Elastic Lists – Visualizing Metadata
29/03/2007
This project is an example of the “elastic list” principle for browsing multi-facetted data structures. The data is based on the Noble prize winners dataset used in the Flamenco facet browser. Elastic lists enhance traditional facet browsing approaches by, visualizing relative proportions (weights) of metadata values by size, visualizing unusualness of a metadata weight by brightness and animated filtering transitions. To use the application click any number of list entries to query the database for a combination of the selected attributes. If you create an “impossible” configuration, your selection will be reduced until a match is possible. You can also switch on little sparklines to see the temporal distribution of each metadata value. While I’ve seen this concept used several times before the elastic list interface was very fresh. Thanks!
Twittervision is a real-time geographic visualization of posts to 
In many ways this site feels like an exploration. There is no about section or faqs, so when you arrive you’re not really sure what to expect. As I found out, it turned out to be a wonderful visual experience. The site provides several free software packages that allow you to compose algorithmic music, image and video presentations. The results are stunning as you will see from the examples on the site. While it takes a little getting use to, the flash based navigation is fun easy to use. The downloads are available for Mac and PC.
As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts I’m very interested in new ways to present blog content. Data streams, attention data and rss blending all address this issue, however, they all still relay on activities presented in a liner fashion. While the standard blog layout works well for discovery I’m wondering if there is a way to display blog data in a new paradigm . Box Grid was originally developed as an experimental blog site. The two things I find most fascinating about Box Grid are the fact that it was originally released in 2002, and that does not use flash. The interface is all CSS and javascript based. While this type of content visualization will not work for every blog it’s a place where we can start to imagine new ways to surf a blog. The source code is also downloadable!
This visualization shows the carbon dioxide emission levels for every country in the world, as well as their birth and death rates – all in real-time. The site was created by David Bleja (a.k.a. Stillwater). All of the data used in the visualization comes from the World Factbook and the United Nations. To see it in action just mouse over any country and the application will display population, CO2 emissions, death and birth rates. Another column keeps a running tally of CO2 emissions, death and birth rates for the world in the time you’ve been on the site. This is a very insightful way to show the impact different countries have on climate change.
If you have children you know that many search engines retrieve sites you may not want them to see. If you’re a kid you know how boring most search engines can be. “Quintura, Inc. is the next-generation web search company that was launched with a mission to make Web search easier and faster by adding context or meaning to keywords and visualizing search. The patent-pending technology of Quintura is based on over a decade of the founders’ innovative research and development in the area of neural network and artificial intelligence”. Quintura also has a wonderful search for standard use, and a women’s version is planned soon. So far I love both versions that are public. 
This is a site which lets you see in real-time if any website is blocked or censored in China. They’ve created a website in China and they route your url request on greatfirewallofchina.org through to their server in China. The server in China opens the url and the result is send back. Their testing is only based on one server on one location in China. They do have different backup servers in different locations in China in case one goes down. Other locations and other servers may give you different access to the various websites. While the animation is really just an activity indicator, I felt it was an effective way of showing not only that there was something load, but also a sense of what I was waiting for (e.g. waiting for the server connections in each country). Nice job!
Visuwords online graphical dictionary is a way to look up words to find their meanings and associations with other words and concepts. Produce diagrams reminiscent of a neural net. Learn how words associate. Visuwords uses Princeton University’s WordNet, an opensource database built by University students and language researchers. Combined with a visualization tool and user interface built from a combination of modern web technologies, Visuwords is available as a free resource to all patrons of the web. To use the dictionary just enter words into the search box to look them up or double-click a node.