Image via Wikipedia

After much deliberation, I updated my WordPress theme. I am using the Carrington CMS theme platform for WordPress. The Carrington Framework was developed by CrowdFavorite.

Image by AlphachimpStudio via Flickr

Aside from my internship at the Smithsonian Institution, I had one goal this summer: dig deeper into understanding, analyzing and representing information.

I set out to learn more about theory, analysis, and implementation through a fairly methodical method. As a Master’s student at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, I have already had a huge head start and knew where to look and what to look for. There are also the blogs and twitter accounts I follow. Combining everything, I was able to come up with common trends and themes and vet them against what everybody was saying and writing.

What turned out was a list that will take you from the big picture, atmospheric view all the way down to pixel level decisions and everything in between.

I am in varying stages of completion (there is another list I am working through as well) with the listed books and will keep hammering at them throughout the upcoming semester. BTW, a number of these books can be purchased through O’Reilly Media, which regularly has some pretty sweet sales (buy 2 get one free, discounts for digital books, etc.).

Theory

I was first made aware of Edward R. Tufte‘s work in Jaime Snyder‘s course on Information Design. The guy is essentially the godfather/granddaddy of information design and visualization, analytic design, and associated creative processes. Definitely worth getting the hardcover editions of both. They are full color and gorgeous.

• The Visual Display of Quantitative Information - Edward R. Tufte
• Envisioning Information - Edward R. Tufte

Analysis

This is  a wonderfully comprehensive book and, like the Yau offering, could be listed in multiple categories. I put it under ‘Analysis’ because it is a great – and friendly – primer for really digging deep into data analysis. I got the Ebook (available in the following f ormats: APK, DAISY, ePub, Mobi, PDF) and found that to work best for me. I am on the computer already so having the digital copy there makes it easy.

• Head First Data Analysis - Michael Milton

Implementation

Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to create images, animations, and interactions. Since created by Casey Reas and Ben Fry, it has taken off like wildfire and, from what I found, is standard, required knowledge for taking information interpretation to the next level. Though I am (not yet) a programmer, I have been able to battle through the tomes with some success. I got the Pearson book in soft cover (nice color graphics in the beginning and comes with the Ebook free) and the others in Ebook format.

1. Generative Art – Matt Pearson
2. Getting Started with Processing - Casey Reas, Ben Fry
3. Visualizing Data – Ben Fry

Related articles

• Ben Fry, Information Designer (slate.com)
• Slopegraphs (kottke.org)
• What I am reading at the moment (kitlas.com)

Image via Wikipedia

If you haven’t yet caught on to the data revolution and associated visualizations that are going on, the below list is a great place to start.

I have been tweaking this list for some time, but have settled on the current iteration for the time being. I am always open to suggestions so if you think there is one that needs to be here, let me know.

I do subscribe to all of the sites’ associated RSS feeds and though I do not check them every day, I get inspired every time I do.

If you are looking for a ‘user guide’ or ‘how to’ book on the subject matter, I cannot recommend enough the FlowingData book - Visualize This: The FlowingData Guide to Design, Visualization, and Statistics. Worth every penny.

Here is the list:

• AIGA: Information Design
• ChartsBin’s Latest updates
• CreativeApplications.Net
• Datavisualization.ch
  
• FlowingData
• information aesthetics
  
• Jerome Cukier
• JESS3 Blog
  
• visualcomplexity.com
• We Love Datavis
  
• InfoDesign: Understanding by Design
• Information is Beautiful
• Data Visualization
• Infographic Police

Related articles

• The nexus of data, art and science is where the interesting stuff happens (radar.oreilly.com)
• Plotting the Expansion of the US Through Post Offices (infosthetics.com)
• Visual Data Web – Visually Experiencing the Data Web (visualdataweb.org)
• Visual Complexity: Mapping Patterns of Information (coolhunting.com)

Since I’ve been hurting for content lately (translation I have a ton of draft posts but have been lazy) I am being totally lame and reposting and AWESOME article about manipulating GIF images from the good people at Photojojo. Check it out and if you are not on their mailing list, you should be. They have the best photo shiz anywhere. Read on.

Extra photos for bloggers: 1, 2

Like instant film and harem pants, GIFs are making quite the comeback.

They may have had an awkward start back in their earlier days, but now GIFs are easier to craft and looking better than ever thanks to lasers, smart phones, and good old fashioned creativity.

We found the raddest and baddest ways to make and show off GIFs from real-life GIF zoetropes to making your phone’s background animated.

Creepy dancing Ally McBeal baby, step aside. There are new GIFs in town.

How to Kick Your GIFs Up a Notch

Main image credit: GIF Shop

1. HISTORY OF THE GIF

Short for Graphics Interchange Format, the GIF came out in the late eighties as a bitmap image format that was able to support animation.

Like the adolescent years, many of the earlier GIFs were animated awkwardly and sometimes spastically.

Yet their ability to capture animation captured our own beating hearts by providing us the means to make a more dynamic kind of photo or illustration.

Like Batman. With kittens. Awww.

GIF via this isn’t happiness.

2. HEY IPHONE, YOU GIF?

Your iPhone can GIF thanks to some neat apps, like:

• GIF Shop – Lets you edit and loop your GIFS with neat features like onion skinning, which helps you line up different shots.

• Giffer – Has a cool photo picker that lets you select more than one photo at a time.

• Loopcam – This one’s free! It’s a stripped-down app that lets you make GIFs from photos quick and easy.

• Figgif – Lets you make a GIF from video you record on your phone.

Android users: As of now, we haven’t found stellar GIF apps for Android, but we’ll update here if any better ones pop up!

3. THE CINEMAGRAPH: THE GLORIFIED GIF

If early GIFs are comparable to the awkward adolescent years, then cinemagraphs are GIFs in their most golden age—sleek and très chic.

First introduced by the talented team of photographer Jaime Beck and motion designer Kevin Burg, these sophisticated GIFs took the web world by storm, eliciting oooo’s and aah’s from fascinated viewers.

Get inspired by Beck and Burg’s cinematic creations, and then get right into making your with our cinemagraph tutorial!

4. GIF UP YOUR IPHONE SCREEN!

For you iRebels rockin’ jailbroken iPhones, show off more of that dissident spirit by GIF-ing up your lockscreen.

With some patience and this custom lockscreen tutorial, an animated iPhone lockscreen will soon be yours to rock and roll.

Warning to tech n00bs—this requires quite some tinkering to work, so proceed with caution and extra patience!

5. THE REAL WORLD: GIF EDITION

Wait, you mean, GIFs aren’t limited to viewing just on the computer screen?

Nope—thanks to Greg Borenstein & Scott Wayne Indiana, the creative folks who make GIF zoetropes at Physical GIFs!

Physical GIFs are based on the persistence of vision: when a series of frames moving quickly is perceived as one moving image by your eyes and brain.

Each frame of a GIF is carved by lasers out of plexiglass, and then the frames are animated with the use of a spinning disc and a strobe light. See one in action in this video!

They’ve recently reached their fundraising goal on Kickstarter, so expect to see some real-time GIFs proudly displayed on some lucky coffee tables soon!

6. TURN VIDEOS INTO GIFS!

Wanna make a GIF from a section of your favorite YouTube video, or your own video files? GIF ‘em right up with the following converter sites:

• GIFsoup – The chicken soup for your digital soul, GIFsoup basically helps you turn your own YouTube videos into a GIF!
• Bender Converter – This nifty converter can make GIFs from a plethora of sites, including YouTube, Vimeo, and Facebook!

GIF created from video featuring Raoul Ortega and filmed by David McClymonds.

GIF ME MORE

• Have Photoshop or Gimp but never GIF-ed before? Learn how to make ‘em inPhotoshop and in Gimp.
• No Photoshop? No worries! GIFninja is here to save the day. As is Picasion andGickr! These are just three examples of free GIF makers available for you to use on the interwebz.
• Not only can your GIFs move, they can wiggle and look 3D, too. Make your own wiggle 3D GIF—like David Fitzsimmon’s GIF above!
• Fruits can get their GIF on, too—check out these amazing animated MRI fruit scans created by MRI technologist Andy Ellison!
• Made an awesome GIF and dying to share it to the world? Upload your pixel-moving masterpieces to your own blog, or have ‘em join the GIF party! Did your cat star in your GIF? There’s a page to showcase your cat’s animated antics, too!

Related articles

• How-To: Cinemagraphs (makezine.com)
• The Best 150 Animated Gifs. Really. Gifs. (cartoonsmartblog.wordpress.com)
• ARTspiration: Cinemagraph – Still Photos with Subtle Motions (aybanlim.wordpress.com)
• This Week In GIFs (videogum.com)
• Tutorial: How to Make Cinemagraphs with Photoshop (labnol.org)

NZ Earthquake Graphic

A look at 3 devastating earthquakes in New Zealand.

Give  the image a click to see a larger size.

The ten deadliest earthquakes

Yes I’m getting on the infographic bandwagon that the rest of the world is.

This is one of a couple parts for a project I’m working on. The other isn’t yet done, but will be shortly.

The recent earthquakes in New Zealand prompted the development of this. It’s interesting to see the clusters of destruction. Five of the deadliest were located in Asia, four in the Middle East, and then Haiti.

Give the image a click to see a larger version.

Dhammakaya

Apparently there’s some sort of controversy about this organization, but I’m just blown away by the visuals. This group is organized enough to get hundreds of thousands of people together wearing the same clothes and do the same thing with remarkable spacing.

For more stunning photographs, Foreign Policy is the place to go.

ID: Hansen, Graphic Tools for Thinking, Planning, and Problem Solving, p. 193-220

I felt armed and ready for information battle after reading this chapter.

Broken down into challenges, models and tools for defining, clarifying and conveying concepts graphically, the author was rather empowering in giving plenty of tools for the toolbelt.

This reading provided a very functional and practical set of guidelines for building powerful information statements of arguments.

I did feel it was a bit of a commercial at times, pushing her “Graphic Tools ®”.

1. Dave’s Bike Tools by bre pettis, on Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/bre/552152780/

IDW: Chapter 4 – Design Toolkit, p. 89-121

Reading this segment answered a lot for questions for me. I, like many others I’m sure, are really appreciative of good design but struggle to find the formula for getting our point/message across in a creative manner.

Appropriate layout, design, typeface and color aren’t easy to bring together to make a really impactful point.

I thought this chapter did a great job of conveying not just the elements of good design, but how they’re tools and how they should be used.

With the right tools, you’re forced to pay attention. You get your message across clearly and in an impactful manner.

I kept coming back to the concept of impact throughout the chapter and thought there was no better way to describe it than a boxing match.

1. Bankalicious by misterprash, http://s725.photobucket.com/albums/ww256/misterprash/?action=view&current=Banklicious_LOW-FI.gif&newest=1

Ware, Visual Thinking for Design, (2008) – Chapter 2: What We Can Easily See

For me, this chapter was the Neuroscience of Marketing IST600.

I whittled down my visual definition of this chapter to using either an image of a map or an image of building blocks and ultimately settled on building blocks. While there is definitely some mind ‘mapping’ going on here, the structure and function of our ‘visual’ anatomy was the real story.

How the eye-brain network responds to various visual stimuli has such a critical impact on how we interface with the world around us. Understanding these reactions will result in training of the eye/brain and ‘knowing’ what people will see before they see it.

1. Building Blocks by Holger Zscheyge, on Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/zscheyge/49012397/

Tufte, Visual Explanations, Chapter 2: Visual and Statistical Thinking: Displays of Evidence for Decision Making (1997)

When you know you’re right, you know you’re right.

You’ve dug deep enough to unearth the compelling story and now it’s time to share.

Depending on your/their level of authority, the trick is getting someone to understand your point, or lobby for someone acting on your behalf to get your point across.

Next step is delivery and it’s all about the delivery. Having the facts isn’t enough; you need to make a persuasive case.

I used concepts in this reading to help craft the questionnaire I created for this week’s visual journal. It was mighty helpful.

1. dig by Brenda Anderson, on Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/curiouskiwi/57456663/
2. Point! by a2gemma, on Flickr, http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1339/1448178195_bff4bcd6c2_m.jpg