Complex Complexion INFO VISUALIZATION: Rummaging around del.icio.us I ran across some mind numbingly complicated, overwrought topic maps (the closest noun I can think of to describe them) that try and visualize topics like "The World Government" and "Governing By Networks."


(pdf link)

(pdf link)

Looking at the website, I don't know if these are actually supposed to help an audience understand the given topic, or if it's just an artistic statement (perhaps "hey, look, government is complex!"). If they were created to actually convey useful information, I feel sorry for the audience; I about suffered a stroke just trying to figure out what the hell they were trying to tell me.  ¶ 1:05 PM 1 Comments

  South Asia Data INFO VISUALIZATION: The New York Times has a well done interactive feature regarding the tragedy along the shores of South Asia, complete with a simulation of the wave patterns following the quake.

  ¶ 9:08 AM 0 Comments

  Google's Strategy; Microsoft's Stratagem INFO SCIENCE: Yesterday I was reading an article over lunch that was fawning over MSN Search's new entry point in the new MSN Instant Messenger interface. In short, the article seemed to suggest that Microsoft would eventually win the search wars because they are able to put "Search The Web" boxes in all of their different software products. (Google is doomed, doomed!)

But this morning I hear on NPR that Google Print is going to add the works of nearly a half-dozen major libraries to their search results, an amazing feat to say the least.

This really strikes at the difference between the two companies' current strategies for gaining market share. One company seems to rely predominantly on its weight as a monopolist in other fields, while one company really attempts to add value. I'll let you guess which one is which.

Speaking of Google, have you played with Keyhole yet? If not, please do so right away.

UPDATE: The Shifted Librarian points us to a few interesting stats about Google's new project:

"A quick calculation using the figures above suggests an average scan rate of 3200 volumes per day (assuming 365 days/year for 6 years) at the University of Michigan site alone." [Tito Sierra on the WEB4LIB mailing list]

"An even quicker calculation shows that they will need to digitize 2.25 books a minute, 24 hours/day, 365 days/year to digitize 7 million volumes in six years." [Roy Tennant on the WEB4LIB mailing list]

  ¶ 9:11 AM 0 Comments

  The Year In Ideas DATA: The New York Times Magazine's The Year In Ideas is a perennial favorite of mine. Be sure to check it out.



Has it really been another year already? Well, 2004 for me was a year of preparing for 2005, tying up loose ends and what have you. Given that, I shouldn't be surprised it flew by. 2005 however has some monumental changes in store; it could be the longest year of my life since I was a kid.  ¶ 11:53 AM 3 Comments

  Interesting Seminars INFO SCIENCE: There are two interesting talks going on tonight at Intel Research Seattle. I won't be able to make either, but I thought I would pass the info along.

Mary Czerwinski from the MSR will be speaking on Information Visualization and Large Display Research. Wednesday, December 8th, 4-5pm

Abstract. Our early user studies documenting the increased productivity gained through the use of large displays allowed us to observe quite quickly that Windows and current applications do not scale well when vast amounts of screen real estate are available. Our group therefore set about iteratively designing software tools, based on real user problems, to support large-scale navigation and interaction. To ensure our software user interfaces provided value, we ran user studies against existing features and performed user-centered design. This talk will provide an overview of the prototypes we designed, and our methodology. In addition, I will discuss a few areas of long-term basic research on information visualization and interaction, and our attempts to scale the user experience across the spectrum of large and smaller displays.

Bio. Mary Czerwinski is a Senior Researcher and Manager of the Visualization and Interaction Research group at Microsoft Research. The group is responsible for studying and designing advanced technology and interaction techniques that leverage human capabilities across a wide variety of input and output channels. Mary'' primary research areas include spatial cognition, information visualization and task switching. Mary has been an affiliate assistant professor at the Department of Psychology, University of Washington since 1996. She has also held positions at Compaq Computer Corporation, Rice University, Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Corporation, and Bell Communications Research. She received a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Indiana University in Bloomington. Mary is active in the field of Human-Computer Interaction, publishing and participating in a wide number of conferences, professional venues and journals.

Erik Sudderth from MIT will be speaking on Visual Hand Tracking Using Nonparametric Belief Propagation. Wednesday, December 8th, 10:00 – 11:00pm

Abstract. Probabilistic graphical models provide a powerful general framework for formulating and solving learning and inference problems. However, practical applications of graphical models in fields such as computer vision are often hampered by high-dimensional variables and non-linear relationships. In this talk, we describe nonparametric belief propagation (NBP), a stochastic algorithm which propagates sample-based approximations to true, continuous likelihoods. NBP effectively extends particle filters to the more general graphs rising in problems with spatial or hierarchical structure.

We use NBP to visually track a 3D geometric hand model from image sequences, a challenging problem with applications in human-computer interfaces, motion capture, and scene understanding. Our tracker is based on a local representation chosen to allow information about each finger's location to guide the estimates of neighboring fingers. We show that the kinematic, structural, and temporal constraints underlying the tracking problem are naturally described by a graphical model. In addition, by introducing binary hidden variables describing the occlusion state of each pixel, NBP is able to properly reason about finger self-occlusions in a distributed fashion. Our results show that NBP may be used to refine inaccurate model initializations, as well as track hand motion through extended image sequences.

Bio. Erik Sudderth is a doctoral student in the department of electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received the M.S. degree in 2002.He received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of California at San Diego in 1999. His research interests include statistical modeling and machine learning, and in particular the application of graphical models to problems in computer vision.

  ¶ 1:31 PM 0 Comments

  Red States Ain't Abstaining INFO VISUALIZATION: It Affects You has a table showing the teen birth rates of red states and blue states.



The "value" column is the "Birth rate per 1,000 estimated female population aged 15-19 years in each area." The data comes from the 9th page of this 2002 CDC Report.

This analysis is interesting but I have a few questions.

1) Why is the District of Columbia missing? Perhaps because it is geographically the odd-man-out. Or maybe because it is the bluest of the blue states and also has a higher teenage birth rate then any other state listed (69.1).

2) How is abortion effecting this table? (This table shows only births, not the pregnancy rate overall.)  ¶ 9:16 AM 1 Comments

  Smaller Households DATA: C.S. Monitor has an interesting article on recent demographic shifts in America, complete with pop culture references to keep your attention.

Since 1970 the percentage of households containing five or more people has fallen by half. [...]

"The demographic trends that we are seeing are really quite dramatic, and are creating what I see as backlash," says Bella DePaulo, a psychologist at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Ms. DePaulo sees a gap between the nation's actual demographics and the way society is reflected on TV, in advertisements, and so forth. "There is this relentless glorification of marriage and coupling at a time in the nation's history when marriage has never been less important," says DePaulo.

  ¶ 2:11 PM 0 Comments

  Visualizing Systems & Processes INFO VISUALIZATION: Lately I've been doing a lot of interaction modeling and web-based information system design for an upcoming project. I usually focus on data visualization here, but information visualization can be so much more than(*) that. Sometimes the only way to clearly represent a model of a system or interaction or process is visually. My current UML-esque model (it's UML-esque and not just UML because I find formal UML so awfully restrictive) of the Java servlets that will run this site is a case-in-point. (I'll be posting these later.)

Anyway, musing aside, I really enjoyed a number of the visual representations of systems and processes over at Funnel Inc. They are a great example of how to use images to give a holistic view of a project.





(Via NiXLOG - Infographics)

* Thanks for the grammar tip, Philo. I know I constantly write then when I mean than, I'll try my best to catch future occurrences. :-)
  ¶ 1:55 PM 6 Comments

  "Low -- No Major Attack Planed on Your House In Next Hour" INFO VISUALIZATION: The Onion wins again. Check out their genius Iraqi Terror Alert System.

  ¶ 9:35 AM 0 Comments