[Sigia-l] Graphic visualization of hierarchical information

[Stewart Dean]

>From: "Christopher Fahey" <askrom at graphpaper.com>
>To: "'SIGIA-L'" <sigia-l at asis.org>
>Subject: RE: [Sigia-l] Graphic visualization of hierarchical information
>Date: Wed, 4 Jan 2006 07:21:46 -0500
>
> > 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

I always admire bold steps but as an information architect I see a lot of 
stuff like this hang my head. It's kinda interface design for interface 
design's sake and doesnt solve the problem. From this map I get less idea, 
not more, what news is relevent etc. Why are some boxes bigger than others? 
It needs to be overt to work, not enigmatic. Many designers deal in enigmas 
to carry their design from an emotive point of view.

Anyway it doesnt work in firefox as it doesnt allow pop up windows.

Beauty is in they eye of the beholder and I don't find it to my tastes - to 
many jumbled words.

Stew Dean