[Sigia-l] Graphic visualization of hierarchical information

[Christopher Fahey]

> I haven't seen anyone try to do this since the New 
> York Times US election map in 2004.
> http://news.com.com/2001-11386_3-0.html?tag=ne.tab.hd
> Scroll down to the middle of the page to the What's 
> Hot area and select the graphic radio button.

It is nice to see this type of thing implemented so modestly on the cnet
site, but it does seem like a variation on the classic SmartMoney Map of the
Market (http://smartmoney.com/maps/?nav=dropTab) and the omnipresent "tag
clouds" phenomenon (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/). 

It's also an exact replica of this beautiful site, which aggregates Google
News:
http://www.marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/newsmap.cfm

While I love the experimentation and novelty -- and the aesthetics -- I am
skeptical about the empirical advantage of this sort of display over simply
listing the headlines in order of popularity/significance. For example, the
SmartMoney Map of the Market is mind-blowingly interesting, but I doubt any
serious broker uses it to guide their market positions. The "tag cloud"
treatment gets one thing right: it's not about ease-of-use, it's about
fun-of-use. Such displays are excellent for encouraging casual exploration. 

-Cf
[christopher eli fahey]
art: http://www.graphpaper.com
biz: http://www.behaviordesign.com