Tag: visualization

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Deb Roy: The Birth of a Word [TED 2011]

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This is one of the better TED Talks I have seen to date.  It is definitely worth watching!  

From the abstract: MIT researcher Deb Roy wanted to understand how his infant son learned language — so he wired up his house with videocameras to catch every moment (with exceptions) of his son’s life, then parsed 90,000 hours of home video to watch “gaaaa” slowly turn into “water.” Astonishing, data-rich research with deep implications for how we learn.

For an interesting related talk, check out Patricia Kuhl– The linguistic genius of babies (TEDxRanier).

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Budget Puzzle: You Fix the Budget [NY Times]

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While some of these cost and revenue projections could be debated, the New York Times has developed a nifty interface that allows end users to consider how they would attack the problem of deficit reduction. Using the New York Times Budget puzzle, here is my approach. In developing my approach, I tried to consider a configuration that I thought could actually attract majority support in a time of divided government. Thus, I leaned pretty hard on spending cuts (70%) with relatively fewer tax increases (30%). Obviously, your are free to disagree but I would suggest that try it for yourself and see where you come out.

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David McCandless: The Beauty of Data Visualization [TED]

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From the talk abstract: “David McCandless turns complex data sets (like worldwide military spending, media buzz, Facebook status updates) into beautiful, simple diagrams that tease out unseen patterns and connections. Good design, he suggests, is the best way to navigate information glut — and it may just change the way we see the world.”