Explore Data Visualizations

maps.stamen.com For over a decade, Stamen has been exploring cartography with our clients and in research. These maps are presented here for your enjoyment and use wherever you display OpenStreetMap data. Toner These high-contrast B+W (black and white) maps are featured in our Dotspotting project. The Joy of Stats About the video Hans Rosling says there’s nothing boring about stats, and then goes on to prove it. A one-hour long documentary produced by Wingspan Productions and broadcast by BBC, 2010. A DVD is available to order from Wingspan Productions.

Dazzle your data handling class with an infographic project Infographics are: fun, informative, inspiring, thought-provoking, knowledge-enhancing, stimulating and above all, engaging. If you don’t know what an infographic is, it’s the fusion of graphic design, with data handling. An infographic takes some data and turns it into an attractive poster which uses a variety of data representation techniques to communicate the message that emerges from the data. A nice example is the infographic below that compares the size of historic volcanic eruptions with the number of fatalities caused. Click on the image to see it full-size.

Revealing Economic Terrorists: a Slumlord Conspiracy "Sunlight is the best disinfectant" - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis A client of ours -- a small, not-for-profit, economic justice organization [EJO] -- used social network analysis [SNA] to assist their city attorney in convicting a group of "slumlords" of various housing violations that the real estate investors had been side-stepping for years. The housing violations, in multiple buildings, included: raw sewage leaks multiple tenant children with high lead levels eviction of complaining tenants utility liens of six figures The EJO had been working with local tenants in run-down properties and soon started to notice some patterns.

Theory and Practice of Online Learning ack in 1982, one reviewer hailed Athabasca University’s book Learning at a Distance: A World Perspective as “a miracle of educational publishing.” Open and distance learning has evolved through several mutations since then, and Athabasca has now brought us up to date with a wonderfully perceptive and complete guide to the theory and practice of online learning. Most of the authors are from Athabasca University and their shared experience of developing online learning within that extraordinarily successful open university allows them to analyse online learning for the wider world in an admirably coherent manner. Starting with a comprehensive summary of relevant educational

The Best Resources For Creating Infographics Infographics are visual representations of data design to help communicate information clearly. They are great for English Language Learners, and the rest of us, too! The information can also be either serious or humorous. To see examples of some of the best ones, you can visit: The Best Infographics — 2010 The Next Big Social Network Is You - The BrainYard Three trends just now emerging will alter the social network landscape. Oh no, not another social network! Between all the noise about Facebook's upcoming IPO, the Twitter censorship imbroglio, and Google +'s constantly shifting privacy and identity policies, is the business world really ready for more social networking? Yes, and here's why. Social networking is about to shift from chasing large numbers of followers--which is really a publishing broadcast model and not a business contacts model--to a smaller group of well-connected individuals.

The Current State Of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) The Importance Of The Evolution Of Education 6.29K Views 0 Likes Over the past century, the modes of both imparting and receiving education have undergone a paradigm shift. The evolution of education has become more important than ever. The Biggest Shift Since the Industrial Revolution [Infographic] You’ve probably already seen this great infographic on social media from by en.gauge.media. If not, take a look at the staggering statistics on the social media shift. Look at everything that has happened in the past 5 years. What do these numbers mean for educators? The easy answer is that it should not be able to ignore such a societal shift by filtering, banning or whatever you’d like to call it policies. It’s hard to believe the evolution (revolution) of social media in the past 5 years.

The verdict: is blogging or tweeting about research papers worth it? Eager to find out what impact blogging and social media could have on the dissemination of her work, Melissa Terras took all of her academic research, including papers that have been available online for years, to the web and found that her audience responded with a huge leap in interest in her work. In October 2011 I began a project to make all of my 26 articles published in refereed journals available via UCL’s Open Access Repository – “Discovery“. I decided that as well as putting them in the institutional repository, I would write a blog post about each research project, and tweet the papers for download. Would this affect how much my research was read, known, discussed, distributed? I wrote about the stories behind the research papers – the stuff that doesn’t make it into the official writeup. So what are my conclusions about this whole experiment?

The Silent Treatment Illustration: Brian Stauffer [Editor's note: This story first ran online in December, 2011. This is the updated version that appears in the March/April 2012 issue of the magazine.] Eight Free tools for Teachers to Make Awesome Infographics 1- Easel.ly This is a great tool that allows users to create visually rich infographics from pre-designed themes. It is very easy to use and only drag and drop. It actually supports Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. 2- Stat Planet This one here allows users to create amazing visualisations and share them with others. It can be used either within your browser or download the software for free. 3- Hohli This is an awesome chart maker. Webinar: Design for Social Innovation by Cheryl Heller We are delighted to announce the Paul Polak Scholarship from MFA Design for Social Innovation. Paul has been a friend, advisor and inspiration to our program, and to the millions of people around the world whose lives he has changed through his work to end poverty. This $10,000 scholarship will be awarded to a student in the class of 2016. Applications to DSI are open, please apply at dsi.sva.edu/apply. Applicants will automatically be considered for the Paul Polak Scholarship; no separate application is required.

Mass Incarceration and Criminal Justice in America A prison is a trap for catching time. Good reporting appears often about the inner life of the American prison, but the catch is that American prison life is mostly undramatic—the reported stories fail to grab us, because, for the most part, nothing happens. One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich is all you need to know about Ivan Denisovich, because the idea that anyone could live for a minute in such circumstances seems impossible; one day in the life of an American prison means much less, because the force of it is that one day typically stretches out for decades. It isn’t the horror of the time at hand but the unimaginable sameness of the time ahead that makes prisons unendurable for their inmates.