on that project two grind
So today I decided to try and find some examples of data visualisations and comment about why the particular examples I choose appeal to me. Firstly I have been trying to find out exactly when the shift began to occur but that is proving to be a daunting task.
I can understand that the shift by many individuals and companies towards representing data in a visually pleasing manner stems from the availability of media tools to effectively open up new dimensions of interpretation. I have come to think of it as the evolution of data. Where it has been is still for some application but where it is at and where it is going as well as where it could go is what is exciting at this point in time.
Ok, so these are the examples that I have come across and it is good to note that graphing like this is even being adopted at government levels so it feels like a somewhat global shift.
The Fidg’t Visualizer is interesting because of how it works, aestheically it isn’t very inviting but coupled with your Flickr or Last.fm account, people in your network are subject to a ‘gravitational’ pull to a certain string or line called a Tag Magnet. When a tag magnet is created, others in your network that have that tag on their account a pulled towards that string. Link: Fidg’t Visualiser
This is the ‘stack’ visualiser by Digg Labs. I liked this because of its simplicity…people are dropped from the top and added to a line. The more people that flock to a certain story, the taller the line gets and it starts to change colour.
As for my project itself, I have worked out exactly what I would like to do and that is to do something that incorporates the music I losten to on my computer from my iTunes account - it will be data representing the amount of times I’ve listened to a song, top genres and days when played the most. Over the next few days/weeks I will try and figure out the best way to graph my figures.
