Visualization Strategies: Hierarchical Data » Tim Showers - Web One of the most challenging types of data to convert into a chart or visualization is also one of the most common: Multi-Level or ‘Hierarchical’ data. Perhaps every category of data is composed of sub-categories, or a change in one data point has a major effect on surrounding data, but regardless, the standard library of charts and graphs doesn’t offer much in the way of making hierarchical data clear, so here are a few alternatives: Nested Categories: Treemaps: Recently “Treemap” style charts have come out of their origins in academia into common use. Each category is sized according to what percent of the total it takes up, and child categories can be placed inside parents in a similar manner. Treemaps seem to work best when the total number of categories at each level is fairly small (otherwise the hundreds or thousands of categories become tiny, undifferentiated squares), and each item fits neatly into a single sub-category. Multi-Level Pie: Bubble Diagrams: Organizational Hierarchies:
Download Choose your operating system: TheBrain 8 for Mac OS X Mac OS 10.7+1 GHz Intel Processor, 1GB RAM, 100 MB available storage TheBrain 8 for Linux Works on many Linux/Unix variants. Archive format without an installer (For experts only) TheBrain for iOS TheBrain for iOS is a native app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod TouchAccess your Brain on your iOS device, on the Web and from your desktop computer with TheBrain Cloud ServicesLearn more about TheBrain for iOS. TheBrain for Android TheBrain for Android is a native app for Android devices.Access your Brain on your Android device, on the Web and from your desktop computer with TheBrain Cloud ServicesLearn more about TheBrain for Android. How the Free Download Works You get 30 days to try all the features of TheBrain Pro. Getting Started with TheBrain TheBrain 9 Beta Is Available Now
11 Refreshing Ways to Bring Out the Awesomeness in Life | Zen Habits Article by Zen Habits contributor Jonathan Mead. I often get caught up in the hectic nature of life. I get bogged down with things to do and the drive to be productive. It’s hard not to get sucked into the routine of living and take life for granted. Sometimes it’s hard to stay excited about life. This is especially true when you’re working toward long term goals that might not be realized for a few months or even years. It’s time like these when I get bored with work. It’s boredom. I recurrently have to keep myself in check. So how can we stay excited about life? Here are some things that I personally do to help keep me stay excited about life. Return to simplicity. When striving for personal growth, it’s easy to get caught up in living for our next achievement. Milestones and achievements —graduations, promotions, etc.— make up a small fraction of life. If the majority of our days are “normal day” then maybe we should spend more time trying to find everyday bliss.
Visualization Strategies: Text & Documents » Tim Showers - W Whether it’s a campaign speech by a presidential contender, or a 300 page bestselling novel, large bodies of text are among the most requested topics for condensing into an infographic. The purpose can vary from highlighting specific relations to contrasting points or use of language, but all of the following methods focus on distilling a volume of text down to a visualization. Volumetric Comparisons: Tag Clouds & Wordles: A Tag Cloud from Many Eyes Among the most common visualizations is the so called ‘Tag Cloud‘, which is just a list of words or descriptions that are sized by some relevance measure, usually number of repetitions in the data set. Tag clouds are often used to highlight and compare themes within the document, such as stripping down a U.S. A Sample Wordle from Closely related to tag clouds are wordles, which are more artistically arranged (and often vibrantly colored) versions of a text. Word Spectrum Diagrams World Spectrum Diagram from the Google Data Set
How To Create Outstanding Modern Infographics In this tutorial you will learn that data doesn't have to be boring, it can be beautiful! Learn how to use various graph tools, illustration techniques and typography to make an accurate and inspiring infographic in Adobe Illustrator. Start by using the Rectangle Tool (M) to draw a shape. Give it a subtle radial gradient too. The entire design is based on a grid of four columns. To make the columns first select the rectangle and drag a guide onto the centre of the shape. Condense the shape so it fits within the left-most guide and centre guide. Move the shape over to the right and add another guide to the centre here. Using the Rectangle Tool (M) draw a thin white box on the centre line that will be the width of the gap between the columns. Repeat the process for the other columns with your final result being below. I like to place the most important graphics first and work-in the ancillary charts and graphs afterwards. Give the circles a variety of gradients. That's it!
Make Television We’re pretty sure this might be the first TV show to launch in all these places, hopefully others will too! For the new folks just joining us here, MAKE is a magazine, it’s also a yearly event called “Maker Faire“, a very popular website, a book series, a Maker Shed – but most of all it’s a community of Makers who share their projects and skill. Make is what -you- make it. It’s a growing DIY movement of people who look at things a little different and who just might spark the next generation of scientists, engineers and makers. Over the weekend our friends (and new friends) had some great things to say about the show, here’s all the ones we could find, thanks for the support! CNET News – ‘Make’ magazine debuts television series, Following on the success of their hit do-it-yourself magazine, the people behind Make will now bring their efforts to public television.Laughing Squid – Make: Television Launches, Weekly Episodes Profiling Makers.
Trace Modeler - The easy way to model object interactions and cr infographics Infographics News, a somewhat new BlogSpot blog, has a short list from Ninian Carter of some great infographics of the last year. Ninian Carter is an scottish infographic journalist, well, the Phineas Fogg of the infographic journalists: he has worked in Scotland, England, France, Australia… and his last job was in Canada, at The Globe & Mail, place he left recently. So, as the A Team, he is avalaible for works… (if you click on his name, opening the post, you’ll go to his personal web). Once you get past the horrible spelling of the article (spell-check people, it’s a handy feature), it’s a nice collection of infographics. I’ll probably post some of these online throughout the day in full-size. via Infographics news: Best infographics of 2010 according to Ninian Carter. Share
Nothing is original, steal from everywhere Data Visualization: Modern Approaches Cool Infographics - Blog beautiful-and-creative-examples-of-vibrant-web-designs Colors – it sets the tone (no pun intended) and message of a website. Designers often spend hours, even days, researching and coming up with a harmonious and usable color scheme. In this collection, you’ll find 30 brilliant (alright – pun intended) web designs with vivid and colorful themes that evoke feelings of vivacity and dynamism – to inspire your color palette. Teaching With Infographics Earlier this week I learned from Larry Ferlazzo that The New York Times Learning Network was doing a series of posts about teaching with infographics. The last installment of the series went live today with a post by Diana Laufenberg. Diana's post includes ten steps for designing lessons in which students create infographics. Her post also includes links to some valuable information concerning the actual infographic design process. The entire Teaching With Infographics series contains a lot of very useful information for teachers who are considering using infographics in their classrooms. Applications for EducationI've found in my classroom that infographics can be very useful for helping students gain a better comprehension of data sets.
Entrepreneur interviews you must listen to : Mixergy.com 1.   Rosalind Resnick – Founder of NetCreations Why listen: Rosalind bootstrapped a company that she eventually took public. You’ll learn the trial and error that went into finding that golden idea. 2.   Timothy Sykes – Author of An American Hedge Fund Why listen: Timothy teaches how he built a personal brand that led to appearances on CNBC, FOX Business, and other business news outlets. 3.   Roger Ehrenberg – Managing Partner of IA Capital Partners, LLC Why listen: Roger teaches you what he learned from a startup that spent $20 mil before closing. 4.   Marcus Nelson – Co-Founder, UserVoice Why listen: Marcus teaches you how to get your customers to help you build your business. 5.   Premal Shah – President, Kiva.org Why listen: Premal teaches you how to launch an agile company quickly. 6.   Timothy Ferriss – Author, The Four Hour Work Week Why listen: Timothy teaches you to network with bloggers to create an insanely successful book or startup.