Tag: critique

  • 2013 Budget Proposal

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    Brendan Barry
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    Normally, I look forward to the release of the president’s budget proposed budget—fully understanding that it will never pass as proposed. We get to see lots of visualisations trying to show that we really do spend quite a lot on defence. And an awful lot on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. And a little bit…

  • Adding Guided Context to Maps

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    Brendan Barry
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    Maps are cool. They show the geographic distribution of data. And that is fantastic if there is a story in said distribution. But even if there is a story, sometimes given both the scale of the map and the amount of data encoded in the map, how could you possibly expect to find the story?…

  • Comparing the (Display of) Results in Colorado

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Mitt Romney lost badly last night. No way around that. But as I watched the results come in through various sources, I noticed two interesting design decisions that made me think; one from the Guardian (the British perspective), and the other from the New York Times. Using only Colorado as an example, here is the…

  • Apple And Its Suppliers

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    Brendan Barry
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    American companies have long been moving their manufacturing overseas. Apple is no exception. However, Apple does audit its suppliers to ensure they are in compliance with the company’s code of conduct. The New York Times reported on this and included a graphic along with its article. We have small multiples of line charts with small blurbs…

  • Show Europe the Money

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    The Guardian has an interactive piece that details payments to and from European Union member states to institutions, determining whether each state is a giver or receiver. The concept sounds all well and good. However, the piece itself feels clumsy with too much scrolling and whipping about to pan across the whole EU. The charts…

  • Killed in Action in Iraq, State by State

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    The Iraq War is over. And now it is time to reflect on what we have gained and what we have lost. This map by the Guardian details the number of soldiers killed in action in Iraq. (Other options include total wounded, killed by non-hostile, &c.) Unfortunately, I call it a ‘no kidding’ type of…

  • The European Debt Crisis. Again.

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Nearly a month ago, the New York Times released an interactive piece along with a printed infographic about the European debt crisis in an attempt to explain just what is going on; I wrote about it here. Now, the BBC has an interactive graphic showing how different countries relate to each other. The width of…

  • Much Improved Mapping of American Migration

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Forbes released Jon Bruner’s latest map of migration in the United States. It uses IRS figures to show inbound and outbound movement from counties across the United States. The work itself is an improvement from his map from last year, which was a bit more difficult to read. Beneath is the new version, and at…

  • 7 Billion Is a Big Number

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    We have seven billion living on the planet today. Or at least we think we do. Really, who knows? But for the sake of this blog post and many others like it along with news stories and water cooler conversations, let’s just say we’re at seven billion, okay? So where do you fit into the…

  • Troop Levels in Iraq

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    A few days ago, President Obama announced that all but perhaps 150 US troops in Iraq would be home before 1 Jan 2012. While the mission may have been accomplished over 8 years ago, we are finally seeing an end to the Iraq War. Both the BBC and the New York Times created charts to…