Visualization is way cool
So I went to a dorktastic librarian-y dinner last night, and the speakers were <a href=http://researchweb.watson.ibm.com/visual/fernanda.html>Fernanda Viégas</a> and <a href=http://researchweb.watson.ibm.com/visual/martin.html>Martin Wattenberg</a> from the <a href=http://researchweb.watson.ibm.com/visual/>IBM Visual Communication Lab</a>. Martin, for those of you contemplating baby names, also created the <a href=http://www.babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html>baby name voyager</a>. The two created a visualization program called history flow and used it to analyze changes to and usage patterns in wikipedia, documenting the rise of a beauracracy, among other things. It was way, way cool. They also have a side project, <a href=http://services.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/home> Many-Eyes</a>, where you can upload data sets and create visualizations, using your own data or other data already uploaded.