The Scrollwheel: Ever resist the urge to backseat drive a Google search?
Read moreThis is a rather impressive example of an iPad-only magazine. It really highlights what publications have the potential of being.
The first video is the intro to PROJECT, the second a more detailed look inside. Notice: The interactive visuals. The one-frame hallmark shot for an article is now a 3-D virtual experience.
The future of future is here.
NPR has a really well put together survey right now about the use of Facebook and other new media tools to access their news. What I like about it is that it asks your user habit, interaction preference, and just the basic demographics. It gives you the sense that they care about your privacy (although being so careful means that they aren’t the first movers in the latest social media trends).
If you’re an NPR fan, follow them on Facebook, Twitter, the web or radio, it’s definitely worth the three minutes to fill it out and give your feedback.
I suggested adding the Facebook “Like” button to their web posts because it’s a great passive way to share their stories without being invasive on someone’s wall or requiring them to include a comment about it, as Facebook links often require (or so it feels).
I’m curious to see what the results are. If they post it, I’ll be sure to include it here as an update.
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The New York Times has a different kind of interactive infographic (information graphic) these days. And I like it because it’s a departure from what we’ve come to expect of visualized information in the last couple of years.
While modern infographics have become useful tools, many are two dimensional and only capture a singular moment in time.
The interactive above (click the image to see it live on the New York Times site) visualizes the Facebook buzz around the World Cup in South Africa using photos of the players themselves who are widely talked about.
Scrub across the timeline and you can see how the conversation flows between these players and their countries.
Infographics have quickly transformed the way that we communicate raw, boring data. Gone are the yesteryears of piecharts and graphs. But in the short time that the modern infographic has taken storm on sites such as GOOD, the visual format is becoming stale.
This is partly because there are so many people visualizing information now, and also because the speed of information allows us to create and share content so virally that there’s an over-saturation of visualizing any data. In fact, because data is processed so fast thanks to modern technology, the information on an infographic yesterday can be dramatically different than one created today, as can be visualized in the interactive above.
The challenge is in thinking of a unique visual, then having the resources – particularly time and talent – to create them before the data becomes out-dated. Or as the New York times did, create one that takes you across time so your information doesn’t get old, but rather builds a unique story beyond the sheer number of data points that individually, are meaningless snapshots.
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