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Infoporn & Data Addiction

admin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:16:17 +0000

Now that there’s an Internet Addiction Treatment Center, I wonder if there are plans for a treatment center for infographic addiction? As I pondered this, I wondered, of course, what a “no graphs infographic” would look like. My quick prototype is on the left. Which raises an interesting question: If infographics are such a powerful communication tool, why am I writing about them? We’ve touched on flow charts and a variety of amusing infographics before, but there seems to be an endless supply of them. I’m especially partial to the kind that puts incomprehensible things into tidy visual form, like what does a million dollars like? Which is why I especially like What If You Printed the Internet? Economic data is also always more palatable when viewed graphically, as in this Good Magazine piece. A bunch of little “MSN Buddies” out of work are much cuter than a photo of a bunch of haggard hungry people in line. Technophiles in particular are naturally drawn to data visualizations, which is why the food-group-like pyramid graphics Balance Your Media Diet and The Hierarchy of Digital Distractions have made the rounds lately. It’s interesting that “gaming” and “device failure” top the respective pyramids. If I don’t get treatment for my little graphic addiction problem, I’ll be back with more soon. But if you’re yearning for more now, check out some of the sites below for more interesting data visualizations. But first, can someone explain to me what Iowa’s problem is?

In spite of its simple interface, Visual Complexity is just that. Kind of complex.
Lots of interesting projects and software apps for visual data presentation.

The guy at WallStats got known for his Death and Taxes Poster
I’m personally more amused by things like his beer infographics:

Good Magazine is a personal favorite of mine partly because I’m sort of a magazine fetishist, but even more so because they produce some of the coolest infographics that end up going a little viral. Always thematically clever, and always on hip, important, and progressive topics:

The people over at MadAtoms do irreverant, sometimes even mildly offensive infographics in a style uniquely their own. The Recession-Proof Jobs Manual is on the milder side of their best work:

A Few More:

Cool Infographics is a blog maintained by Marketing and Product Development professional Randy Krum, Information Aesthetics is a similar site designed and maintained by Andrew Vande Moere, and Chartporn is a collection managed by Dustin Smith, an economist in Washington DC

No Need To Get Graphic

admin — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 13:30:25 +0000

Statistics Of The “Social Media Revolution”

If you want to die on your next flight, take an Aeroflot DC-9 from the United States to Russia in August, and make sure to get a seat in First Class. At least that’s what this interesting chart suggests. Sometimes an infographic can say so much more than words, which makes the fact that I’m writing about it a little ironic (see infographic below). As I’ve pointed out before, 78.6% of all statistics mentioned in casual conversation are inaccurate. But I still find infographics and flowcharts fascinating. How else could you really wrap your mind around what a million dollars looks like ? This set of graphics, for instance, speaks volumes about how projects really evolve, and in a way that almost every guilty party involved would probably find amusing. And in spite of all the hype about Twitter (including the info in the clip at left) this set of graphics quickly puts things in perspective. The GOP/Dem debates about war and health care that I recently mentioned in this piece can also be summed up more quickly with two photos and some simple copy. What I’d really find interesting though, is if someone made an interactive graphic of how people from a broad set of demographics use their time throught the day. Oh wait. Never mind. Have any interesting infographics of your own to share?

Do You Need A Flowchart?

admin — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 06:28:24 +0000

We’ve talked about flowcharts here before. Although I’m a pretty organized person, I don’t actually find them useful for getting organized, but I do find them quite amusing. That’s why, when I dropped some lettuce on the floor as I was making a salad today, I realized I had to jump on the flow chart bandwagon and do one of my own. You see, I like simple rules, but the Three Second Rule for whether or not to eat food that’s been on the floor is just too simple. So here’s my flow chart assessing the problem. Think you might find a flow chart useful for a problem of your own, but you aren’t quite sure? Try the Flowchart Of Should You Make A Flowchart. Still not sure you’re getting the hang of it? Here’s A Guide To Understanding Flowcharts In Flowchart Form. And if you’re for some reason questioning the truth of the information I’m sharing, here are The Steps To Determine The Factual Content Of A Statement. You should be careful with this sort of self-referential analysis though, lest you become trapped in a Hasselhoffian Recursion.

I Dropped Food On The Floor Should I Eat It Flowchart

admin — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 06:20:28 +0000

Here’s a carefully diagrammed assessment based on the Three Second Rule. More info here.

Careful Planning Enhances Procrastination

admin — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 11:34:48 +0000

It’s the weekend, and you finally have some time to organize some of those projects you couldn’t get to during the week. Why not implement a flow chart to get things on track? At left is a chart I resort to when I want things I don’t really need. Just substitute any phrase for “Pan Flute” (like, “60 inch Plasma TV” or “orgasm”) and voila! Decision made. I already saved two hours and a few hundred dollars today thanks to that simple chart. If you’re having trouble getting your project rolling, check out the Procrastination Flow Chart. Graphs can also be useful. Peruse the user-submitted graphs at GraphJam.com for useful analyses like Waking Time Spent On Boobies or this concise assessment of the information age. Thinking about upgrading to Windows Vista? Here’s a chart to help you. As we’ve pointed out before, even technologically impaired organizations like the RIAA use flow charts. See the RIAA Lawsuit Decision Matrix. This Things To Say During Sex diagram is not really a flow chart or a graph, but has some good advice all the same. And lastly, when you go back to work on Monday, remember: succesful BlameStorming doesn’t just happen. Proper planning is essential.

Record Industry Begs World: “Please Stop Buying Music!”

admin — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:49:05 +0000

In the ongoing saga of the RIAA just not getting it, they are apparently tired of suing old ladies who don’t even have computers and dead people and are now trying to kill their oldest and most reliable channel of cheap promotion, radio. Although the recording industry historically was quite happy to pay the broadcasting industry to play music (illegally, in fact – it was called payola), they now seem to think it should be the other way around. Click on the image at left for a detailed flow chart of how the RIAA decides whom to sue.