Alfredo Covaleda,
Bogota, Colombia
Stephen Guerin,
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
James A. Trostle,
Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, USA
Our friend Marylaine Block once again delivers some insights directly applicable to analytic journalism. See the piece below where she explains why visual statistics and infographics are essential to what we're doing (or trying to do).
Just received a reference to this gallery of network visualizations. The site is new to me, but perhaps not to all of you. http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/index.cfm
Be sure to drill down in the “About” link for additional riches. There are hints of potential here but for the fact that much of the design is in the ever-so-cool black and gray, which means it's a chore to extract any meaning. ___________________________________________________
Goal VisualComplexity.com intends to be a unified resource space for anyone interested in the visualization of complex networks. The project's main goal is to leverage a critical understanding of different visualization methods, across a series of disciplines, as diverse as Biology, Social Networks or the World Wide Web. I truly hope this space can inspire, motivate and enlighten any person doing research on this field.
Not all projects shown here are genuine complex networks, in the sense that they aren’t necessarily at the edge of chaos, or show an irregular and systematic degree of connectivity. However, the projects that apparently skip this class were chosen for two important reasons. They either provide advancement in terms of visual depiction techniques/methods or show conceptual uniqueness and originality in the choice of a subject. Nevertheless, all projects have one trait in common: the whole is always more than the sum of its parts.
How it started
The idea for this endeavor started on my second year MFA program at Parsons School of Design. During this period I conducted extensive research on the visualization of complex networks, which culminated with my thesis project Blogviz: Mapping the dynamics of information diffusion in Blogspace. One thing I found while exploring this area was the lack of an integrated and extensive resource on this subject. This is the main reason why this project came to life.
Later on, as a teaching assistant of Information Architecture at Parsons Design+Technology program, together with Christopher Kirwan, I was able to consolidate most of this research as part of an independent study. The key chunk of projects shown here was gathered during this phase. My ultimate goal is to keep adding new projects to a still undetermined limit.
“ePodunk is a site that focuses on place and provides information on 25,000 communities in the U. S. The site also contains a number of interesting maps, including maps of the Katrina diaspora, ethnic origin, fastest growing counties and others. There is also a Canadian version of the site, focusing on Canadian places, but it, sadly, does not seem to have any maps.”
With newspapers — and news magazine — cutting staff on an almost weekly basis, some of us in journalism are going to have to reinvent ourselves. One of our tenents of Analytic Journalism is simulation modeling, a methodology and analytic tool we believe will be to the social sciences in the 21st century (and journalism IS a social science) what quantum physics was to the hard sciences in the 20th. So here's an interesting opportunity for someone.
“> The Department of Mathematics as the University of California, Los > Angeles is soliciting applications for a postdoctoral fellowship > position in Mathematical and Computational Social Science. The > qualified applicant will work in the UC Mathematical and Simulation > Modeling of Crime Group (UCMaSC), a collaboration between the UCLA > Department of Mathematics, UCLA Department of Anthropology, UC > Irvine Department of Criminology, Law and Society and the Los > Angeles Police Department to study the dynamics of crime hot spot > formation. The research will center on (1) development of formal > models applicable to the study of interacting particle systems, or > multi-agent systems, (2) simulation of these systems and (3) > directed empirical testing of models using contemporary crime data > from Los Angeles and other Southern Californian cities. > > The initial appointment is for one year, with possible renewal for > up to three years. For information regarding the UCMaSC Group visit > > http://paleo.sscnet.ucla.edu/ucmasc.htm > > DUTIES: Work closely with an interdisciplinary team of > mathematicians, social scientists and law enforcement officials to > develop new mathematical and computational methodologies for > understanding crime hot spot formation, diffusion and dissipation. > Responsibilities include teaching one course in the Department of > Mathematics per year, publication and presentation of research > results. > > REQUIRED: A recent Ph.D. in Mathematics, Physics or a related > field. The qualified applicant is expected to have research > experience in one or more areas that would be relevant to the study > of interacting particle/multi-agent systems including, but not > limited to, mathematical and statistical physics, complex systems, > and partial differential equations modeling. The applicant is also > required to have advanced competency in one or more programming > languages/environments (e.g., C++, Java, Matlab). > > Qualified candidates should e-mail a cover let, CV and the phone > numbers, e-mail addresses, and postal addresses of three > individuals who can provide recommendation to: > > Dr. P. Jeffrey Brantingham > Department of Anthropology > 341 Haines Hall > University of California, Los Angeles > Los Angeles, CA 90095″
We're all awash in data, so finding the significant bits and bytes that can lead to information is a maddening process. Jon Burke, writing in the November 2, 2005 edition of MIT's Technology Review, presents some web-based technological options. See “Finding Signals in the Noise.” We were impressed by a new product/site called “Memeorandum,” but Burke points out a handful of alternatives. Excerpt:
“Few would dispute that we live in an age of information overload. In the last few years alone, blogs have increased the torrent of information each day to unmanageable levels. This would explain, then, why a corresponding torrent of startups has surfaced recently to help us filter, manage, and control this flood of information. Some rely on insightful algorithms that understand popularity to filter the news, while others rely on the preferences of readers.
For example, Digg is a San Francisco startup that ranks news items by letting people choose which stories they like. It just landed $2.8 million in venture capital from Omidyar Network, former Netscape founder Marc Andreessen, and Greylock Partners. We also understand that a comparable site — Memeorandum — may close a round of financing shortly.
The concept of making users prioritize or create hierarchies for news is not new — Slashdot has been doing it since 1997. But the latest generation of sites like Digg and Memeorandum are showing that user-prioritized news is, indeed, a powerful and easy way to drive traffic — in some cases to a site created by a single employee with a lone server.”
Simulation modeling is one of the four cornerstone areas of interest to the IAJ. It's a relatively new, and largely unknown, field that can be of great advantage to journalists if we can take the time to learn how it works and then how we can apply it to our field. The best resource to date for journalists is the J-Lab, (http://www.j-lab.org/) at the University of Maryland.
But today along comes this announcement of a rich issue of the Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation. It's filled with deep thinking and application.
============================================= The Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation (http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk) published issue 4 of Volume 8 on 31 October 2005. JASSS is an electronic, refereed journal devoted to the exploration and understanding of social processes by means of computer simulation. It is freely available, with no subscription. ================= This issue is our largest ever, with 12 peer-reviewed articles, eight of them forming a special section on Epistemological Perspectives, edited by Ulrich Frank and Klaus Troitzsch. If you would like to volunteer as a referee and have published at least one refereed article in the academic literature, you may do so by completing the form at http://www.epress.ac.uk/JASSS/webforms/new_referee.php
How Can Social Networks Ever Become Complex? Modelling the Emergence of Complex Networks from Local Social Exchanges by Josep M. Pujol, Andreas Flache, Jordi Delgado and Ramon Sanguesa <http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/8/4/12.html>
Violence and Revenge in Egalitarian Societies by Stephen Younger <http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/8/4/11.html>
Influence of Local Information on Social Simulations in Small-World Network Models by Chung-Yuan Huang, Chuen-Tsai Sun and Hsun-Cheng Lin <http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/8/4/8.html>
It Pays to Be Popular: a Study of Civilian Assistance and Guerrilla Warfare by Scott Wheeler <http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/8/4/9.html>
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Towards Good Social Science by Scott Moss and Bruce Edmonds <http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/8/4/13.html>
A Framework for Epistemological Perspectives on Simulation by Joerg Becker, Bjoern Niehaves and Karsten Klose <http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/8/4/1.html>
What is the Truth of Simulation? by Alex Schmid < http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/8/4/5.html>
The Logic of the Method of Agent-Based Simulation in the Social Sciences: Empirical and Intentional Adequacy of Computer Programs by Nuno David, Jaime Simao Sichman and Helder Coelho <http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/8/4/2.html>
Validation of Simulation: Patterns in the Social and Natural Sciences by Guenter Kueppers and Johannes Lenhard <http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/8/4/3.html>
Stylised Facts and the Contribution of Simulation to the Economic Analysis of Budgeting by Bernd-O. Heine, Matthias Meyer and Oliver Strangfeld <http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/8/4/4.html>
Does Empirical Embeddedness Matter? Methodological Issues on Agent-Based Models for Analytical Social Science by Riccardo Boero and Flaminio Squazzoni <http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/8/4/6.html>
Caffe Nero: the Evaluation of Social Simulation by Petra Ahrweiler and Nigel Gilbert <http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/8/4/14.html>
==============================
Edmund Chattoe reviews: Routines of Decision Making by Betsch, Tilmann and Haberstroh, Susanne (eds.) <http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/8/4/reviews/chattoe.html>
The new issue can be accessed through the JASSS home page: <http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk>.
The next issue will be published at the end of January 2006.
Submissions are welcome: see http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/admin/submit.html
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The premise of the IAJ is to discover find how other professions and academic disciplines do what we do as journalists. That is, how do they find and analyze data and then present the results of that analysis.
We recently subscribed (it's free) to Law Technology News. It's no surprise that the data management needs of large law offices are much the same as those of journalism organizations. Lawyers pretty much follow the RRAW-P process, too. So topics like Calendaring, Case Management, Contact Management, Document Management, Electronic Data Discovery (EDD) are right up our alley. Law Technology News doesn't do much journalism, in fact it pretty much reprints press releases. But it does provide many, many pointers to products and methods related to journalism. Give it a look. as well.
A future question for the SAT or GRE exams: “What is the relationship between Tom DeLay and redistricting?” Obviously that one is going to have many, many possible correct answers. But redistricting is a difficult and complex topic. This recent paper, though, might provide a good jumping off point for reporters working on the topic. “Public Choice Principles of Redistricting” BY: JOHN G. MATSUSAKA USC Marshall School of Business USC School of Law THOMAS W. GILLIGAN University of Southern California Marshall School of Business Document: Available from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection: http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=775186 Paper ID: USC Law and Economics Research Paper No. 05-18; USC CLEO Research Paper No. C05-8 Date: July 2005 Contact: JOHN G. MATSUSAKA Email: Mailto:matsusak@usc.edu Postal: USC Marshall School of Business Dept. of Finance & Business Economics Los Angeles, CA 90089 UNITED STATES Phone: 213-740-6495 Fax: 213-740-6650 Co-Auth: THOMAS W. GILLIGAN Email: Mailto:TGILLIGAN@MARSHALL.USC.EDU Postal: University of Southern California Marshall School of Business Los Angeles, CA 90089 UNITED STATES ABSTRACT: This paper uses fundamental principles of public choice, mainly the median voter theorem, to develop a simple theory of redistricting. The focus is on how closely policy outcomes correspond to majority rule. The main results are: (1) Potential policy bias in favor of nonmajority groups is structurally linked to the number of legislative seats and the population, and the structure of most states puts them very close to the theoretically maximum bias. (2) Random districting, which might seem like the essence of neutrality, does not eliminate policy bias on average. (3) Traditional principles of compact, contiguous districts that respect existing political boundaries, stressed in the Supreme Court's Shaw v. Reno decision, minimize the chance of nonmajoritarian outcomes.”
Matt Ericson of the NYTimes has delivered yet again a piece of superb infographics. This one, sadly, illustrates the 2000+ U.S. deaths in Iraq. (See “Deaths in Iraq by Month” in the 26 Oct. 2005 story “2,000 Dead: As Iraq Tours Stretch On, a Grim Mark“) William Playfair (1759-1823) was the Scottish engineer and political economist who did the ground-breaking work in visual statistics. Charles Joseph Minard, in the mid-nineteenth century, produced the classic infographic of Napoleon's March to (and retreat from) Moscow. Minard's great work is notable for displaying multiple data sets on a timeline as well as their geographical relationships.
Ericson has done something similar by showing the combat deaths in Iraq from the March 2003 invasion until mid-Oct. 2005 as the occupation continues. Ericson shows not just the numbers, but the branch of service, the locations of the deaths and the causes of death (i.e. explosive devices, vehicle or plane crashes, etc.).
It's a brilliant piece of work that also demonstrates the added value that very good journalists and their editors can bring to what should be public discussion. But this kind of work doesn't happen overnight, nor is it cheap to do. (Are you listening Knight-Ridder, Gannett, et al.?)
We would only hope that someone at the Times would work to develop a flash program/presentation that would, in a relatively automatic mannter, constantly update this important informational display.
