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.

A few months ago, I wrote a post introducing Aardvark (aka Vark) – a service where your question is broadcast to those mostly likely able to answer it within the Aardvark community.

Vark has been really useful because I can broadcast a specific question without clogging Facebook or Twitter feeds, and count on someone with at least a basic knowledge of my query, to point me in the right direction.

Today, I got an email from CEO Max Ventilla:

Since you’ve blogged about Aardvark in the past, I thought you might be interested in some exciting developments…

…Anyone can join now at http://vark.com using their Facebook account. (We’re integrating with other social networks very soon.)

[Fan them on Facebook too.]

This is a great move on the part of Aardvark.  They’ve really come a long way in the last few months, partly thanks to the growth in number of users.  Once it reaches critical mass, it’s value will increase exponentially.

Five more suggestions that I think will make their tool and brand name powerful are:

1. Allow my Vark Q&As to be published to social network feeds, particularly on Facebook, Twitter and FriendFeed.
2. Facebook app that can also be a tab within a profile where friends can see your Vark profile, and question/answers.
3. iPhone app (this is already in the works)
4. And if an exact or very similar query has already been answered, to automatically “reuse” that answer for faster responses (with a like/dislike option).
5. Vanity URL to profile.  (I’d like “vark.com/sherry”.)

I enjoy Vark because it’s (almost) anonymous social networking: I’m interacting with strangers to help them out, and vice versa.  If you use the instant messaging (IM) tool for Vark, the unexpected randomness of questions breaks up my work day.  Vark “interrupts” subtly by asking “Are you there?” and you can choose whether to engage or not by typing “sure”, “busy”, or “pass”.

Try it out… you’ll be surprised at how much you actually know.

For fun, here are a couple questions I’ve asked:

Q: How do I know when the tires on my road bike are worn, if they have no treads?

A: You’ll start to see threads come through the rubber in places and/or you’ll start getting more flats. Also, if you don’t ride often, the rubber may be brittle before they wear and you’ll see significant cracking in the tires. (Portland, Oregon)

Q: Looking for video to audio converter for Mac/OSX. Any recommendations? (i.e. MOV to AVI, MPG, MP3, etc.)

A: try Audacity (from New Delhi, India)

A: iSquint for basic stuff. If it is not enough, try avidemux. (from Dublin, Ireland)

And a few answers I’ve given:

Q: What’s a great book for beginners to use when teaching themself Photoshop? (from Springfield, Missouri)

A: A nice cheap book: Adobe Photoshop CS4 Classroom in a Book. A more expensive, and better one: Photoshop CS4 One-on-One: Fundamentals (both on Amazon)

Q: Is there a way to take an RSS feed and have my email updated when new entries are posted? (from San Francisco, California)

A: Try Feed My Inbox: http://www.feedmyinbox.com/

Q: What is a nice Agrituruismo (country farm stay hotel) in Chianti region Italy for a family to visit in August? (from Los Altos, California)

A: We loved staying at Podere Le Manzinaie http://www.lemanzinaie.it/ The family was wonderful and amenities great. Included is a dinner with the family one evening.

Here’s a snapshot of Twitter Chat During the Super Bowl from the New York Times today. Click on the image to see the interactive map, and navigate the different categories in the left menu as you play the Game Timeline up top:

The Washington Post has done mash-ups of tweets, videos and photos on Google Maps, which is really, really easy to do. Here is the official Washington Post announcement that describes what they did for the 2008 Presidential Elections.

Perhaps there’s an advertisement opportunity here for papers to highlight particular buzz in unique colors for products (or brands) that are willing to pay the papers. (Of course, the anti-conglomerate, free-press side of me hopes this won’t ever happen. But the business degree side of me tells me it’s probably already in the works.)

On the flip side, another opportunity here is for market researchers to take a tweet-grid such as these and geo-locate where their products/brands are most or least popular. We’re definitely at the dawn of a new era of reporting and micro-marketing…