Comments on: Obama Launches Recovery.gov – Your $787 billion at Work

By: ::: Think Macro ::: Â» Reading blogs #13

::: Think Macro ::: Â» Reading blogs #13 — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:35:33 +0000

[...] some buzz – “Visit Recovery.gov to learn how the government spends $787B” – “Obama Launches Recovery.gov – Your $787 billion at Work“.Â At the same time it is also attracting criticism – “Can Obama’s Online [...]

By: Ian Eslick

Ian Eslick — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 03:49:35 +0000

Both of those charts are poor examples of clear presentation. It would be nice to see a contest where the community generates alternatives, even on this simple stuff, and gives them back. I can’t wait to get ahold of the rich data later.

By: Amos Newcombe

Amos Newcombe — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:09:31 +0000

They used a square root scale. If you measure the pixels on the original page, then sqrt(B$)/px is roughly constant at about 0.1. If you click on the graph there, you go to a bubble chart, where each category is a (disconnected, arbitrarily placed) circle.

By: Keane

Keane — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:21:35 +0000

I love this guy. So awesome that he gets this kind of stuff and uses the medium to do what it does best: express complex thoughts, ideas and scenarios in a clear and organized fashion. The vast majority would have a big question mark over their head when you tried to explain to them why we need something like this and what it actually is.

By: andrew

andrew — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:26:47 +0000

From the FAQ:

Q: Is the spending data on recovery.gov available in a format (like XML) that developers can use to create mashups and gadgets?
A: Not at this time. But, as new systems are developed to capture the allocations and expenditures under the Act, we plan to make that data available in exportable form.

Sweet.

By: Nathan Yau

Nathan Yau — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 05:54:25 +0000

Hmm, did they use the log scale for that one?

By: richard k

richard k — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 04:04:59 +0000

chart looks better when it uses a standard scale.