data sets and visualizations are the subject of an active discussion. Anyone can browse the list of data sets.
    dataset list screenshot
Screenshot of list of data sets uploaded to the site.

 

 

Create visualizations from existing data sets

One of the most exciting features of Many Eyes is the ability to create interactive visualizations from any of the data sets on the site.

Finding the right way view your data is as much an art as a science. The visualizations provided on Many Eyes range from the ordinary to the experimental.

    create visualization screenshot
Detail of the process of creating a visualization.
 
 

Rate data sets and visualizations

Rating data sets and visualizations is a helpful way to let users quickly find some of the best content on Many Eyes. Each time you rate an item, you attach a "plus one" or a "minus one" to it. Many Eyes ratings also have a qualitative aspect, which allows you to express whether, for instance, you like a visualization because it is funny or because it is beautiful.
You may also want to flag a data set as being either a "test" or having a "suspicious source."
    visualization screenshot with interface for rating

Interface for rating a visualization

 

Upload your own data (registered users only)

After you register, you can upload new data sets to Many Eyes. Seeding the site with shared data is an important part of being able to engage others in collective sensemaking and insight sharing.
 

 

Tour tutorial


 

You may also want to refer to our Data Format & Style page,
that covers all the intricacies of formatting and uploading.

   

 

Create and participate in topic centers (registered users only)

Topic centers are a great way of organizing content around a theme of interest to you. They function like small portals where you can collect all visualizations and data sets that are related to your theme. You can also start discussions in a topic center.

 
All registered users can create and join topic centers. Only members can contribute visualizations, data sets, and comments to a topic center.

    topic center screenshot
Screenshot of the collection of items in a topic center: list of discussions
at the top, visualizations in the middle and data sets at the bottom
 

Select items to watch (registered users only)


Users with an account can choose to be notified when there is new activity around a visualization or a data set of interest to them. To monitor items of interest, simply click on the "watch this" button. You can stop monitoring any visualization (or data set) by simply clicking on the "quit watching" button (or by going to your user page, which lists the "quit watching")
    watch this screenshot
Below each visualization (and data set) you will find a "watch this" button

watchlist screenshot
Watchlist on user page, showing new activity around watched items

 

Track the visualizations and data sets you have contributed (registered users only)

As a registered user, you can keep track of all your activity on Many Eyes. This also makes it easier for others to interact with you on the site because your activity history creates your identity here.
    my stuff screenshot
Screenshot of a registered user's activity.

 

 

See comments that others have written to you (registered users only)

Registered users automatically get a "user page" that compiles all of their activity on the site (as well as the activity in their watchlist). Others can leave messages to a user by using the "Messages" feature at the bottom of user pages.

The owner of a user page has mediation privileges over messages left on their user page: they may either delete or reply to messages left for them.

Could we partner with this IBM project to produce our visualisations? My instinct is not (as it seems to be more of a 'playground' than a professional service) but I might be missing something...

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Wed, 20 Apr 2011 01:19:00 -0700 Insights through data visualization with GapMinder « Sébastien Lorion http://mediascience.posterous.com/insights-through-data-visualization-with-gapm http://mediascience.posterous.com/insights-through-data-visualization-with-gapm

Posted in economy, politics, tools, world

Data vis, GapMinder was dissapointing on brief inspection

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Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:47:00 -0700 Training | marketingQED http://mediascience.posterous.com/training-marketingqed http://mediascience.posterous.com/training-marketingqed

Information Visualisation Workshops - London - 6th July 2011 to 8th July 2011

In July 2011, marketingQED is delighted once again to present the three courses covering topics in information visualisation at the Royal College of Physicians building in London. All courses are taught by Stephen Few, founder of Perceptual Edge, a leading consultancy that was established to help organizations like yours learn to design simple information displays for effective analysis and communication. The courses on offer are:

Show Me the Numbers: Table and Graph Design - 6th July 2011

This full-day course will teach you how to effectively communicate quantitative business data using tables and graphs. You will learn how to select the appropriate medium of communication (table vs. graph, and which type) and how to visually design each component to express your message clearly and compellingly.

Dashboard Design for at-a-Glance Monitoring - 7th July 2011

Dashboards offer an exciting new way to provide people at a glance with the critical information they must monitor to do their jobs. This full-day course reaches past the hype to give you the unique design skills required to build dashboards that really work.

Now You See It: Visual Data Analysis - 8th July 2011

Most business data analysis requires skills and practices involving the use of graphs that can be easily learned, but resources that teach them are almost impossible to find. Almost all books and courses on data analysis teach sophisticated statistical and financial analysis techniques, but only about 10% of business data analysis requires them. This full-day course is for those responsible for the remaining 90%.

To download a brochure giving further details of these workshops, simply complete this form and a link to a brochure will be sent to you. If you have any issues completing the form please email qed@marketingqed.com.

Information Visualisation Workshops - Vienna - 5th October 2011 to 7th October 2011

Due to conflicting dates the "Information Visualisation Workshops" in Vienna with Stephen Few had to be rescheduled from March 16th-18th to October 5th-7th, 2011. Many thanks for your understanding.

In October 2011, marketingQED is delighted to present three courses covering topics in information visualisation at the Architekturzentrum Wien (Az W) in Vienna. All courses are taught by Stephen Few, founder of Perceptual Edge, a leading consultancy that was established to help organizations like yours learn to design simple information displays for effective analysis and communication. The courses on offer are:

Show Me the Numbers: Table and Graph Design - 5th October 2011

This full-day course will teach you how to effectively communicate quantitative business data using tables and graphs. You will learn how to select the appropriate medium of communication (table vs. graph, and which type) and how to visually design each component to express your message clearly and compellingly.

Dashboard Design for at-a-Glance Monitoring - 6th October 2011

Dashboards offer an exciting new way to provide people at a glance with the critical information they must monitor to do their jobs. This full-day course reaches past the hype to give you the unique design skills required to build dashboards that really work.

Now You See It: Visual Data Analysis - 7th October 2011

Most business data analysis requires skills and practices involving the use of graphs that can be easily learned, but resources that teach them are almost impossible to find. Almost all books and courses on data analysis teach sophisticated statistical and financial analysis techniques, but only about 10% of business data analysis requires them. This full-day course is for those responsible for the remaining 90%.

To download a brochure giving further details of these workshops, simply complete this form and a link to a brochure will be sent to you. If you have any issues completing the form please email qed@marketingqed.com.

Details of London courses being run by Stephen Few. Might be interesting for someone from MS to go. If you agree with this, who do you think should go. Me or you (or someone else?).

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Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:44:00 -0700 Visual Business Intelligence http://mediascience.posterous.com/visual-business-intelligence http://mediascience.posterous.com/visual-business-intelligence

I’ve just returned from a week in Pamplona, Spain. No, I didn’t run with the bulls, but I did something equally exciting: I deliberated with the judges at Malofiej 19, an international competition and summit dedicated to journalistic infographics. I and 9 other judges worked hard for 3½ days to review over 1,000 print entries and 300 online entries, resulting in 7 gold medals, plus around 25 silver and 70 bronze medals for infographic excellence.

(Pictured from left to right: Ryan Sparrow of Ball State University, Stephen Few of Perceptual Edge, Joe Ward of the New York Times, and Matt Perry of the San Diego Union Tribune.)

I learned a great deal during the week and made several new friends. I was deeply impressed with several extraordinary examples of infographics that demonstrated visual eloquence both through superb storytelling and graphical design. Infographics can be extraordinarily powerful when used appropriately (that is, when pictures work better than words) and well designed by combining beauty (appealing and engaging form) and usability (spot on functionality), without compromising either.

This year’s top prizes:

Best of Show (print): National Geographic, for “Gulf of Mexico: A Geography of Offshore Oil,” the story of oil drilling and drilling rights, primarily along the coast of Louisiana.

Best of Show (online): New York Times, for its demonstration of Mariano Rivera’s unique pitching style, titled “How Mariano Rivera Dominates Hitters.” Take the time to watch this amazing combination of narration and motion graphics.

Best Map: National Geographic, for “Rivers of the World,” a gorgeous map of the world’s rivers and lakes.

These infographics are exquisite examples of how well words and pictures can be combined to inform clearly and beautifully to engage and enlighten.

In addition to working as a judge, I also spoke at the summit. The title of my presentation was “Infographics and the Brain: Designing Graphics to Inform.”

Take care,

One of the other 'superstars' in the world of DV. Have a few more links etc to follow. Safe to say he is not a fan of Mr McAndless. He is availble for consulting (@$4k/day eek)...

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Thu, 07 Apr 2011 04:45:00 -0700 Data journalism and data visualization from the Datablog | News | guardian.co.uk http://mediascience.posterous.com/data-journalism-and-data-visualization-from-t http://mediascience.posterous.com/data-journalism-and-data-visualization-from-t

Guardian data vis blog

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Thu, 07 Apr 2011 01:26:00 -0700 Welcome to Visualizing.org http://mediascience.posterous.com/welcome-to-visualizingorg http://mediascience.posterous.com/welcome-to-visualizingorg

Visualizing.org is a community of creative people working to make sense of complex issues through data and design… and it’s a shared space and free resource to help you achieve this goal.

Why Visualizing.org?

By some estimates, we now create more data each year than in the entirety of prior human history. Data visualization helps us approach, interpret, and extract knowledge from this information. Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen government agencies, NGOs, and companies open up their data for the public to see and use. And we’ve seen data visualization figure more prominently in design curricula, conference programs, and the media. We created Visualizing.org because we want to help connect the proliferation of public data… with a community that can help us understand this data… with the general public.

What is Visualizing.org? What can I do on the site?

For designers:
  • Visualizing is a place to showcase your work, get feedback, ensure that your work is seen by lots of people and gets used by teachers, journalists, and conference organizers to help educate the public about various world issues
  • Visualizing is a free resource to search for data
  • Use Visualizing to keep up with and be inspired by the latest work from other designers and design schools
  • Learn about new visualization tools, blogs, books and other resources to help your work
  • Everything you upload remains your sole and exclusive property and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike License
For teachers and schools:
  • Visualizing is a place to exhibit the collective work of your students, organize assignments and class projects, and help your students find data for their own visualizations
  • We’re working on new tools to help you share teaching material with other teachers
  • As an Academic Partner, your students are eligible to participate in various design competitions. We hosted the Visualizing Marathon 2010 in New York. Based on the overwhelming success of the first Marathon, we plan to host many more around the world in 2011. If your students are interested, just email us. Your students are also eligible to compete in our online challenges.
  • To learn more, contact Charlene Manuel
For bloggers and journalists:
  • Visualizing is a resource to find data visualizations about a wide variety of world issues to inform and accompany your own reporting – and it’s easy to embed visualizations and widgets from Visualizing on your own site
For conference organizers:
  • As a Knowledge Partner, Visualizing allows you to use data visualizations at your conferences under a Creative Commons License
  • To learn more, contact Charlene Manuel
For all:
  • Visualizing is a new and fun online resource to learn more about the world in all its complexity and inter-dependence -- and become more comfortable with data and how it can be visually represented

How does it work?

The site is open and free to use. Everything you upload remains your sole and exclusive property and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike License. Simply put, this means that anyone can share, copy, remix, or build upon the visualization as long as: (i) it is used non-commercially; and (ii) the visualization’s creator and source are credited.

Got a question? A suggestion for how we can improve the site?

Contact us at info@visualizing.org

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Thu, 07 Apr 2011 01:14:00 -0700 The Data Viz Whizzes From Mint Are Launching A New Startup, Visual.ly http://mediascience.posterous.com/the-data-viz-whizzes-from-mint-are-launching http://mediascience.posterous.com/the-data-viz-whizzes-from-mint-are-launching

The team behind Mint.com's popular graphics, Stewart Langille and Lee Sherman, are launching their own data visualization startup called Visual.ly.

It will be focused on telling stories based on big reams of data through infographics. Langille and Sherman will do some of the graphics themselves, but they also want to establish Visual.ly as a platform for people to plug in data and have infographics pumped out automatically.

Visually is being backed with $400,000 in seed money, with Dave McClure's 500 Startups leading the round.

Here's a video explaining the company:

Whoa, very interesting Data Vis start-up...

Good video explaining the service too.

Wonder if we can partner with them??? Or at least use their platform...

Could be a big opp for us.

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Thu, 31 Mar 2011 04:07:00 -0700 Ask E.T.: Executive decision support systems http://mediascience.posterous.com/ask-et-executive-decision-support-systems http://mediascience.posterous.com/ask-et-executive-decision-support-systems

Response to Executive Decision Support Systems

IDEAS FOR MONITORING BUSINESS AND OTHER PROCESSES

Edward Tufte

(1) See Peter Drucker's new book, The Essential Drucker, for a thoughtful chapter on "the information executives need today." That is, you should start by considering the intellectual problems that the displays are supposed to help with. The point of information displays is to assist thinking; therefore, ask first of all: What are the thinking tasks that the displays are supposed to help with?

(2) It is essential to build in systematic checks of data quality into the display and analysis system. For example, good checks of the data on revenue recognition must be made, given the strong incentives for premature recognition. Beware, in management data, of what statisticians call "sampling to please"--selecting, sorting, fudging, choosing data so as to please management. Sampling to please occurs, for example, when the outflow from a polluting factory into the Hudson River is measured by dipping the sampling test-tube into the cleaner rather than the dirtier effluent.

(3) For information displays for management, avoid heavy-breathing metaphors such as the mission control center, the strategic air command, the cockpit, the dashboard, or Star Trek. As Peter Drucker once said, good management is boring. If you want excitement, don't go to a good management information system.

Simple designs showing high-resolution data, well-labelled information in tables and graphics will do just fine. One model might be the medical interface in Visual Explanations (pages 110-111) and the articles by Seth Powsner and me cited there. A model for tables might be the supertable, shown in The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, p. 179. More generally, see chapter 9 of The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. The displays should often be accompanied by annotation, details from the field, and other supplements.

Sparklines show high-resolution data and also work to reduce the recency bias prevalent in data analysis and decision-making. Sparklines are ideal for executive decision support systems. See our threads on sparklines:

http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0001OR&topic_id=1&topic=

and on the implementation of sparklines

http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0000Lk&topic_id=1&topic=

(4) For understanding a process and for designing a display for understanding a process, a good way to learn about what is going on is to watch the actual data collection involved in describing the process. Watch the observations being made and recorded; chances are you will learn a lot about the meaning and quality of the numbers and about the actual process itself. Talk to the people making the actual measurements; maybe you'll learn something.

(5) Measurement itself (and the apparent review of the numbers) can govern a process. For example, in printing my books, I ask that during the press run that the density of the black ink be measured in 6 or 8 different positions on every 3000th sheet being printed. These pulled sheets are then inspected shortly after the run and before the next run. The idea is to try to ensure that the color of the black type is uniform and at the right level of blackness in 3 ways: (1) across the 8 pages printed up on each sheet of paper, called a "form", (2) over the 40,000 sheets printed of that form, and (3) over the many forms making up the entire book. We sometimes review these pulled sheets the next day to check these density readings and to yell at the printer if there is a problem. But mainly the mere fact that the printers are making these measurements keeps the process in control. And the fact that someone might review the measurements.

Note that this example is mainly just common sense in workaday action; no jargon about an Executive Decision Protocol Monitoring Support Dashboard System is needed. In fact, such jargon would be an impediment to thinking.

(6) My own encounter with a real business trying to improve management data and the display of that data was in consulting for Bose. At one point it appeared to me that too many resources were devoted to collecting data. It is worth thinking about why employees are filling out forms for management busybody bureaucrats rather than doing something real, useful, productive. The story of this work is told in Michael H. Martin, "The Man Who Makes Sense of Numbers," Fortune, October 27, 1997, pp. 273-276; and in James Surowiecki, "Sermon on the Mountain: How Edward Tufte led Bose out of the land of chartjunk," Metropolis, January 1999, pp. 44-46. Both accounts make me appear excessively heroic. These articles are posted in the NEW section at http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/fortune_97 http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/metropolis_0199

(7) Most of all, the right evidence needs to be located, measured, and displayed. And different evidence might be needed next quarter or next year.

-- Edward Tufte, August 27, 2001

Some interesting thoughts from Edward Tufte on DV in business, worth a read.

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Mon, 28 Mar 2011 01:02:00 -0700 JESS3™ http://mediascience.posterous.com/jess3 http://mediascience.posterous.com/jess3
Media_httpjess3commed_harul

Specializ[sic]es in 'data visualiz[sic]ation

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Mon, 28 Mar 2011 00:48:00 -0700 Work | Design Interactions at the RCA http://mediascience.posterous.com/work-design-interactions-at-the-rca http://mediascience.posterous.com/work-design-interactions-at-the-rca
Media_httpwwwinteract_bdywd

A contact is on this course, DV is not their speciality, but they say it is definitly part of the course and others 'do it'

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Thu, 24 Mar 2011 05:32:00 -0700 The Work of Edward Tufte and Graphics Press http://mediascience.posterous.com/the-work-of-edward-tufte-and-graphics-press http://mediascience.posterous.com/the-work-of-edward-tufte-and-graphics-press
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Another 'guy' that was recomended to me

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Thu, 24 Mar 2011 04:34:00 -0700 Flink Labs | Data Visualisation http://mediascience.posterous.com/flink-labs-data-visualisation http://mediascience.posterous.com/flink-labs-data-visualisation
Media_httpflinklabss3_gowku

Another potential partner...

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Thu, 24 Mar 2011 04:25:00 -0700 Data Visualization | Government Solutions | Information Management http://mediascience.posterous.com/data-visualization-government-solutions-infor http://mediascience.posterous.com/data-visualization-government-solutions-infor
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What Microsoft are saying about DV - bunch of potential partners in here

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Thu, 24 Mar 2011 04:24:00 -0700 IDV Solutions | Partners - Overview http://mediascience.posterous.com/idv-solutions-partners-overview http://mediascience.posterous.com/idv-solutions-partners-overview
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Possible partner

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Thu, 24 Mar 2011 04:11:00 -0700 Data Visualization: Modern Approaches - Smashing Magazine http://mediascience.posterous.com/data-visualization-modern-approaches-smashing http://mediascience.posterous.com/data-visualization-modern-approaches-smashing
Media_httpmediasmashi_saoqi

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Thu, 24 Mar 2011 04:01:00 -0700 Improving visualisation - Links and reference http://mediascience.posterous.com/improving-visualisation-links-and-reference http://mediascience.posterous.com/improving-visualisation-links-and-reference

Examples presented on this site have been taken from published material available on the web. If you are the author of the example, and would like this removed from the site (or additional information provided), please contact us. Where shown, Ordnance Survey data is reproduced under Communities and Local Government Licence 100024857. Crown copyright material is reproduced with permission of the controller of HMSO.

A whole stack of DV resources - note Quick-R and rGallery for dedicated R resources.

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Thu, 24 Mar 2011 03:43:00 -0700 Many Eyes : About http://mediascience.posterous.com/many-eyes-about http://mediascience.posterous.com/many-eyes-about

IBM Research project - Many Eyes. Possible partnership?

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Thu, 24 Mar 2011 03:36:00 -0700 $5K Design for America Data Visualization Contest - ProfHacker - The Chronicle of Higher Education http://mediascience.posterous.com/5k-design-for-america-data-visualization-cont http://mediascience.posterous.com/5k-design-for-america-data-visualization-cont

$5K Design for America Data Visualization Contest

March 30, 2010, 10:00 am

By Jason B. Jones

The Sunlight Foundation has announced a new contest: Design for America, which offers $5000 to the best visualizations of open-access government data in several categories: Visualization of Sunlight Community Data; Visualization of Data from the Budget; Visualization of Recovery.gov Data; Visualization of How a Bill Becomes a Law; Visualization of Congressional Procedures; Redesign of a Government Form; Redesign of a .Gov Website.

From the announcement:

Sunlight Labs is pleased to announce our latest contest — “Design for America.” This 10 week long design and data visualization extravaganza is focused on connecting the talents of art and design communities throughout the country to the wealth of government data now available through bulk data access and APIs, and to help nurture the field of information visualization. Our goal is simple and straightforward — to make government data more accessible and comprehensible to the American public. We hope to enliven and engage new communities — just as we did with Apps for America 1 and 2 — as partners and participants in making government information more engaging to the American public. Our contest will end with a public announcement of the winners at Gov 2.0 Expo here in Washington, DC in May, in partnership with O’Reilly and TechWeb, and with a public gallery showing of the winners.

. . .

There’s an “artist” inside all of us so we’re creating multiple entry categories so that contestants have an opportunity to show off their skills wherever they are most comfortable. There’s room for all kinds of folks to participate — artists, data visualizers, specialists in info graphs and usability experts — to name a few.

I’m pretty sure this contest falls within the skill set/research interests of some ProfHacker readers, so–good luck!

Parenthetically, I’ll admit to being increasingly ambivalent about the will-to-transparency.  On the one hand, it goes almost without saying that citizens should be able to grasp how their government works and for whom.  On the other hand, some of the loudest voices clamoring for budget transparency are those interested in slash-and-burn approaches to government expenditures–that is, it’s a form of union-busting.  I live in a state that where the public discourse takes as read the notion that state workers all have gold-plated pensions (nope) and elaborate health insurance (HMO-city! And new employees pay 3% of their salary into a fund for retirement healthcare).  No amount of “transparency” seems able to overcome the  prejudice against state workers–which college faculty and staff often are!  Anyway.

(Contest announcement via Jen Serventi on Twitter.)

Image by Flickr user jalalspages / Creative Commons licensed

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Lots going on in public sector (US & UK) wrt Data visualisation...going to tap my contacts.

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Thu, 24 Mar 2011 03:32:00 -0700 Update on WEAVE government data visualization software - O'Reilly Radar http://mediascience.posterous.com/update-on-weave-government-data-visualization http://mediascience.posterous.com/update-on-weave-government-data-visualization

Update on WEAVE government data visualization software

User-friendly visualization tools are coming early next year.

by Andy Oram@praxagoraComments: 118 November 2010

On Tuesday I heard the dynamic University of Massachusetts at Lowell professor Georges Grinstein talk about WEAVE (Web-based Analysis and Visualization Environment), a visualization tool for public data. One of the coolest things about WEAVE is the very idea of it. About 10 government agencies decided three years ago (before the Gov 2.0 movement was hot) to put their data out for easy public consumption, and to collaborate around it with the hope of eventually being able to combine all their data. These governments have combined into the Open Indicators Consortium to fund and guide development.

When WEAVE started it was pretty ground-breaking; now one can cite lots of related projects. Data.gov alone (the major US federal site for data) boasted 305,692 datasets when I checked it right after Grinstein's talk. But as Grinstein points out, most sites think they're being hip just by putting out computer-consumable data sets. These are a big step up from PDFs, but the missing piece is ways to interpret the data, which is being left up to outside programmers.

Note, for instance, that one of the top prize winners in the 2010 CivicApps contest run by Portland Oregon, was just a tool for turning Portland's data into a format easier for programs to consume. WEAVE goes a lot further, providing a bunch of cool visualization tools that sites can drop in for the public to enjoy.

Between vision and utopia lies a lot of stumbling and fumbling, and Grinstein let us in on a little of it on Tuesday. One stumble was dropped Internet connectivity in our high-style hotel right in Cambridge's Harvard Square -- a pocket of Third-World deprivation in the midst of one of the world's broadband utopias. So we didn't get to see much of the visualizations--and all the people located remote from us who wanted to get a live feed were shut out -- but from the stills I could tell that WEAVE offered many of the same animated, interactive visualizations that one can build with the Processing language.

These apps typically use color, texture, size, and position in creative ways and then let you drag, click, zoom in and out, and manipulate the data yourself. For instance, if you see a state map and click on a county, it might zoom out to occupy the screen while in the background your browser requests detailed county data from the server.

Java-based Processing is supposed to be able to handle data sets many orders of magnitude greater than the ones amenable to Flash/Flex, which is the basis of WEAVE. (Apple's decision not to support Flash on iOS devices is clearly another stumble that lies outside of Grinstein's control.) The WEAVE team is excited about the potential of rewriting the display engine in HTML5, but they have to see whether their backers will fund development. I suspect that the government agencies don't understand what HTML5 will enable (although telling them it will run on iOS devices may persuade them) but I also trust that the WEAVE team will get the port done by hook or by crook.

The WEAVE team designed their server to use generic, open source components so that installation would be easy -- but even so, there were difficulties with the different host server security aspects and the team had to spend a lot of time they didn't budget for on sysadmin support, another stumble outside their control.

Tuesday's presentation was typically Cantabrigian, from the Boston accents (we heard a lot about "visualizing dayter") to the interminable questions about formats, architecture, and other technical details from an audience of non-profit reps who had spent as much time tuning a computer system as distributing meals to the needy. There wasn't time for a lot of technical discussion, but I caught that WEAVE doesn't have to run on the server of the agency that provides the data; the agency can feed data to a WEAVE server running somewhere else. The end-user needs nothing except a browser with a Flash plugin.

We also had a discussion about the code and license status of WEAVE, which will be released in or shortly before March of next year. The University of Massachusetts at Lowell decided there's too much intellectual property tied up in WEAVE to release it as open source, and Grinstein feels fine about that because in his experience, good open source projects mature in a closed environment. I thought of two counter-examples that I'm using right now, GNU/Linux and GNOME, and I exchanged some email with Grinstein where he gave his interpretation of their history and how they too reflect the importance of a long gestation.

As it is, the source code will be published and anyone can use WEAVE free for non-commercial use, while commercial users will pay very modest fees. Donations of code will definitely be appreciated, but Grinstein expects that one-quarter of the team's time will be spent checking over, testing, and vetting donations. Not a free lunch for them. Grinstein wants to make sure that consortium members have good code, because their public users will have a low tolerance for bugs.

Still, in a few years, WEAVE may well go out under an open source license.

What's in the future for WEAVE? One of the most intriguing features they're considering is collaboration. Even upon the first release, you should be able to run a visualization, save it, and pass the URL around for others to comment on. Eventually they hope to let users work together to produce and view interactive animations in real time. They also are looking for ways to filter data on the server side so that less needs to be transmitted over the network.

Development process has a big effect on a project's success, and the WEAVE process is hard to classify -- a bit gawky, in my impression, although they are using agile methods. WEAVE seems like a "get it out there" kind of project rather than a grand-vision kind of project, which is fine and may be the key to success. But it means such compromises as making it easy for agencies to submit spreadsheet content instead of trying to formalize a scheme for accepting well-formatted data.

And despite the leaning toward open software, WEAVE is very much a U.Mass. Lowell Computer Science department project, beholden to the dictates of the university and the research needs of the students. This doesn't mean the software will be bad -- in fact, Grinstein tells me he has built commercial-grade software and built entire companies using student programmers.

WEAVE also has a clearly delineated set of funders, whose priorities will direct development more than user reaction to the visualizations -- or rather, user reactions are important but will be filtered heavily through the funders. But WEAVE has generated a lot of excitement among the public anyway, so I'm sure they'll line up to try it, and in three to six months we'll be able to judge its value.


Related:


Check out WEAVE...

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Wed, 23 Mar 2011 02:00:00 -0700 How Much CO2 Is Created By… | GE Data Visualization http://mediascience.posterous.com/how-much-co2-is-created-by-ge-data-visualizat http://mediascience.posterous.com/how-much-co2-is-created-by-ge-data-visualizat

How Much CO2 Is Created By…

Every action, every event, every person, everything emits a certain amount of carbon. This interactive visualization examines some of those scenarios. Play around to learn some interesting and surprising information about how much carbon is released during various activities.

view all ecomagination projects

It may be flash, but it is very pretty.

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