Blog Post #7 - Exploring Data Visualization

I looked at the Rolling Stones on Tour, the MoMA one on Inventing Abstraction, US Baseball Statues- which was really well thought out- every marker on the map gives you the most basic info, but importantly it gives you a link which opens in a new window (a BIG plus) that shows a picture of the statue and the location, inscription and details. It terms of visualizing data, it clearly shows concentrations of statues- like New England & Mid-Atlantic, which correlates to the history of baseball, so that could be a starting point for questions.

BUT whoa- then I got to the Guardian’s NSA site- and then pretty much spent the next three hours here. It’s amazing, because it’s so through and instantly engaging with video and interactive graphics. And EASY- (as opposed to the Wikipedia by Gender page- which was clunky to use. (What they should really track is how many entries about women get “edited”/defaced by men i.e Feminist Blogger Anita Sarkissian 

But back to the NSA- (Q: Am I being data-tracked right now for even typing the letters NSA? A: Highly likely)

The Guardian Newspaper is the main author here- which would make sense since they were the (brave) leaders in covering the Snowden/NSA docs. They use compelling writing, video and graphics to present the information. Also it is clearly laid out and easy to navigate. There is a lot of information here: historical, first- person accounts (in video) from a variety of sources, I didn’t sense a bias, it’s pretty objective, unless you love being spied on.

I think the presentation tools and content would suck students in and really engage them. For example, the site has a interactive tool that where you put in the number of FB friends that you have, to illustrate the NSA’s 3-Hop Rule for spying on you.

     

   “You don't need to be talking to a terror suspect to have your communications data analysed by the NSA. The agency is allowed to travel "three hops" from its targets — who could be people who talk to people who talk to people who talk to you. Facebook, where the typical user has 190 friends, shows how three degrees of separation gets you to a network bigger than the population of Colorado. How many people are three "hops" from you?”

Also another EXCELLENT interactive data visualization is about halfway down in section one- relatively quick in the overall read- that shows you how many giga/terabytes of info the NSA has collected on you since you starting reading the article. 
 

SCARY!!

I think all of their visualizations are very effective- one of the main strengths is that there is an instant appeal,  from the surface level of - to the ones that make you linger longer- like court docs (via scribd) or posting the ENTIRE Prism powerpoint (which through its most hideous design makes the best argument ever for why everyone should take a basic art or design class.)
 

This would get a C- at best.

In one of my classes we do a data-tracking of ourselves, a self-surveillance in which we collect data and then translate that data into visualization/self-portrait through data. I would use some of the site in introducing the topic/project, like this one about how we generate data trails: 

Although this site is probably not the exact right fit, (I would use artist examples) I would probably assign this as a bonus reading because I think it’s a real eye opener, that would really have students think about they way data is collected and about civil liberties, and then also maybe think about how artists can resist and rewrite the existing situation.

James Baldwin in Paris

For this project I made an annotated map of James Baldwin in Paris 
(I couldn't figure out how to save it as a .kml file, so I just shared the link- I have to work on that step)

James Baldwin, Paris, 1962

In 1948, James Baldwin left New York for Paris with $40 in his pocket. He was 24 years old, black and gay, and wanted to distance himself from the prejudice he had experienced in America. He was virtually unpublished when he left, but Baldwin thrived in Paris, going on to write Go Tell it on the Mountain, Notes of a Native Son, The Amen Corner and Giovanni's Room all by 1956.  He lived the rest of his life in France, while remaining active in the Civil Rights movements in the United States.

This is a map I made of some his documented time/places in Paris, based on the blog Entree to Black Paris, wikipedia, and an article from the NY Times.

I watched some of the tutorials but they were showing how to use google maps to do a "My Map" layer. (not Google Earth .kml files) I don't know how different they are- I see that in Google earth you can do more of an animated tour. With Google maps though you could still add text, pictures, links through the spreadsheet form. It was a relatively easy interface, once you figure out how to do the first annotation. This sample project relates exactly to my seminar project, so it was useful to see/feel how it worked, and I'm going to keep at it. Based on my experience of it today, I think it can be done fairly easily by students- you just have to have the idea developed and materials/resources somewhat planned out ahead of time.

I could definitely see the value of this in the classroom (and within the new Core Competencies) as it can be used in conjunction with (and evaluated as) a more traditional written assignment, like a (auto)biographical essay, or for communication studies with a narrated tour.  Or, for an art history course, like our Art in New York class, this would beautifully complement the existing course assignments.  Before I started this map, I made a word doc gathering the history, writing out the sites/addresses and relevant text- so it absolutely has components that are more grounded in traditional assignments- like a thesis statement, researching, citing, etc.