Podcast (mp3): Play in new window | Download (54.6MB) | Embed

Hi Folks, the second episode is out!

First and foremost: thanks a lot for your kind and useful feedback! It’s fantastic to know you are there listening to us. In a way, it’s magic.

A big thank also to to David Schroeder of pilotvibe.com for creating a jingle for Data Stories. Yes, we have a jingle now!

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In this episode we talk mainly about contest, awards, marathons, etc. (but don’t miss Mo’s rant at the end ).

Here is the episode chapters breakdown:
[00:27] Recent activities
[01:56] Feedback for first episode
[05:22] Title music by Dave Schroeder from pilotvibe.com
[05:43] Visualizing.org marathon grand prize
[09:13] Types of contests and awards
[11:28] NSF visualization award has no category for interactive vis
[12:28] Academic contests tradition
[13:45] VAST Challenge
[21:05] Information is beautiful awards
[22:15] Lines in the sand
[24:23] Information is beautiful awards pt. 2
[25:19] Our favorite entry: “Spotlight of profitability”
[31:55] Wrapping up the contests
[33:07] Mo’s rant on outrageous RFPs
[35:33] Outlook

Visualizations Discussed in Detail
Some of you voiced the need to have more to see before listening to the episode. Here are the main visuals we discuss in details (click on the images to have a higher resolution version).

E-Cube-Librium - Visualizing Marathon 2011 Grand Prize Winner
(see how it works: http://invent.ge/ecube-how)

Spotlight of Profitability (see 2nd entry in the list) – Information is Beautiful Awards
(Our favorite entry for IBA)

Contests Mentioned in the Episode

• NSF Challenge
• VAST Challenge
• Information is Beautiful Awards
• Visualizing Marathon

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As usual, let us know what you think. Criticism is welcome.

Podcast (mp3): Play in new window | Download (61.2MB) | Embed

Hi Folks, in this episode we discuss the goods and bads of animated visualization:

03:26 – Introducing Data Stories
06:05 – Data Animation Kitsch
14:40 – Using Animation Interactively
17:54 – Scientific Research on Animation
27:17 – Eye-candy and the 2D vs. 3D Debate
29:37 – Engagement and “Data Entertainment”
31:19 – Contests and Marathons
41:07 – Conclusion

Here are some useful links to follow the discussion.

Examples.

• GE Installations (turbines and imaging scans)
• Deluge (Norwegians moving house)
• The Classic Koblin’s Flight Patterns
• The Classic Yau’s Growth of Walmart
• KIVA Micro-Loans

Well-crafted round-up article by Andy Kirk

Research papers on animation.

• Animation: can it facilitate? Tversky et al. Int. J. Human-Computer Studies (2002) 57, 247–262.
• Effectiveness of animation in trend visualization. G. Robertson et al. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (2008) 14(6) 1325 – 1332.
• A Comparison of Animated Maps with Static Small-Multiple Maps for Visually Identifying Space-Time Clusters. A. L. Griffin et al. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 96(4), 2006, pp. 740–753.

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What do you think of animation in visualization? Is it effective? Can you resist the allure?