5 Ways to find, mix and mash your data
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
One of the most popular trends in online journalism is taking publicly available data and translating it into visualizations or infographics that readers and viewers can quickly and easily understand. A large percentage of the visualizations you see on the web were built from scratch, which can take a considerable amount of time and effort. The following sites allow you to mash your data in record time.
Swivel features more than 15,000 data sets for users to play with in various categories ranging from Economics to Health to Technology. From the data, users have created hundreds of thousands of graphs, charts and infographics, including the one below that visualizes the amount of rainfall in California since 1870. You can get started by copying and pasting your data or uploading an Excel spreadsheet or CSV file to the site. Once you've create your visualization, you can embed it anywhere on the web.
Socrata is an online space for data lovers to browse datasets as well as create new visualizations to share with others. The data itself can be visualized in a number of ways including, charts, maps, graphs and tables. The site has hundreds of datasets to choose from which can be mashed and downloaded into a variety of file formats including CSV, PDF and XML.
Widgenie lets users upload data from a variety of sources such as Excel spreadsheets, CSV files or Google Spreadsheets and using a drag and drop interface to create custom charts and graphs. Once the data has been arranged and styled, it is presented as a widget that can be embedded in web sites and social networks. Widgenie also has a premium service that offers unlimited widgets and branding opportunities.
Like the previously mentioned sites, Verifiable allows users to upload, mash and visualize data. Verifiable just launched earlier this year and has fewer publicly available data sets, but it does offer greater flexibility on how the data is styled and presented. Graphic designers will appreciate the ability to change and tweak the presentation and add details like custom labels and shading. Verifiable is free to use if you keep your charts public, but also has a inexpensive pricing plan for those who want to keep their work private.
There are a lot of cool things about DataMasher: the available datasets, the community built around that data, the unique visualization tools, and the easy-to-use interface of the site. What is truly intriguing about the site is the way users take two different datasets and create visual hypotheses. For example, to visualize the Most Reproductive States (US), one user combined the number of US births witH population figures from the 2008 US Census. You can check out the results below:
At the very least, DataMasher and the other sites listed here are great resources for generating ideas on how to mix and remix various datasets.
Also on 10,000 Words:
• Data centers, APIs and what they mean to journalism
• 12 ways to find the best in data visualization
• Where to find the best online interactive maps
• News databases: Turning numbers into knowledge
• 5 Ways to take your map mashups to the next level
Swivel
Swivel features more than 15,000 data sets for users to play with in various categories ranging from Economics to Health to Technology. From the data, users have created hundreds of thousands of graphs, charts and infographics, including the one below that visualizes the amount of rainfall in California since 1870. You can get started by copying and pasting your data or uploading an Excel spreadsheet or CSV file to the site. Once you've create your visualization, you can embed it anywhere on the web.
Socrata
Socrata is an online space for data lovers to browse datasets as well as create new visualizations to share with others. The data itself can be visualized in a number of ways including, charts, maps, graphs and tables. The site has hundreds of datasets to choose from which can be mashed and downloaded into a variety of file formats including CSV, PDF and XML.
Widgenie
Widgenie lets users upload data from a variety of sources such as Excel spreadsheets, CSV files or Google Spreadsheets and using a drag and drop interface to create custom charts and graphs. Once the data has been arranged and styled, it is presented as a widget that can be embedded in web sites and social networks. Widgenie also has a premium service that offers unlimited widgets and branding opportunities.
Verifiable
Like the previously mentioned sites, Verifiable allows users to upload, mash and visualize data. Verifiable just launched earlier this year and has fewer publicly available data sets, but it does offer greater flexibility on how the data is styled and presented. Graphic designers will appreciate the ability to change and tweak the presentation and add details like custom labels and shading. Verifiable is free to use if you keep your charts public, but also has a inexpensive pricing plan for those who want to keep their work private.
DataMasher
There are a lot of cool things about DataMasher: the available datasets, the community built around that data, the unique visualization tools, and the easy-to-use interface of the site. What is truly intriguing about the site is the way users take two different datasets and create visual hypotheses. For example, to visualize the Most Reproductive States (US), one user combined the number of US births witH population figures from the 2008 US Census. You can check out the results below:
At the very least, DataMasher and the other sites listed here are great resources for generating ideas on how to mix and remix various datasets.
Also on 10,000 Words:
• Data centers, APIs and what they mean to journalism
• 12 ways to find the best in data visualization
• Where to find the best online interactive maps
• News databases: Turning numbers into knowledge
• 5 Ways to take your map mashups to the next level
7 Amazing Twitter visualizations
Monday, September 21, 2009GoodMorning!
This stunning video visualizes Twitter users around the world who tweeted the phrase "good morning." Approximately 11,000 tweets in various languages were collected for the project and are color-coded by time of day. Find out more about how it was created here.
Information creation & circulation, after Twitter
It's no secret that Twitter has challenged mainstream news media when it comes to breaking news. Exactly how far behind do television and newspapers lag? About two hours and 8 hours, respectively, according to this chart.
twittervision
An oldie but goodie, Twittervision maps recent tweets on a Google map mashup. The result is both striking and hypnotic.
More Truth About Twitter
If the Twitter community were 100 people, 50 would be lazy and 20 would be dead, according to this visualization based on recent Twitter studies. Subsequent charts reveal that on average 40% of tweets are "inane" and Monday is the peak day for retweets.
Twitterfall
Twitter's public timeline never looked this good. Keep track of trending topics or your own search terms with this online tool that presents recent tweets as a never-ending cascade.
Just Landed
This video piece visualizes Twitter users who have just landed or arrived in locations around the world with streams that plot both their home location and the location where they arrived.
twistori
Twitter users can be an emotional bunch and nowhere else is that more clearly visualized than twistori, which sorts and streams tweets by various sentiments, including love, hate and believe.
Also on 10,000 Words:
• How to analyze your Twitter followers and friends
• Be inspired! 12 ways to find the best in data visualization
• 8 Ways of visualizing the news
• Databases and polls: When numbers are the news
• 10 Journalists you should follow on Twitter
Data centers, APIs and what they mean to journalism
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
For journalists, creating a database means sifting through tons of raw, often unorganized data, presenting it in an indexable way and sometimes finding the stories buried deep in the data. This is part of the long tradition of journalism: synthesizing information before it is presented to the public. The latest trend of posting raw data to the web means the public can examine news and statistics without filter and find their own stories without having a group of journalists figuring it out for them.
The online presentation of raw data has taken many forms. Mainstream news organizations like the New York Times, the Guardian and Advertising Age have created online data centers where large collections of numbers and statistics are available to the public to peruse at their leisure or, better yet, to mashup into their own databases and visualizations.
This is, of course, a part of a larger trend on the web of making data available for anyone who wants to view or use it. Data.gov, a project of the US government, houses data on everything from tax information to natural disaster statistics and makes the information available in a various digital formats including CSV and XML. The recently announced DataSF, a collection of data published by the city and county of San Francisco, California, has more than 100 datasets available for public use — everything from bridge locations and bodies of water to crime statistics and public works projects.
Posting raw data has its advantages over traditional journalism in that it gets the public involved and uncovers stories that even a team of journalists could not discover themselves. Earlier this year, the Guardian posted more than 450,000 pages of data on UK government officials' expenses and asked the public for help in finding interesting tidbits or information. Based on the public's findings, the staff created a series of stories that delineated outlandish expenses like £2000 to dredge a moat at a private estate.
The datasets presented by news organizations are often publicly available numbers and statistics that are can be found on- or offline. The difference is the data has been cleaned up and made available in a digital format that takes less time to sift through and understand. Datasets aren't limited to third party information either: NPR recently made more than 80,000 of its transcripts available via its recently announced Transcript API. The API allows developers to mashup the transcripts in ways that are yet to be seen.
But is posting raw data journalism? Where is the editing, the reporting, and all the values that are the bedrock of newsrooms everywhere? The core of a journalist's job is to spread the news and to inform the public. While posting raw data may not involve some of the traditional values of journalism, it is still sharing the news and telling the story. Even better, this system for sharing content lets the public decide for themselves what is news without the filter of a news outlet to decide for them. This process encapsulates the core values of online journalism: collaboration, openness and stepping outside of traditional means of delivering the news.
The online presentation of raw data has taken many forms. Mainstream news organizations like the New York Times, the Guardian and Advertising Age have created online data centers where large collections of numbers and statistics are available to the public to peruse at their leisure or, better yet, to mashup into their own databases and visualizations.
This is, of course, a part of a larger trend on the web of making data available for anyone who wants to view or use it. Data.gov, a project of the US government, houses data on everything from tax information to natural disaster statistics and makes the information available in a various digital formats including CSV and XML. The recently announced DataSF, a collection of data published by the city and county of San Francisco, California, has more than 100 datasets available for public use — everything from bridge locations and bodies of water to crime statistics and public works projects.
Posting raw data has its advantages over traditional journalism in that it gets the public involved and uncovers stories that even a team of journalists could not discover themselves. Earlier this year, the Guardian posted more than 450,000 pages of data on UK government officials' expenses and asked the public for help in finding interesting tidbits or information. Based on the public's findings, the staff created a series of stories that delineated outlandish expenses like £2000 to dredge a moat at a private estate.
The datasets presented by news organizations are often publicly available numbers and statistics that are can be found on- or offline. The difference is the data has been cleaned up and made available in a digital format that takes less time to sift through and understand. Datasets aren't limited to third party information either: NPR recently made more than 80,000 of its transcripts available via its recently announced Transcript API. The API allows developers to mashup the transcripts in ways that are yet to be seen.
But is posting raw data journalism? Where is the editing, the reporting, and all the values that are the bedrock of newsrooms everywhere? The core of a journalist's job is to spread the news and to inform the public. While posting raw data may not involve some of the traditional values of journalism, it is still sharing the news and telling the story. Even better, this system for sharing content lets the public decide for themselves what is news without the filter of a news outlet to decide for them. This process encapsulates the core values of online journalism: collaboration, openness and stepping outside of traditional means of delivering the news.
Labels: database
5 Online tools for following US government officials
Monday, August 31, 2009
The 2008 U.S. election season may be over, but the real work has only just begun. The following tools are tracking the every move of President Barack Obama and Congress in easy to use online tools that can turn any user into a political watchdog.
It's safe to say that the members of Congress talk a great deal while in session. In total, more than 14.5 million words were spoken in the 110th Congress. Congress Speaks is a fun, interactive guide to who was speaking those words and how often. From the site we know that California Congressman Joe Baca spoke more than 24,000 words during the session and, from the small word cloud that accompanies each Congressperson, his focus was on families, children and food.
A more timely and serious approach to tracking Congress, Capitol Words, a project of the Sunlight Foundation, tracks the most frequently spoken words said on the Hill. The data can be viewed a number of ways, including a bar chart that highlights the most commonly spoken words, a heat map that visualizes the most vocal states, and few other bar charts that highlight the most and least vocal Congresspeople. The words are also sortable by day, week, month, session, Congressperson and are searchable by topic.
The Post has made it easier to find out where the president has been at any given time with its POTUS Tracker, an interactive database that uses a tree map to visualize where the president has been and what issues he discussed. The database can be sorted by issues, the type of meeting or venue, and by those in attendance. Clicking further into the project reveals a tailored list of the president's actions in relation to the selected category. The database also has an accompanying RSS feed for keeping track of President Obama 24/7.
After the 2008 election, the now Pulitzer-prize winning site PolitiFact shifted its focus to President Obama and the rest of Washington. The site's Obameter tracks the campaign promises the president made during his campaign on categorizes them as Kept, Unkept, No Action, and a few other categories. The tool is remarkable in that traditional media have long been passive about holding candidates accountable for the promises made to voters.
The site still features its Truth-O-Meter, a holdover from the campaign season that analyzes the statements of key political figures and rates them on a scale from True to "Pants on Fire."
There are obviously a lot of words flowing from lawmakers' mouths, but what does the American public actually think of its current and past Commanders in Chief? USA Today has created an insightful interactive chart that compares past presidents' approval ratings — from Harry Truman to Barack Obama. Users can select and two or more presidents and compare their standings while in office and adjust the graph by date.
For more online political tools and visualizations, including perspctv and FiveThirtyEight, check out the previous post 15 Ways to follow the 2008 election online.
Also on 10,000 Words:
• 10 Inspirational New York Times multimedia and interactive features
• News databases: Turning numbers into knowledge
• 8 Ways of visualizing the news
• Where to find the best in Flash journalism
Congress Speaks
It's safe to say that the members of Congress talk a great deal while in session. In total, more than 14.5 million words were spoken in the 110th Congress. Congress Speaks is a fun, interactive guide to who was speaking those words and how often. From the site we know that California Congressman Joe Baca spoke more than 24,000 words during the session and, from the small word cloud that accompanies each Congressperson, his focus was on families, children and food.
Capitol Words
A more timely and serious approach to tracking Congress, Capitol Words, a project of the Sunlight Foundation, tracks the most frequently spoken words said on the Hill. The data can be viewed a number of ways, including a bar chart that highlights the most commonly spoken words, a heat map that visualizes the most vocal states, and few other bar charts that highlight the most and least vocal Congresspeople. The words are also sortable by day, week, month, session, Congressperson and are searchable by topic.
The Washington Post: POTUS Tracker
The Post has made it easier to find out where the president has been at any given time with its POTUS Tracker, an interactive database that uses a tree map to visualize where the president has been and what issues he discussed. The database can be sorted by issues, the type of meeting or venue, and by those in attendance. Clicking further into the project reveals a tailored list of the president's actions in relation to the selected category. The database also has an accompanying RSS feed for keeping track of President Obama 24/7.
PolitiFact
After the 2008 election, the now Pulitzer-prize winning site PolitiFact shifted its focus to President Obama and the rest of Washington. The site's Obameter tracks the campaign promises the president made during his campaign on categorizes them as Kept, Unkept, No Action, and a few other categories. The tool is remarkable in that traditional media have long been passive about holding candidates accountable for the promises made to voters.
The site still features its Truth-O-Meter, a holdover from the campaign season that analyzes the statements of key political figures and rates them on a scale from True to "Pants on Fire."
USA Today: Presidential Approval Tracker
There are obviously a lot of words flowing from lawmakers' mouths, but what does the American public actually think of its current and past Commanders in Chief? USA Today has created an insightful interactive chart that compares past presidents' approval ratings — from Harry Truman to Barack Obama. Users can select and two or more presidents and compare their standings while in office and adjust the graph by date.
For more online political tools and visualizations, including perspctv and FiveThirtyEight, check out the previous post 15 Ways to follow the 2008 election online.
Also on 10,000 Words:
• 10 Inspirational New York Times multimedia and interactive features
• News databases: Turning numbers into knowledge
• 8 Ways of visualizing the news
• Where to find the best in Flash journalism
Databases and polls: When numbers are the news
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Many news organizations have for years culled news stories from analog databases such as police records or census information and most online news media have set up quick polls that are attached to their news stories. Because of the internet and the multimedia tools available to us, we can do more with the facts and figures we might otherwise overlook. The following sites and news sections have taken ordinary numbers and have turned them into extraordinary resources.
SickCity harnesses a simple, but impressive idea: use Twitter to gauge how sick people are in a particular area. Using Twitter to find out if the flu is spreading within 10 miles of New York City, for example, is as easy searching for "flu near:NYC within:10mi." Putting it all together is what SC has done well, compiling information on various diseases as they spread in cities around the world.
Does it feel like there are more traffic accidents than normal happening in your area? Find out for sure with this interactive map that uses colored dots to display the frequency of fatal accidents across the U.S. The genius of this project is that traffic fatality numbers are often readily available to news organizations, but it is when they are displayed in this sort of interactive environment that the gravity of the numbers sinks in.
ZipWho has taken readily available census information and converted it into a database, searchable by zip code or by demographic information. A zip code search of a particular Kansas City neighborhood reveals that of its more than 14,000 residents, the median age is about 30 and 6.5 percent have a college degree. The latter statistic is low compared to the national average, as evidenced in the percentile column on the right.
Police mugshots as a group can be an unintentionally humorous collection which leaves the criminals exposed, which is perhaps why some reacted negatively to the St. Petersburg Times' news project on its debut. The site culls what is already publicly available and brings to light common trends amongst area criminals, something a simple rehash of the police docket could not do. People may be tsk tsking now, but look for similar sites to pop up in the future.
More after the jump
Most mainstream media news sites have incorporated polls either on their front page or on individual stories. Usually they are built with the site's CMS and thus aren't visually interesting. OwnyourC flips the notion of what a poll can be by offering a stunning, Flash-based poll that incorporates animation but still makes the question the focal point. Lest you think the site is all razzle dazzle, the submitted answers can be broken down by age, gender and location.
GoodvBad isn't exactly breaking new ground with its collection of polls, but it is worth noting here. Site visitors are presented with a subject and are asked if something is either good or bad. What's remarkable is the collection of polls in one place and the simplistic manner of eliciting responses.
Knowing whether your neighborhood has a high rate a chlamydia is a little more alarming than knowing if the flu is going around, but if you need such information the Star has made it available. Neighborhoods are broken down into blocks and assigned a color on the heat map: the darker the color, the higher the chance your neighbor is harboring an unwelcome visitor. The map is even searchable by address. Disturbing? Yes. Useful? Absolutely.
Also on 10,000 Words
• Innovative multimedia centered on the ordinary and everyday
• News databases: Turning numbers into knowledge
• Visual and interactive guides to the economic crisis
• Tracking down criminals with crime maps
• 15 Ways to follow the 2008 election online
SickCity
SickCity harnesses a simple, but impressive idea: use Twitter to gauge how sick people are in a particular area. Using Twitter to find out if the flu is spreading within 10 miles of New York City, for example, is as easy searching for "flu near:NYC within:10mi." Putting it all together is what SC has done well, compiling information on various diseases as they spread in cities around the world.
Risky Roads Traffic Map
Does it feel like there are more traffic accidents than normal happening in your area? Find out for sure with this interactive map that uses colored dots to display the frequency of fatal accidents across the U.S. The genius of this project is that traffic fatality numbers are often readily available to news organizations, but it is when they are displayed in this sort of interactive environment that the gravity of the numbers sinks in.
ZipWho.com
ZipWho has taken readily available census information and converted it into a database, searchable by zip code or by demographic information. A zip code search of a particular Kansas City neighborhood reveals that of its more than 14,000 residents, the median age is about 30 and 6.5 percent have a college degree. The latter statistic is low compared to the national average, as evidenced in the percentile column on the right.
Tampa Bay Mug Shots
Police mugshots as a group can be an unintentionally humorous collection which leaves the criminals exposed, which is perhaps why some reacted negatively to the St. Petersburg Times' news project on its debut. The site culls what is already publicly available and brings to light common trends amongst area criminals, something a simple rehash of the police docket could not do. People may be tsk tsking now, but look for similar sites to pop up in the future.
More after the jump
ownyourC.com
Most mainstream media news sites have incorporated polls either on their front page or on individual stories. Usually they are built with the site's CMS and thus aren't visually interesting. OwnyourC flips the notion of what a poll can be by offering a stunning, Flash-based poll that incorporates animation but still makes the question the focal point. Lest you think the site is all razzle dazzle, the submitted answers can be broken down by age, gender and location.
GoodvBad
GoodvBad isn't exactly breaking new ground with its collection of polls, but it is worth noting here. Site visitors are presented with a subject and are asked if something is either good or bad. What's remarkable is the collection of polls in one place and the simplistic manner of eliciting responses.
Toronto Star's sexually transmitted disease maps
Knowing whether your neighborhood has a high rate a chlamydia is a little more alarming than knowing if the flu is going around, but if you need such information the Star has made it available. Neighborhoods are broken down into blocks and assigned a color on the heat map: the darker the color, the higher the chance your neighbor is harboring an unwelcome visitor. The map is even searchable by address. Disturbing? Yes. Useful? Absolutely.
Also on 10,000 Words
• Innovative multimedia centered on the ordinary and everyday
• News databases: Turning numbers into knowledge
• Visual and interactive guides to the economic crisis
• Tracking down criminals with crime maps
• 15 Ways to follow the 2008 election online
Visual and interactive guides to the economic crisis
Monday, March 02, 2009
As the economy continues to take a turn for the worse, many media organization and citizen journalists are finding creative and innovative ways to explain the complex factors that contribute to the slump.
USA Today uses a Flash-based map to compare homeowners who took on large amounts of debt to purchase a new home in 2000 versus 2007. Viewers of the interactive project can use a scrubber to toggle between the two years and make direct comparisons.
The New York Times also uses a scrubber to illustrate the ups and downs (but mostly downs) of the nation's stocks and commodities in 2008. Along with facts and figures, the interactive also provides a chilling narrative that explains the dwindling numbers.
Nothing's scarier than a sea of red, whether it's tons of edits scribbled in red ink or an indicator of a declining stock market. The S&P 500 Heatmap is a visual representation of the stock index that more cleverly illustrates just how bad things are.
MapLib takes the stock market/mapping idea in another direction with its Google Maps mashup of the world's financial centers. Bad news is it's red all over the world.
CNN has blended video of the everyday people who have been affected by the economic downturn with an interactive map of the unemployment rates, job losses and foreclosure rates in each of the 50 states. The project puts a face on what otherwise would be a series of sobering numbers.
The Crisis of Credit Visualised by Johnathan Jarvis is a unique video that explains one cause of economic woes through motion typography and animation. And because even a global financial meltdown sounds great when put to song, "Mortgage Crisis Blues" aural interpretation of why many homeowners found themselves in more debt than they could afford is depressing, yet catchy.
The New York Times asks "Has your portfolio plummeted? So has ours." It would be funny if it wasn't both serious and true. Nevertheless, the Times' "Calculate Your Financial Comeback" lets users input a set of variables, including current portfolio value, to determine how long it will take to recover from financial lows. The time span can be either heartbreaking or optimistic, depending on the answer returned.
Also on 10,000 Words
•Exploring the human body through multimedia
•8 Ways of visualizing the news
•Where to find the best in Flash journalism
USA Today uses a Flash-based map to compare homeowners who took on large amounts of debt to purchase a new home in 2000 versus 2007. Viewers of the interactive project can use a scrubber to toggle between the two years and make direct comparisons.
The New York Times also uses a scrubber to illustrate the ups and downs (but mostly downs) of the nation's stocks and commodities in 2008. Along with facts and figures, the interactive also provides a chilling narrative that explains the dwindling numbers.
Nothing's scarier than a sea of red, whether it's tons of edits scribbled in red ink or an indicator of a declining stock market. The S&P 500 Heatmap is a visual representation of the stock index that more cleverly illustrates just how bad things are.
MapLib takes the stock market/mapping idea in another direction with its Google Maps mashup of the world's financial centers. Bad news is it's red all over the world.
CNN has blended video of the everyday people who have been affected by the economic downturn with an interactive map of the unemployment rates, job losses and foreclosure rates in each of the 50 states. The project puts a face on what otherwise would be a series of sobering numbers.
The Crisis of Credit Visualised by Johnathan Jarvis is a unique video that explains one cause of economic woes through motion typography and animation. And because even a global financial meltdown sounds great when put to song, "Mortgage Crisis Blues" aural interpretation of why many homeowners found themselves in more debt than they could afford is depressing, yet catchy.
The New York Times asks "Has your portfolio plummeted? So has ours." It would be funny if it wasn't both serious and true. Nevertheless, the Times' "Calculate Your Financial Comeback" lets users input a set of variables, including current portfolio value, to determine how long it will take to recover from financial lows. The time span can be either heartbreaking or optimistic, depending on the answer returned.
Also on 10,000 Words
•Exploring the human body through multimedia
•8 Ways of visualizing the news
•Where to find the best in Flash journalism
How news media covered the 2008 presidential inauguration
Friday, January 23, 2009Photography
By now you've probably already seen CNN's mind-numbingly detailed photograph created from thousands of user-submitted photos and blended using Photosynth technology. But have you seen the following interactive image created by photographer David Bergman?
Bergman created the high-resolution image by combining over 200 images using Gigapan's stitching software (more on Gigapan here). The Associated Press also has an interactive, high-res image for users to play around with.
Leave it to the New York Times to take an already incredible technology one step further. In its interactive inauguration photo, users can click a name or hover over a person in the photo to identify who they are. The usual suspects, including senators and dignitaries, can be easily spotted.
The Washington Post takes a different approach by composing a mosaic created from thousands of photos shot by citizen journalists and staff photographers from both the Post and the Associated Press.
Sometimes a good photo is just a photo, no interactive whizbang required. The Big Picture has a great collection of inauguration day photos, including the now instantly recognizable satellite photo of crowds gathered to hear Barack Obama's inauguration speech (Click here for an explanation of how the estimated 1 million people in attendance were counted).
Speech/Word Analysis
After the inauguration, 50 million word clouds emerged, most created using Wordle, that analyzed Barack Obama's now historic speech. Once again, the New York Times took the word analysis concept to another level with "Inaugural Words: 1789 to the Present," a historical analysis of commonly recurring words used in presidential speeches, beginning with George Washington.
The real innovation, however, came from sites like ManyEyes, which visualized the speech as an interactive word tree, and Delve Networks which applied its audio search technology to extract not only the words that were spoken, but where they can be found in the address. Give the technology a spin by searching the video below for words like "America" or "hope."
Citizen Journalism
The Washington Post made use of its TimeSpace technology (previously covered here) to create a mapped record of inauguration photos and video. TimeSpace: Inauguration allows anyone to search through the geotagged coverage in a multi-layered interactive environment.
Twitter was a hotbed of exchanges about the excitement surrounding the inauguration and no one knows this better than FlowingData. To visualize the Twitter buzz surrounding the event, the site tracked positive responses to the inauguration all over the world in what, as it progresses, looks like fireworks. (Click image to view project)
To make sure now President Obama sticks to his more than 500 campaign promises, PolitiFact will be keeping tabs on his administration with the Obameter, a digital counter that lists each and every one and whether it has been fulfilled or not. So far Obama has kept seven and 14 more are still in the works.
And finally, proof that print ain't dead (yet). Click the image below to view the hundreds of newspapers around the world on which the inauguration of President Obama is front page news.
Also on 10,000 Words:
• 15 Ways to follow the 2008 election online
• Essential resources for panoramic photography
• 7 Eye-popping interactive timelines (and 3 ways to create one)
• Word cloud analysis of 2008 DNC Speeches
Labels: citizen journalism, database, maps, photos, social networking
8 Interactive online projects that educate and captivate
Monday, January 19, 2009Obama's Team
Sure you could read the in-depth reports or watch the tiresome press conferences to find out more about Barack Obama's cabinet team members. Or you can just use the interactive infographic from Spiegel Online that uses a carousel menu to illustrate the President-elect's political circle (learn how to create a similar effect here). The text is in German, but you don't have to speak the language to understand how engaging this project is.
Going to the End of the Line
Anyone who was ever lived or visited New York will recognize areas like Canarsie and Far Rockaway as a sort of a mythical no man's land, the end of the line where many subway riders rarely venture. The New York Times brought these and several other train stops to life through a compelling photo project that functions as an multi-level slideshow.
wordia
The dictionary has been around for centuries, but even its current digital form not much has changed since they were first being printed. Wordia is giving the lexicon a Web 2.0 makeover by providing a forum for anyone to upload what particular words mean to them. "Refuge" is commonly defined as "shelter or protection," but the user in the screenshot below describes refuge as "jumping into a hot shower after being trapped outside in the cold for hours." You won't find that in Webster's.
Breathing Earth
Because we can't physically see CO² emissions, it's hard to imagine the possible destruction the gas is causing the planet. The Breathing Earth simulation attempts to visualize the effects of greenhouse gases and blends an interactive infographic with changing statistics.
Obama's "Whistle Stop" Train Tour
CNN again makes use of its iReport feature to let citizen journalists be the ones to capture Obama's ride on the rails as he made his way to Washington, D.C. User-generated video is blended with CNN reports and mapped to give the user an interactive feel for the journey.
AfricaMap
There are likely hundreds of thousands of maps that document the African continent, but internet users can find all the map they'll need at this Harvard-created interactive project. The simple map can become more and more complex as various levels of data are layered on top of each other. Below, a 2007 index of Africa's power plants rests atop a 1770 historical map.
Perspectives
Imagine talking heads who don't talk at all. The video series from BaseMotion asks several people for their opinion on an issue and instead of showing their answers, shows only the pauses, breaks, ums and aahs. The stripped-down interview is a demonstration of human idiosyncrasies and reactions, rather than an attempt to gather opinions.
Whack-A-Bone
It's a human anatomy lesson cleverly disguised as a game! Players attempt to drag and drop bones in their correct locations while facing a timer. After playing the game, you'll not only know where the phalanges and humerus bones are, but you'll be able to identify them in record time.
Also on 10,000 Words:
• Exploring the human body through multimedia
• Create brilliant multimedia projects from the mundane
• Online news games are fun (and informative!)
Labels: citizen journalism, database, flash, photos, video
News databases: Turning numbers into knowledge
Monday, December 22, 2008
Posting large amounts of data on the web violates the very reason the internet exists. Creating a well-presented news database requires a lot of time and effort, but in the end provides an unmatched service. Here a few news sites that have taken advantage of new media technology to create exceptional databases:
The tales of murder recounted in Jill Leovy's Homicide Report blog were compiled into a database that visually illustrates the city's lethal trend. The figures are sortable by age, race, gender and a number of other factors.
The BBC tells the same story — the startling number of teenagers killed in the country — four different ways with narrative text, a tabled list, a map, and an infographic of the statistics. The entire project is founded on a database of information that otherwise would be a list of faceless names.
Two years of investigative reporting and hundreds of man hours went into creating an index of Florida teachers accused of misconduct. The more than 750 teachers in the database are searchable right down to the street level.
The Sun's interactive map shows the frequency of delayed flights to and from McCarran Airport over a 12-year period. Users can search either for a particular flight route or click a city to discover the number of delays for that airport.
The more than 4,000 U.S. service members who died in the Iraq war can seem like an overwhelming number. This interactive infographic lets users break down that number to determine when and where those deaths occurred.
The Register combined text, photo and video accounts into a chilling, yet awe-inspiring database of the devastation and aftermath of the May 2008 tornado.
Cincinnati.com has created what is sure to be the future of online journalism: multi-level, searchable databases in which users can view layers of information on top of an interactive map. It sounds like a lot because it is, but the service and others like it will be incredibly useful for years to come.
For more information on what makes a good news database, check out Rich Gordon's Data as journalism, journalism as data. Also, be sure to check out the work at EveryBlock and washingtonpost.com.
Previously on 10,000 Words:
• Tracking down criminals with crime maps
• 10 Mind-blowing maps (and 3 ways to create them)
Los Angeles Times Homicide Map
The tales of murder recounted in Jill Leovy's Homicide Report blog were compiled into a database that visually illustrates the city's lethal trend. The figures are sortable by age, race, gender and a number of other factors.
BBC News: Mapping UK's teen murder toll
The BBC tells the same story — the startling number of teenagers killed in the country — four different ways with narrative text, a tabled list, a map, and an infographic of the statistics. The entire project is founded on a database of information that otherwise would be a list of faceless names.
HeraldTribune.com: Broken Trust
Two years of investigative reporting and hundreds of man hours went into creating an index of Florida teachers accused of misconduct. The more than 750 teachers in the database are searchable right down to the street level.
Las Vegas Sun: Flight Delay Calculator
The Sun's interactive map shows the frequency of delayed flights to and from McCarran Airport over a 12-year period. Users can search either for a particular flight route or click a city to discover the number of delays for that airport.
The New York Times: Casualties of War
The more than 4,000 U.S. service members who died in the Iraq war can seem like an overwhelming number. This interactive infographic lets users break down that number to determine when and where those deaths occurred.
Des Moines Register: Parkersburg Tornado
The Register combined text, photo and video accounts into a chilling, yet awe-inspiring database of the devastation and aftermath of the May 2008 tornado.
Cincinnati.com: CinciNavigator
Cincinnati.com has created what is sure to be the future of online journalism: multi-level, searchable databases in which users can view layers of information on top of an interactive map. It sounds like a lot because it is, but the service and others like it will be incredibly useful for years to come.
For more information on what makes a good news database, check out Rich Gordon's Data as journalism, journalism as data. Also, be sure to check out the work at EveryBlock and washingtonpost.com.
Previously on 10,000 Words:
• Tracking down criminals with crime maps
• 10 Mind-blowing maps (and 3 ways to create them)
15 Ways to follow the 2008 election online
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The power of the net to provide more innovative political coverage than what is possible in traditional forms of media has never been more evidenced than in this political season. Major news organizations and citizen journalists alike have harnessed the power of the web to provide the most comprehensive coverage of the US presidential election than has ever been possible. Here are some of the best ways to follow the political landscape online:
If there weren't 14 other sites on this list then perspctv would be the one stop for any election news seeker. The site culls the latest news, blog posts and tweets and provides insightful charts and maps as well as an embeddable widget for keeping track of it all.
We know the candidates are campaigning all over the country, but who are they campaigning in front of? The Christian Science Monitor has the answer. The site's analysis shows both Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama spent a good chunk of their time in wealthy suburbs and big cities.
Everyone knows Twitter is abuzz with political views, skews and insights, including the observations of Twitter stars FakeSarahPalin and CNN's Rick Sanchez. Twitter Chatter is one way to wrangle these conversations as well as to see on a map where they are coming from.
FiveThirtyEight.com is the dream of any political statistics hound. The site has the latest polls, the latest news, the latest charts, graphs, statistics, hypotheticals...the latest everything. It's like a political rabbit hole...check it out only if you have time to spare.
"Show me the money!" Okay it's 2008, not 1996, but if you're curious to know where the campaign money is coming from, Political Base has you covered with a well-designed Google map as well as a list of big name contributors and a handy search form.
Tube the Vote strives to provide a balanced view of issues that are affecting this year's presidential election by scouring the web for video, blog posts, Flickr photos and more that celebrate or repudiate either side.
Get to know the presidential and vice presidential candidates a little better by following the milestones of their lives on a Google Map. Anyone can follow the journey of John McCain, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin or Joe Biden.
Voters tired of the spin and searching for the truth will appreciate PolitiFact's analysis of recent campaign assertions. Was Sen. Obama referring to Sarah Palin when he mentioned "lipstick on a pig?" No way, says PolitiFact. Does Sen. McCain support tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas? Not that simple, according to the site.
iPhone users will be glad to know that they don't have to be at a computer to track the latest on the 2008 presidential race. The iPhone application is a great source for tracking the latest polls as long as you don't check to often — Election 08 is sometimes behind in its updates.
To say these two wikis are unbiased would be a big misstatement — the former is run by the DNC, the other is populated by Obama fans. Still, using modern technology to encourage citizen participation is never a bad thing.
This genius bit of citizen participation encourages everyone to not only speak their mind to President Bush, but to presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama as well. Recent responses — which are themselves wholly interesting and telling — are displayed on each page.
This Google map knows where the candidates will be and when and makes that information at the click of a button. Campaign appearances for both candidates are listed in reverse chronological order as well as marked on a map.
Video of campaign speeches from both Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain are tracked and mapped on these map mashups that incorporate video from YouTube.
Everymoment Now uses a unique graph to chart the number of times a candidate was mentioned on any particular day since August of this year. Clicking on a bar in the chart reveals news stories that were published that day as well as more detailed charts and graphs.
If you plan on voting in the upcoming US election, but still don't know which candidate to vote for, the Match-o-Matic is sure to help. The humorous, interactive quiz gives the user two quotes — one from Sen. Obama and one from Sen. McCain — and the user selects which one they agree with most without knowing who said it. The final tally reveals which presidential candidate's platform the user is more likely to side with.
1. perspctv
If there weren't 14 other sites on this list then perspctv would be the one stop for any election news seeker. The site culls the latest news, blog posts and tweets and provides insightful charts and maps as well as an embeddable widget for keeping track of it all.
2. Patchwork Nation
We know the candidates are campaigning all over the country, but who are they campaigning in front of? The Christian Science Monitor has the answer. The site's analysis shows both Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama spent a good chunk of their time in wealthy suburbs and big cities.
3. Election '08 Twitter Chatter
Everyone knows Twitter is abuzz with political views, skews and insights, including the observations of Twitter stars FakeSarahPalin and CNN's Rick Sanchez. Twitter Chatter is one way to wrangle these conversations as well as to see on a map where they are coming from.
4. FiveThirtyEight.com
FiveThirtyEight.com is the dream of any political statistics hound. The site has the latest polls, the latest news, the latest charts, graphs, statistics, hypotheticals...the latest everything. It's like a political rabbit hole...check it out only if you have time to spare.
5. Map of 2008 Presidential Contributions
"Show me the money!" Okay it's 2008, not 1996, but if you're curious to know where the campaign money is coming from, Political Base has you covered with a well-designed Google map as well as a list of big name contributors and a handy search form.
6. Tube the Vote!
Tube the Vote strives to provide a balanced view of issues that are affecting this year's presidential election by scouring the web for video, blog posts, Flickr photos and more that celebrate or repudiate either side.
7. Candidates' life journeys
Get to know the presidential and vice presidential candidates a little better by following the milestones of their lives on a Google Map. Anyone can follow the journey of John McCain, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin or Joe Biden.
8. PolitiFact's The Attack Files
Voters tired of the spin and searching for the truth will appreciate PolitiFact's analysis of recent campaign assertions. Was Sen. Obama referring to Sarah Palin when he mentioned "lipstick on a pig?" No way, says PolitiFact. Does Sen. McCain support tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas? Not that simple, according to the site.
9. Election 08
iPhone users will be glad to know that they don't have to be at a computer to track the latest on the 2008 presidential race. The iPhone application is a great source for tracking the latest polls as long as you don't check to often — Election 08 is sometimes behind in its updates.
10. McCainPedia/Obamapedia
To say these two wikis are unbiased would be a big misstatement — the former is run by the DNC, the other is populated by Obama fans. Still, using modern technology to encourage citizen participation is never a bad thing.
11. What Would You Say to the President?
This genius bit of citizen participation encourages everyone to not only speak their mind to President Bush, but to presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama as well. Recent responses — which are themselves wholly interesting and telling — are displayed on each page.
12. Google Maps (campaign trail)
This Google map knows where the candidates will be and when and makes that information at the click of a button. Campaign appearances for both candidates are listed in reverse chronological order as well as marked on a map.
13. Google Maps (video)
Video of campaign speeches from both Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain are tracked and mapped on these map mashups that incorporate video from YouTube.
14. Everymoment Now
Everymoment Now uses a unique graph to chart the number of times a candidate was mentioned on any particular day since August of this year. Clicking on a bar in the chart reveals news stories that were published that day as well as more detailed charts and graphs.
15. ABC News' Match-o-Matic
If you plan on voting in the upcoming US election, but still don't know which candidate to vote for, the Match-o-Matic is sure to help. The humorous, interactive quiz gives the user two quotes — one from Sen. Obama and one from Sen. McCain — and the user selects which one they agree with most without knowing who said it. The final tally reveals which presidential candidate's platform the user is more likely to side with.
Labels: citizen journalism, database, maps, mobile, photos, social networking, video, widgets, wiki
