TONY WALTHAM
Data visualisation can be a powerful way to get a different perspective on information, and the social networking site Digg (digg.com) provides several ways of looking at site activity as its users submit links to stories at Digg Labs (labs.digg.com). Digg is a community where members propose and vote on interesting stories and news pictures, sharing web content they have found.
The standard view is text-based, with a headline, the number of "diggs". But you should certainly take a look at the various colourful and dynamic Flash-based views that Digg Labs offers, blending graphics with statistical analysis to reflect submissions or voting patterns for "popular stories", "newly-submitted stories" or "all activity."
Among the views are: "Stack", where blocks fall, Tetris-like, signifying real-time activity, while the headlines are represented below; "Swarm", which is a dynamic look at how users cluster around popular stories, swirling across the screen; and "Bigspy", where headlines of various sizes scroll down the screen, size reflecting popularity. Then there's "Arc" that presents a swirling view where stories arrange themselves around a circle (illustration), while there's also "Pics", which is a collection of thumbnail images in various categories.
Just as with the main Digg page, if you click on any of the stories in these views the link opens in another page, while there is also an option to download each view as a screensaver.
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