Examining How We Measure Our Lives
Commentary, critiques, and observations on information design and data visualisation
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Read on…: Where the (Disproportionate) Jobs Are
A little while ago, LinkedIn put together a map looking at the disproportionately represented jobs and skills in cities in both the United States and Europe. That is different from the most common jobs but those that are “most uniquely found” in cities. Unfortunately the interface is a bit clumsy. For something that is about exploring different cities, I think…
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Why I Became an Information Designer or: Why People Hate Watching Movies with Me
Read on…: Why I Became an Information Designer or: Why People Hate Watching Movies with MeI don’t always watch pop culture. But on those occasions when I do, xkcd basically sums up why I became an information designer. Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.
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Orion Test Flight
Read on…: Orion Test FlightAt the time of writing, Orion has yet to launch. But by the time this is published, Orion—NASA’s successor to the space shuttle—will hopefully be at or near the greatest distance from Earth achieved by a spacecraft since the Apollo programme. The Houston Chronicle illustrated the different stages of the unmanned test flight. Hopefully in several years when the programme…
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Russians in the Sky
Read on…: Russians in the SkyThis piece has been sitting for a month, but I still enjoy it. The Washing Post maps out Russian air activity around NATO airspace over a two-day period. Credit for the piece goes to Gene Thorp.
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Habitable Exoplanets
Read on…: Habitable ExoplanetsWhat is out there beyond our solar system? Are there little green men in flying saucers? Or Klingons waging war? The first step in figuring that out is knowing how many planets can be inhabited by life as we know it. This interactive graphic from National Geographic explores just that. And as it turns out, most of the exoplanets we…
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American College Football Part Deux
Read on…: American College Football Part DeuxA couple of weeks ago I shared a map from the New York Times that looked at American college football programme loyalty. And I quipped that none of it made sense to me as someone born and raised in the Northeast. The New York Times followed that piece up with another that looks solely at Facebook likes of college football…
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Thanksgiving Recipes by State
Read on…: Thanksgiving Recipes by StateToday is an American holiday: Thanksgiving. We give thanks that European diseases and military technology allowed us to remove the native population for colonisation of the continent. We do that by watching American football and eating lots and lots of food. For dessert, well, we have dessert. But also gluttonous amounts of shopping. So in that spirit, here is the…
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The American Empire
Read on…: The American EmpireThe United States has a long history of deploying troops overseas. How long? And where to? Well, ABC (as in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation) mapped out every US deployment dating back to 1798. I captured the year 2014, but if you are curious, you should check it out for yourself. A neat little bonus, watch the growth of the borders…