How to present data

If you’ve never seen Gapminder … you really should check it out. It’s one of the clearest graphical representations of world data that you’ll find – and it’s easy to use and highly interactive.

Now there’s Gapminder Desktop – making it even easier to save and display graphical information. Watch this charming explanation from Hans Rosling and you’ll be hooked.

Google Image Swirl is Pretty Sweet

Google Image Search is useful, but depending on your search terms, might require tremendous sifting through extraneous images.

Now there’s Swirl … enter a key word and get a screen with example images. It being that time of year, I entered the word “turkey.”

turkey

Choose the image that represents the concept closest to the one you want (choosing the Thanksgiving turkey, rather than the map of Turkey). Now you’ll get a concept map like this:

turkey2You can then explore any subgroup in the cluster. It’s a pretty nice way of searching for images.

More on Swirl at the Official Google Blog.

Map of the Fallen

Map of the Fallen “… uses Google Earth to honor the more than 5,700 American and Coalition servicemen and women that have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan … So please take a look at this map, and explore the stories of heroism and sacrifice made across this nation and across the world. Although this map only shows the hometowns and places of death for these soldiers, it’s important to remember that each of these servicemen and women have a rich story in between …”

Map of the Fallen

538

If you are teaching about the US election, or just interested in the election – Five Thirty Eight is a fascinating site.

What is the significance of the number 538? 538 is the number of electors in the electoral college.

What is the mission of this website? Most broadly, to accumulate and analyze polling and political data in way that is informed, accurate and attractive. Most narrowly, to give you the best possible objective assessment of the likely outcome of upcoming elections.

If you’re a data geek, regression analysis may be what excites you – but there are excellent visual maps representing election projections, electoral vote, swing votes, etc.

Great social studies and mathematics connections …