Diary: Visualisation, geolocation and procreation

11.08.10
Data discord
Diary was much entertained by a discussion on Newsnight between David McCandless of informationisbeautiful.net and ‘legendary’ designer Neville Brody. If you thought data visualisation wasn’t a particularly contentious topic, think again. While both designers were cordial on the surface, there was a tense undertone of cattiness. Brody is not impressed by the fashion for funky visualisations to convey stats, condescendingly describing McCandless’ work as “pretty”. It goes to show that you can try to communicate data in an engaging way, but you’ll never please everyone. Meanwhile, viewers who don’t work in design were left wondering why these people take themselves so seriously. The most sensible comment to result from the debate was Toby Bradbury’s infographic of the nation’s declining interest in the design industry over the course of the programme.

17.08.10
Baby mama drama
For its latest TV advert, BT has turned to crowdsourcing. Well, sort of. The long-running series of ads chronicles the ups and downs in the lives of a young couple who are unusually preoccupied with phone and broadband services. Following a not very subtle hint in the last instalment that Jane might be pregnant, BT asked viewers to vote on whether she really was, as well as asking for ideas about what else might happen next. Viewers suggested car crashes, murders, alien invasions and all sorts of other twists that we can’t mention in a family publication such as this. BT duly ignored their suggestions, as there were really only ever two options on the table: she’s having a baby or she isn’t. Not surprisingly voters went for the first option - what kind of story would it be if she turned out not to be pregnant? It’s like asking whether Jack Bauer should save the world in the next series of 24 or spend the day catching up on his emails. Still, BT managed to rack up 1.6 million votes and plenty of media attention, so crowdsourcing clearly works for them as a publicity tool.

”Not only do we now use our mobile phones to pretend we’re busy when we’ve got nobody to talk to, we can now open up our hearts to our phones about how we’re feeling”

18.08.10
Happiness? There’s an app for that
With each day that passes life seems more like a dystopian sci-fi film, only with less interesting outfits. Not only do we now use our mobile phones to pretend we’re busy when we’ve got nobody to talk to, we can now open up our hearts to our phones about how we’re feeling. A pair of researchers at the London School of Economics have come up with an iPhone app for people to record how happy they are. You can check in every few hours, using GPS to submit your location, and state what you’re up to and who you’re with, and how happy you are. The researchers hope to “find better answers to questions about the impacts of natural beauty, environmental problems – maybe even aspects of climate - on individual and national wellbeing”.

19.08.10
The thin line between love and… love more
The BBC has been seeking users’ opinions on its recently redesigned website through an online survey. Naturally, Diary jumped at the chance, but was left a little frustrated by the options available. The survey offered respondents a choice of eight descriptions of their feelings on the new site, which included “I welcome the change” and “I have got used to it now”, but nothing approximating “I don’t like it”. The most negative answer available was “I didn’t like it at first but I think I will get used to it”. Anyone wishing to confess that they failed to appreciate the genius of the redesigned site could only make their views known in the “Other, please specify” box. Is the BBC planning to round up these dissenters for re-education?