Toluu : information aesthetics

information aesthetics

form follows data - data visualization & visual communication

FeedVis RSS Feed Tag Cloud GeneratorYesterday

FeedVis [jasonpriem.com] is an online tag cloud generator with some additional interactive features. Users can select specific time periods, common blog themes or individual blog feeds. Individual tags can be further explored to read specific blog posts of interest.

Tags are ordered by frequency and frequency change. Frequency denotes how many times a word is used per 1000 words. Frequency change measures the difference in frequency as a percentage: greener words are unusually popular; redder words are the opposite.

Thnkx Jason.

SpatialKey: Time and Location Based Information MappingDecember 3

The next geographical mapping startup, SpatialKey [spatialkey.com] is marketed as a "next generation Information Visualization, Analysis and Reporting System". It is specifically designed to help organizations quickly assess location-based information to allow for decision making processes and reporting requirements. There are several online demos available, ranging from "Wal-Mart store openings (1962 - 2005)" to "San Antonio prostitution arrests (January, 2006 - July, 2007)"

In practice, users can view and overlay all sorts of "geo-temporal data" (data with recorded location and time information) and generate time slices of the data, much like a moving weather map. The current visualization templates include three different map rendering techniques: heat map, heat grid and graduated circles.

SpatialKey somehow reminds me of Stamen's Trulia Hindsight. Via CNET News.

DoodleBuzz: Typographically Scribbling Online NewsDecember 2

Doodle Buzz [doodlebuzz.com] is an online news aggregator with a visual twist. Users are requested to submit their favorite news theme or topic, and to draw a crazy, chaotic, all-over-the-place, messed-up, scribbled line on the white canvas. The line is then used as the framework to layout the headlines, summaries and related topics. The aim is to create an entirely new way of exploring information, one that allows for a kind of "quiet chaos" that gives people the opportunity to explore unthought of paths and connections along their news gathering journey. The data is fetched from DayPI, a recent service by DayLife that allows a new architecture of online news.

The visually chaotic and more playful approach towards exploring news seems like an interesting alternative to the more scientific-looking network graphs of news already out there, such as News Visual, Muckety, SiloBreaker,

Call the Shots for RadioheadDecember 2

Japanese TV station WOWOW has a feature on their site that lets you mix a video of a live Radiohead performance [wowow.co.jp] from the Saitama Super Stadium leg of their 2008 Japanese tour. A set of quite aesthetic data visualizations accompanies this online music video mix tool.

The video interface allows you to choose from 12 colour-coded cameras to record your own "rainbow" (the song 15 Step is the opening track from Radiohead's In Rainbows album). You can then play back your edit by clicking and dragging the playhead in the timeline, or view charts of the most popular shots (click on the two buttons on the right side, or see the screenshots below. There's some impressive juggling going on behind the scenes to keep the video playing as you hop from camera to camera, and I am always a fan of sites that don't worry about pixellation and opt for full screen content regardless.

I couldn't figure out if there was a way to watch other people's edits or to share your edit. If that feature is there and I missed it please let us know in the comments.