Author: Brendan Barry

  • The Country’s Most Violent States

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    Brendan Barry
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    Do you live in a horribly violent and crime-afflicted state? Do you want to know? Well there’s a map for that. From the Guardian, here we have a familiar choropleth that colours each state based on where it falls into the range from most peaceful, Maine and Vermont, to the the most violent, Louisiana and Tennessee.…

  • Shutting Down Nuclear Reactors

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    Brendan Barry
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    Japan has updated the the threat level from the Fukushima Plant from five to seven. And while everyone ought to put Fukushima into context, chiefly by looking at the damage facing the rest of the country, we can also see that, broadly, things worked as expected at the power plant. They just did not build…

  • Useful Africa

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    Brendan Barry
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    Another rather recent infographic from Le Monde’s Philippe Rekacewicz is this, called Useful Africa. One of the key problems for African development is its lack of infrastructure. Here we see the proposed and under-construction projects that will hopefully raise Africa up from its current state. But the infrastructure is only as good as it is…

  • Beam Me Up, Scotty. Then Pixelate the Pattern Before Rematerialising.

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    Brendan Barry
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    Today is Friday. Behold the awesomeness of Star Trek characters in pixel form, trexels. How many can you identify? I admit, I got a whole bunch. I shall admit no further. Designed by John Martz with Koyama Press. Posting via Flowing Data.

  • Maps Made by Hand (Or Simulations Thereof)

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    Brendan Barry
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    Le Monde is a French-language publication and so I never really bother with it, despite favourable reviews. However, they do have a small site with some content in the English language that I check from time to time. Frequently they have maps or other graphics of some interest, and this time upon visiting—done to see…

  • Little Red (or blue or yellow or light-blue) Riding (neighbour-)Hoods

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    Brendan Barry
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    While not new news, if you have not heard, Canada’s minority government fell and Canada is having an election. And, as we all know, elections mean infographic insanity. Map mania. Graphs galore. You get my drift. The Globe and Mail, a Toronto-based newspaper, printed an infographic about the 50 ridings to watch. (A riding is,…

  • Complex Nigeria

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    Brendan Barry
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    The BBC has a new feature on Nigeria, one of Africa’s most important—and most complicated—countries. And a few days ago it was supposed to hold elections. But these have been postponed, apparently on logistical problems. This piece attempts to explain the complexities of modern Nigeria across several different metrics via maps. Overall, it is very…

  • Japanese Radiation in Perspective

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    Brendan Barry
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    Japan continues to deal with damage from the earthquake and its subsequent tsunami. Yet, much of the news that seems to come out of Japan focuses on the leak of radioactive materials from the Fukushima power station. Certainly that is a story, but is it more important than the tens of thousands of people missing…

  • iPads on eBay

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    Brendan Barry
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    This post comes to us from eBay via cnet. Ebay does a wonderful thing, it fills in the gaps in the marketplace. If you live in, say, the Netherlands, and want something that is available only in the United States, chances are you might find somebody willing to sell it to you from the US.…

  • Pie Charts v Bar Charts, Round…Some Really High Number

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    Brendan Barry
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    Not strictly a commentary on a piece or project, instead, this is a link to an interesting opinion piece about the Great Infographic Debate, i.e., most loosely and least helpfully, substance vs. style, vis-a-vis the use of pie charts and such vs. bar charts. Where does one draw the line between clear communication and, frankly, just…