I See What You Mean

Presenting headline news (via Google ) in the age of information visualization. This is Newsmap , created by Marcos Weskamp , a Bay Area design engineer who does infoviz and interaction design. Here's how this treemap works: As you mouse over each box, a callout pops up containing that story's first few sentences. Across the top are the different countries you can focus on, or you can select all for a worldwide sample. In the lower right corner are tabs corresponding to different newspaper sections (the colors of which are reflected in the map); again, you can customize the newsmap to suit your interests. Bravo, Marcos.

Booth , of Portland, OR, has rendered the US Interstate Highway System in the style of the London Underground Map . The map itself is awesome: .... but don't miss the Flickr page 's comments section, where enthusiasts point out tiny fixes, suggest edits, and show off their own independent versions of the concept .

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