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• Thanks, FlowingData Sponsors

  Posted Mar 19, 2010 to Announcements / Add your comment

  A big thank you to FlowingData sponsors. They keep the virtual lights on around here and allow FlowingData to keep growing.

  I can also tell you that all of them show up in the sidebar because I know they'll be useful to many of you. Check out the data tools these fine groups have to offer:

  InstantAtlas – Create and present compelling data reports on geographic maps.

  Tableau Software – Data exploration and visual analytics in an easy-to-use analysis tool.

  Xcelsius Engage – Create insightful and engaging dashboards from any data source with point-and-click ease.

  Business Intelligence – Visual data analysis made easy. Try 30 days for free.

  RWW Graph Contest - ReadWriteWeb Interactive Graph Contest
  Create an interactive graph and enter to win a trip to Web 2.0!

  Xcelsius Present – Transform spreadsheets into professional, interactive presentations.

• Christopher Walken and Census

  Posted Mar 19, 2010 to Miscellaneous / 9 comments

  You should have received your Census survey by now. Did you fill it out and mail it yet? If not, get to it. Tim Meadows can only do so many door-to-doors.

  [via @parterburn]

• A Defense of the Unknown in Infographics

  Posted Mar 18, 2010 to Infographics, Quotes / 16 comments

  We’re inventors - we’re creators. And that’s the most important thing about what we do. And I think we should welcome failure every once in a while.
  Hannah Fairfield - NYT Graphics Editor, Malofiej 18, March 2010

  Last year at Malofiej, one of the major awards ceremonies for infographics in journalism, The New York Times took home 'Best in Show' for their work on box office receipts from 1986 to 2008. I'm sure most of you saw it. It was non-traditional. It was an adaptation of Lee Byron's streamgraph, which he had previously applied to last.fm music listening habits - a smoothed stacked area chart at the core.
  Continue Reading

• The everyday in Google Maps

  Posted Mar 17, 2010 to Miscellaneous / Add your comment

  

  With his usual cleverness, Christoph Niemann illustrates the everyday as Google maps. My favorite is the omelet highway. Oh what a twisty and confusing highway this GPS-less life is.

  

  [Thanks, Tom]

• Notes from Interactive Infographics #interinfo #sxsw

  Posted Mar 17, 2010 to Data-related Events, Infographics / 5 comments

  

  Yesterday was the Interactive Infographics panel at South by Southwest, and if Twitter is any indication of how it went, I'd say the panel had a captivated audience. I wouldn't expect anything less from the four panelists, Ben Fry (Processing), Shan Carter (NYT), Casey Caplowe (Good), and Eric Rodenbeck (Stamen)

  Unfortunately, I didn't get to attend, but luckily I was able to follow the play-by-play on Livefyre (sort of a cross between chat and forum) along with some excellent notes from @jpmarcum and @bryanconnor. Here are the important bits I was able to glean.

  The bulk of the time was spent showcasing the work from the four groups. I think you can find most of the projects through FlowingData. Just use the search form on the bottom right of this page. The good stuff came towards the end during the Q&A.
  Continue Reading

• Use your skills to help others

  Posted Mar 17, 2010 to Infographics / 1 comment

  Designer Christopher Harrell talks about, with a dose of various embedded graphics, pointing your skills toward something good. Harrell's video was one of the winners in the What Matters to You scholarship competition for Vancouver Film School. It looks like home video, but that just adds to the charm.

  [via BiofusionDesign]

• Statistical Atlas from the ninth Census in 1870

  Posted Mar 16, 2010 to Statistical Visualization / 9 comments

  

  In 1870, Francis Walker oversaw publication of the United States' first Statistical Atlas, based on data from the ninth Census. It was a big moment for statistics in the United States as the atlas provided a way to compare data on a national level using maps and statistical graphics.

  What continues to amaze me about these old illustrations is the detail - all done by hand. That's ridiculous. The kicker is that a lot of this stuff looks way better than a lot of what we see nowadays. Here are some selections from the 1870 atlas.
  Continue Reading

• Tim Berners-Lee with an update on open data

  Posted Mar 15, 2010 to Data Sharing / 1 comment

  If people put data on the Web - government data, scientific data, community data - whatever it is, it will be used by other people to do wonderful things in ways they never could have imagined.
  Tim Berners-Lee, TED, February 2010

  Tim Berners-Lee, credited with inventing the World Wide Web, comes back to TED a year after his call for open, structured data with a quick update. Spoiler alert: things are looking good - and they're only going to get a lot better. But you already knew that, right?

  [via infosthetics]

• Data Underload #13 – Corned Beef Recipe

  Posted Mar 15, 2010 to Data Underload / 8 comments

  

  For as far back as I can remember, I've always had corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day, or at least on the week of. There isn't a speck of Irish in my family, but for some reason my mom always made it, and now I make it myself.

  I don't know the origins nor care enough to look it up on Wikipedia. All I know is that there will be three straight days of corned beef-related food, and that's good enough for me. Mmm, salty, beefy goodness. Reuben or corned beef hash anyone?

• Weekend Fodder

  Posted Mar 14, 2010 to Miscellaneous / 3 comments

  

  How to split up the US - Geographic clusters based on social network connections on Facebook. [thx, przemek]

  Rise of the Infogeeks - Lots of graphic designers have taken a liking to information graphics.

  Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) gives augmented reality a go - Point your iPhone at the station and get info on when the next train is coming.

  Google Public Data Explorer - Trying to get more mileage out of the Trendalyzer acquisition. [thx, eric]

• World Progress Report is available – plus free College High

  Posted Mar 12, 2010 to Projects / 2 comments

  

  In case you missed your chance last time, I've got some good news for you. I have a handful of World Progress Reports left, so ordering is open again. I'll keep it open until I run out or until the end of next week - whichever comes first. All orders will also get a free print of Rob's beautifully illustrated College High.

  I don't think the handful will last very long, so if you really want the WPR, plus College High, you should probably order now. Don't say I didn't warn you.

  What it is

  For those unfamiliar, FlowingPrints is a project to put data in print. I take openly available data and put it to use. The first run was a series on education in America. College High was part of the series.

  The World Progress Report was the most recent print, highlighting what's going on in the world, using data from United Nations databases. No need to waste perfectly good data, I say.

• Challenge: Let’s do something with these 3-D pyramids

  Posted Mar 12, 2010 to Discussion, Ugly Visualization / 74 comments

  

  Here's the idea. The government recommends a diet for healthy living (right pyramid), but at the same time there are billions of dollars of lopsided subsidies (left pyramid) whose distribution doesn't look anything like the former. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) used the above 3-d pyramids to present this information.

  Interesting point. Funky presentation. Discuss (remakes highly recommended).

  [via The Consumerist]