Many-Eyes: Data visualization for Non-Scientists
Last Thursday, I attended one of the ongoing Parc Forum speaker series events in Palo Alto. The presenting duo of Martin Wattenberg & Fernanda Viegas hail from IBM Visual Research and the technology they were showing off is Many Eyes. The concept behind Many Eyes is that advanced data analysis shouldn’t be restricted to the scientific community. Any and all people should be able to support their hypothesis and opinions with visual aids that enhance understanding. This philosophy fits in perfectly with the blogosphere and shift away from mainstream media as a news outlet. Now, Joe blogger, can post about the correlation of fossil fuel pollution and population density and back up his view with pollution data number combined with land mass, all overlayed onto a world map.
After the jump – Sample Analysis of the CNN Democratic debate & Macworld 2008 Keynote address (more…)
Save us Sergey & Larry!
Yahoo’s rebel forces have a hidden message for Google. Save us from the evil Empire! (Star Wars spoof)
Enjoy!
Why strategy is critical
With the impending recession and all the media articles about pending layoffs at Yahoo!, I can’t help but think the culture of corporations as they grow has some terrible trends. That aside, I also think in the case of Y! the media is going too far and screaming for blood from their chosen poster child. Nonetheless, the trend is disturbing.
This article on News.com outlines the identity crisis at Y! and why it led to managers focusing on building empires and protecting their turf, rather than on creating the best product and experience for their customers. This is eerily similar to the big American automotive companies and their decline in the face of global competition. GM, Ford & Chrysler assumed that people would buy their cars just because they offered them. This led to cars that didn’t meet the market’s demands and a huge opening for the Asian and European automakers to step into.
Are Social Networking users getting bored?
I just ran across this article from Alleyinsider.com analyzing the latest comScore user engagement numbers and asking the question: Are all of the users on Facebook and Myspace just getting bored? Have they run out of things to do?
Interesting question… Is this a widespread fad, or just a leveling off as users accept functionality and settle into a routine. All of the young folk and technology are on board and happy. We have seen a lot of sites and new technology in the last few years completely focused on tracking and publishing our every movement. Some argue that this is a generational difference and younger generations are comfortable and happy uploading their every movement. Common sense tells me that this may be true while they’re in school and have ample free time, but that the trend can’t continue as they enter the workforce. Call me old school, but technology has to be useful for it to succeed long-term.
And is it hurting the people who use it? Is the crazy amount of multitasking a good thing? I’ve never found that multitasking worked well for me. Sure, I could get a lot done, but the quality suffers. For me personally, I work best when I can sit down and really crank something out. A recent article in the Atlantic notes similar experiences and studies that show that while humans can multitask, they don’t retain the information they’ve processed.
All of this is coming together and we’re continuing further down the path of information overload – moblogs, Twitter, etc… I’m sure this will all evolve into something used and loved by many, but until social networking really finds a way to merge online and offline connections, we aren’t there yet. Some niches are bringing this together, but they’re the outliers right now.
