Visualizing Information

Here's a really interesting clip that shows the breakdown of colonial powers from the 19th-21st Centuries using visual information and animation.

The clip was created by Pedro Cruz and he focuses on the major maritime colonial powers of that period: Great Britain, Spain, France, and Portugal. The clip moves the viewer through time, starting in 1800 and ending in 2010. As colonies or territories declare independence from the colonial powers bits of the bubbles break off. This visual information tool shows just how significant the decolonization period of the early 1960s was. From 1960-1963 we see a huge explosion of colonial independence represented by an explosion of the colonial bubbles. Check it out:

Visualizing empires decline from Pedro M Cruz on Vimeo.

It would have been great if Pedro included other colonial powers of that period such as Russia, the Netherlands, Belgium, etc. I think he should have also showed the growth of the United States' colonial sphere that took place in the late 19th Century when we absorbed Cuba, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico after the Spanish-American War. This was largely viewed as the end of the Spanish Empire and the beginning of the "American Empire." Pedro Cruz's blog and his work with Information Visualization can be seen here.

hiatus...

on blog hiatus...be back soon.
chris

What's Information Done For You Lately?

How about expose giant pink bunnies and discover the lost city of Atlantis! Well, maybe Atlantis. A recent article in the New York Times highlights some of the accidental discoveries that have occurred with Google Earth. One person recently discovered a "mysterious grid of undersea lines" near the African coast that they believe could be the lost city of Atlantis.

I doubt that. But this is one example of the unintended applications of advancements in information technology.

Personal Papers and Archives of a Nazi War Criminal

The New York Times is featuring an interesting segment called "From the Briefcase of Dr. Aribert Heim."

This segment features the personal papers and archives of Dr. Heim, "the most wanted Nazi war criminal." This link is the header link which directs you to other segments such as "In His Own Words" which are personal rebuttals written by Heim to charges against him of war crimes, "Medical Documents" which are his personal medical documents, "Official Papers" including Egyptian residency papers and identity documents, "Articles" a collection of articles about his case and the cases of other Nazis, and a link titled "Death Certificate" which notes that Dr. Heim converted to Islam towards the end of his life.