Hacking data in India

The UK Guardian newspaper has this interesting article about Prime Minister David Cameron taking a group of data hackers to India to teach - and learn - about crowdsourcing data to create new, accessible visualizations.

SpiraClock

An interesting new clock paradigm is described in a PDF document here; others are on the German site Informationsvisualisierung.

Between the Folds

Nothing at all to do with information, but Between the Folds is a wonderful fifty minute documentary about paper folding in art, science, and imagination. For those of you with Netflix accounts it's available for streaming download here; for those without, try to see it if you can.

3D mice

Over the last couple of years I've become a convert to 3D Connexion's range of 3D mice. These more than double your productivity in any 3D application (such as Studio Cruz' stable of SketchUp, Rhinoceros, SolidWorks, and 3D Studio Max) by allowing both hands to be used - the left to manipulate the model/viewpoint and the right to create and edit detail. Though the top end model shown above is $400, the basic Space Navigator model can be found online for under $60 and has all the essential ability to spin, pan, and zoom of its big brother.

Edward Tufte

For those not familiar with Edward Tufte, the leading critic and developer of information graphics, his site is here. An enormously influential and talented designer and brilliant presenter; I well remember the two courses of his that I have attended.

How Google works

Fresh, informal, informative graphic from PPC on how Google works. The scraps of paper, "handwritten" font, and drawn arrows can all be created electronically for flexibility in editing and revision. Many free handwritten fonts are available, such as the one on this page or here.

Moustache visualization

Data visualization animation from Paris studio Moustache: a nicely rendered animation/physics simulation that should work. But it is only partly effective because the number of tanks seems closer to eight thousand than eighty eight thousand. I'm sure it's accurate, but appreciating that number is difficult; the designers needed to understand viewers' perceptions more than has happened here. Using 3D to communicate amounts is difficult because our minds do not intuitively comprehend comparative volumes as immediately as areas and lines. Suggestion: have the tanks fall down and stack between two transparent planes, one tank thick like a Tetris game, to better show the numbers and the waste involved.

Ruby library for SketchUp

The Ruby Library Depot, maintained by a laboratory of the École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Nancy in France, has many of the scripts developed by the SketchUp community over the last few years. A good place to start when you need to extend SketchUp's functionality for a particular project.

Formfonts

Google Earth has a store of free models online at its Warehouse, but for the best range of mid size SketchUp and 3DS models Formfonts is a useful (though subscription only) resource.

Skateboard video

A city becomes a skateboard park in this video for Ubisoft’s Shaun White Skateboarding video game by Rabbit.

The Art of the Title Sequence

Setting the tone of a movie while listing cast and crew: the same challenge as retaining a viewer's interest while communicating the core information in a visualization. Art of the Title shows examples of the best title sequences in current cinema, with not just screenshots but SD and HD QuickTime video.

Google climate map

This article in the UK Guardian today describes a Google climate map produced by the UK government Hadley Climate Center. You'll need Google Earth installed to see it; when you do the well designed KML file is here. An elegant integration of overlaid large scale graphics, video, and links.

Anchored

Another wonderful thesis animation from Ringling School , heavier on editing than yesterday's. Synch with the music track is effective and subtle, very strong story underlined by animation, words, and music.

Departure of Love

Fun, stylish, simple animation from an award winning graduate of the Ringling School here. See if you can guess the twist in the tale before it happens.

The Olivetti Lettera 35

I was struck by this typewriter when I first read an article about it in the UK magazine Design, around 1975. Yes, 1975. I bought one as soon as I could and utterly fell in love with the design, the elegance, the quality. I typed entire books on this machine. It was designed by the great Italian designer Mario Bellini, and after many years of use and thousands of miles of travel sits in a place of honor in the studio in Santa Cruz. No, I don't now use it every day (though it is still unrivaled for fast labeling), but each time I see it I appreciate it. Art that works. Design.

Bathsheba, the Rhinoceros, and Google Earth

Santa Cruz artist/craftsperson Bathsheba Grossman uses Rhinoceros and SLS (selective laser sintering of metals) to produce sculptures of mathematical concepts. Unique and wonderful.

And McNeel has developed an export plug-in for Rhinoceros to save out KML and KMZ files with geolocation. This completes a comprehensive model/presentation software group consisting of Rhino-SketchUp-Google Earth, plus any competent image editor for textures.

Information is Beautiful

Fascinating site, a favorite of mine, on the presentation of information. Always fascinating, often stunning: Information is Beautiful.

Post-It stop motion animation

I couldn't resist it. Three months of planning, four days of shooting, and six thousand Post-Its later ... this.

IDEO Living Climate Change winner

The winner in IDEO's recent Climate Change Video Challenge. IDEO asked entrants to show a vision of the future affected by climate change; the winning entry, “We Make It_Spaghetti Bolognese,” is here. Simple, effective use of low resolution green screen video.

Woodworking plugins for SketchUp

SketchUp is inspiring a varied collection of Ruby plug-in writers. As a former professional woodworker, Wudworx' collection caught my eye. It's now possible to create a seamless progression of derivatives from a SketchUp model: from working drawings, renders, animations, and sightline/shadow studies up to Google Earth geolocation and tours.

Stop motion environmental animation

A great environmental animation on the origin of life, the Universe, and everything at http://vimeo.com/13085676, full of ideas and imagination and movement, jumping from surface to object and back again. Worth the investment of ten minutes just to see what's possible in this medium with a lot of time, paint, inspiration, and perspiration.

Animation

Fast, engaging animation from the Renaissance Society of America illustrating Daniel Pink's theory on what motivates us as employees and people - www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc. But does the animation underline what he says or distract from it? Would this be the same for everyone? I happen to think it works because I had to watch it twice - once to be distracted by the animation, the second because I missed points in the argument as a result. Maybe that's the reason it's stuck in my mind.