“Clutter is a failure of design, not an attribute of information.”
– Edward Tufte
Below is a link to Hans Rosling’s TEDIndia talk showing the rise of Asian development over the past 150 years. I’ve chosen to link indirectly to his talk at TED.com through the Gapminder website here, so that maybe you will spend some time at the Gapminder site. You will not be sorry. The irrepressible and ever-engaging Swede proves time and again that the effective visual display of statistical information is essential to understanding not only where we have been but also where we may, in fact, be heading, if, that is, we are able to avoid catastrophic war in the next 40 years. War is always the fly in the ointment.
In this lecture/presentation Rosling “… graphs global economic growth since 1858 and predicts the exact date that India and China will outstrip the US.” I guarantee that if you spend time with Rosling he will not only make you laugh, but will also inform you along the way as his animated graphs kick into gear giving new, bold views of our world.
1 response so far ↓
1 Rhodo Zeb // Nov 26, 2009 at 12:45 am
Wow, that gapminder is pretty cool stuff.
I know data virtualization or whatever it is called is a growth area right now, as it should be.
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