I See What You Mean

Back in 2005, the astute pop-culture chronicler Adam Sternbergh pointed out that a person's opinion of any given entertainment product depends largely on how long they've been aware of it — that is, where the product sits on the sine-wave timeline of public expectations (aka buzz). His findings, in chart form: "Welcome to the undulating curve of shifting expectations—the Heisenbergian principle by which hype determines how much you enjoy a given pop-culture phenomenon. The first-wave audience is pleasantly surprised, but the second-wavers feel let down; then the third wave finds it’s not as bad as they’ve heard—and they’re all watching the exact same show." Almost five years later, this pattern describes just about all our collective experiences. Sports fans, how much sweeter was it to watch the New Orleans Saints come out of nowhere to win the NFC championship than to have seen the Minnesota Vikings do it for the umpteenth time? As for politics, consider the poll...

Data nerds like me will enjoy wallowing in the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series , a massive collection of U.S. Census microdata that's been made available to anyone for social and economic research. From the website : IPUMS-USA is a project dedicated to collecting and distributing United States census data. Its goals are to: Collect and preserve data and documentation Harmonize data Disseminate the data absolutely free! We are cautioned to "use it for GOOD -- never for EVIL." 'Nuff said. The project is funded by the National Science Foundation , Sun Microsystems , the University of Minnesota and the National Institutes of Health .

"Aughts were a lost decade for US economy, workers" - Washington Post

"The True Odds of Airborne Terror" chart - Gizmodo

John Sviokla , who blogs for the Harvard Business Review about "Innovation, Strategy, [and] Technology," bears witness: In my work with clients, I've seen three primary benefits of superior graphic representation: Great visualizations are efficient — they let people look at vast quantities of data quickly. Visualizations can help an analyst or a group achieve more insight into the nature of a problem and discover new understanding. A great visualization can help create a shared view of a situation and align folks on needed actions. I couldn't agree more. "Swimming in Data? Three Benefits of Visualization" - HBR Blog Network

The "socially liberal, fiscally conservative, and academically rigorous" (per CQ) Center on Budget and Policy Priorities presents this (literally) graphic depiction of the U.S. government deficit over the next decade. The deficit for fiscal 2009 was $1.4 trillion and, at an estimated 10 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), was the largest deficit relative to the size of the economy since the end of World War II. Under current policies, deficits will likely exceed $1 trillion in 2010 and 2011 and remain near that figure thereafter.... The recession battered the budget, driving down tax revenues and swelling outlays for unemployment insurance, food stamps, and other safety-net programs. Using CBO’s August 2008 projections as a benchmark, we calculate that the changed economic outlook accounts for over $400 billion of the deficit in 2009 and slightly smaller amounts in subsequent years. Those effects persist; even in 2018, the deterioration in the economy since summer 200...

I highly recommend this animated infographic , in which Latoya Egwuekwe gives us a quick and crystal-clear history of US unemployment levels from January 2007 to October 2009. This is a great example of how infoviz can tell a story efficiently and in a way any viewer can understand. Thanks, Latoya.