• Visualization: the Shifting Media Landscape and Consumer Behavior

    The Economist held a Media Convergence Forum in October to explore the changing relationship between consumers and commerce in the digital age. Here's how the organizers described the purpose of the forum on their website: The surge of new technologies and social media innovations in today's environment is significantly altering the future media landscape for marketers. Consumer behaviour is changing and the way marketers reach their audience must also change. Marketers are searching for new ways to not only reach their customers, but to understand them, to peer inside their minds. As the level of consumer understanding increases, so can the knowledge of how best to reach them. However the plethora of tools at a marketers disposal is not easy to navigate and real learning comes from a real understanding of the future of media convergence. Interesting and compelling, to be sure. But they also had Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and Jeff Brenman put together a video/data visualization of the changing landscape, and it really captures your attention. Titled Did You Know 4.0: The Media Landscape , it presents, in less than 5 minutes, the current shifts in how consumers and businesses are interacting through digital media. And while much of the focus is on news media and advertising, the core issues connect to just about all facets of commerce in the digital age: (Hat tip to Chelsey Hoffman, University of Michigan)
  • The US Federal Budget, Visualized

    Jess Bachman created the first version of his Death and Taxes poster in 2004. Now, thanks to a little pub from boingboing.net a few years back, his updated version each year is a must have for the fan of strong visual representation of budget matters. Essentially, Death and Taxes is a graphic representation of the US Federal Budget. The 2010 version is available, and it looks something like this: Go to WallStats.com to learn more about the poster and Bachman’s work.