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Tracking the Stars: Co-star and the Creation of the Digital Celestial

Tracking the Stars: Co-star and the Creation of the Digital Celestial

Ayoub Samadi Introduction A centuries old practice clad in contemporary systems of information processing. For millenia, astrology has been engulfed in the depths of time and rationality and has not only until recently began to regain the reverence it...
Power according to Foucault

Power according to Foucault

Introduction This article gives a short overview about several concepts related to ‘power’ from 20th century French social theorist Michel Foucault. He was highly influenced by Jean Hyppolite and Louis Althusser. Foucault is both associated as a structuralist and...
Where does your data go? Mapping the data flow of Nest

Where does your data go? Mapping the data flow of Nest

Introduction With this research project, we set out to investigate the volume of data created and shared from smart home devices. Intrigued by the claim that our homes are getting smarter and more connected, we aimed to find out...
Tangible Data Visualizations

Tangible Data Visualizations

We live in a world of three dimensions (alright 4, and a spattering of more depending on which school of quantum theory you adhere to). However, when it comes to visualizing data, the results are surprisingly 2-dimensional, and mostly...

Data visualizations in popular Dutch media

EVERY TWO DAYS WE CREATE as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003, according to Google CEO Eric Schmidt.  That is something like five exabytes of data: 5.000.000.000.000.000.000 bytes. It is no surprise...
Data visualization: New professionals in demand

Data visualization: New professionals in demand

Data is the biggest change in the digital society that appeared during the era of the Internet and technologies. Information is exploding: 90% of the world’s data was generated over last two years. Data visualization and analytic view makes possible...
The distinct disciplines of infographics and information visualisations

The distinct disciplines of infographics and information visualisations

Within the data visualisation community there is in general a strong premise that infographics and information visualisation are two distinct disciplines. Infographics present information as statistical charts, maps, and diagrams which are often annotated with text and beautified with...
Listen to This: Don’t Miss the Sound to Convey Data!

Listen to This: Don’t Miss the Sound to Convey Data!

Aristotle wrote in his work Metaphysics that sight is man’s most significant sense. “We understand because we see”, Alberto Cairo similarly states in his book The functional Art. Philosophy has tried to understand sight and the relation between images and human perception since the beginning...
#IC14NL: Selfiecity

#IC14NL: Selfiecity

The 7th Infographic Conference took place last month on March 7th and featured Selfiecity, a collaborative project led by Lev Manovich and the Software Studies Initiative that was presented to the audience  by fellow team member Mortiz Stefaner. Launched in...
Thinking the unthinkable (some thoughts on the production of thought and access to knowledge)

Thinking the unthinkable (some thoughts on the production of thought and access to knowledge)

A few days ago, Bret Victor, a researcher and software engineer, announced via Facebook that he had redesigned his talk “Media for Thinking the Unthinkable“, which he delivered on April 4th of this year at the MIT Media Lab. As...
Using open data to analyse patterns

Using open data to analyse patterns

In the last few years data has become more and more important. Government agencies and commercial companies create and collect a lot of data. On the internet users are increasingly generating data through clicks, likes and other metrics such...
Snow Fall, the future of online journalism?

Snow Fall, the future of online journalism?

We live in a time of dropping newspaper sales and traditional journalists that see their offline audiences shrink each year. Most newspapers have a well maintained online presence and try to employ the medium’s possibilities like showing video content...
Google Maps and Fukushima: Collective Memory and Data Visualization

Google Maps and Fukushima: Collective Memory and Data Visualization

As major world events unfold before our eyes at accelerated speeds, via a host of different medias how can we process these vast quantities of information? In the digital age, we consume news round-the-clock, whether we use smart phone...
Visualizing individual measures of emotion

Visualizing individual measures of emotion

Personal monitoring is becoming increasingly present in many of our daily routines as a conscious and voluntary choice. If you are an outdoor fitness enthusiastic, then you are probably aware of how many miles you ran last month and...
Analyzing Information Visualization Projects on the Topic of Economic Inequality

Analyzing Information Visualization Projects on the Topic of Economic Inequality

The current paper focuses on information visualization projects related to the topic of economic inequality which can, in this particular case, be more specifically categorized under “speculative visualization” as defined by the authors Tanyoung Kim and Carl DiSalvo in...
Show Me the Data 2013

Show Me the Data 2013

Master students from UvA & maHKU proudly present seven multidisciplinary data visualization projects at SHOW ME THE DATA 2013 This year with three special guest speakers: John Verhoeven, Inspiring Data http://inspiring-data.com/ Arjan Scherpenisse, MiracleThings http://miraclethings.nl Jelle Kamsma, Datajournalist When: March...
What is data visualization’s goal? NGOs and real impact

What is data visualization’s goal? NGOs and real impact

The main goal of data visualization is to communicate information clearly and effectively through graphical means. (Friedman 2008) Friedman’s definition is simple and concise, yet broad and applicable to any type of visualization. What it fails to provide is what...
“Color is difficult”

“Color is difficult”

Color in information visualization is difficult because of the way our brains work, how we perceive color and cultural factors. But rather than discouraging to use color, this blogpost is for overcoming these difficulties and to deploy color intelligently.
‘Bashing’s’ Datavisualization as Information Intervention

‘Bashing’s’ Datavisualization as Information Intervention

Living in the era of Big Data, data visualization is booming in science, marketing and journalism (( Segel, Edward, and Jeffrey Heer. “Narrative visualization: Telling stories with data.” Visualization and Computer Graphics, IEEE Transactions 16.6 (2010): 1139-1148. )). In...
Focusing on the future: Visualise the ‘tsunami of data’

Focusing on the future: Visualise the ‘tsunami of data’

If journalism is to die, at least it dies in a better shape. By help of interactive visualizations, journalists have new means to tell stories and build context around them. It is already a few years since data journalism...
Tracking a nations mood through Twitter: visualizing how you feel

Tracking a nations mood through Twitter: visualizing how you feel

There has been a shift from static to dynamic information visualization. Lately, information visualizations are being created by user generated input. Datasets can be created by scraping Twitter for certain keywords. The project “Pulse of the Nation” has visualized...

Making Visible the Invisible: Information Visualization Through a Fine Art Lens

“Big Data will replace ideas, paradigms, organizations and ways of thinking about the world.” –Steve Lohr It is difficult to mention the present-day ubiquity of data without resorting to clichés. We are frequently reminded that data is in use...
Does Form Ever Follow Function?

Does Form Ever Follow Function?

I was lucky enough to attend to the Infographic Congress, in Zeist, on March 1st 2013. Dedicated to data visualization, this congress featured numerous speakers whom all presented data visualizations. Some of these graphic works were so old that...
Data | Visualization | Art?

Data | Visualization | Art?

When it comes to the aesthetic aspect of data visualizations, many times I feel like a nine year old girl (which is very strange) in a candy store who is blinded by all the pretty colors and shapes. Yes indeed,...