visualizations | TechPresident

The FCC Wants You to Get Your Map On

BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, February 9 2011

Did the W.H. Visualize a Meatier State of the Union?

BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, January 26 2011

A visualization employed by the Obama White House during their "enhanced" State of the Union feed explains that salmon are regulated by two different federal agencies, depending on the salinity of the water in ... Read More

The Wisdom of Surveilling Sudan from 300 Miles Up

BY Nancy Scola | Friday, January 7 2011

Coming out of the British diplomatic world, Carne Ross says that there a couple of things he finds potentially unsettling about the George Clooney-spearheaded Satellite Sentenial project that we took note of yesterday: Read More

A 90-Year Geography of America's Two Political Parties

BY Nancy Scola | Tuesday, November 23 2010

Tracking the Health and Wealth of Winnipeg

BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, November 10 2010

Take a Peek Inside the White House

BY Nancy Scola | Tuesday, November 9 2010

Visualizing World Peace. Or at Least the Jobs Numbers.

BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, October 20 2010

BBC's Dimensions: Making the Huge Grokkable in the Familiar

BY Nancy Scola | Thursday, August 19 2010

Poligraft Launches. Swear.

BY Nancy Scola | Thursday, August 5 2010

Earlier this week, I teased you all with pre-mature notice that the Sunlight Foundation's* new Poligraft.com had launched. This afternoon, I pinkie swear that the site is actually up and running. Read More

A Black Light for Money in the Day's News

BY Nancy Scola | Tuesday, August 3 2010

More on this when time permits, but for now, go play with Poligraft.* Read More

News Briefs

RSS Feed monday >

More Fodder For Social Media Activism Pessimists

A recent study of the Save Darfur Facebook campaign found that the massive participation online gave the “illusion of activism rather than facilitating the real thing.” More evidence, if it was needed, that the “revolution will not be tweeted.”

friday >

For Millennials, Institutions Are Out, Selfies, Social Networks and Diversity Are In

A Pew survey released Friday highlights that young Americans are noticeably detached from traditional institutions such as political parties, organized religion and marriage even as they are increasingly connected with their peers through online social networks. GO

Snowden EU Testimony Renews Calls to Grant Asylum

On Monday, Edward Snowden will participate in his first live discussion before an audience as part of SXSW Interactive through a video conference with his legal advisor Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy & Technology Project, as well as digital privacy expert Christopher Soghoian. (Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo from Kansas, also a member of the House Intelligence Committee, has asked SXSW to cancel the webcast, The Hill reported). Snowden's discussion will come amidst renewed calls in Europe to grant him asylum. GO

Minnesota Announces Civic Tech Legislation

Can civic innovation be managed statewide? A bill in Minnesota is betting yes. It is looking to grab some of the state's $1.2 billion surplus to fund open data, open government, and civic technology. Openminnesota.org, a site set up to promote and explain the bill, says the following: "Open Minnesota will build an engine for public open data use, civic technology creation engaging start-up companies and technology volunteers, and help hundreds more government units get cost-effectively connected to the best global open government lessons for local adaptation." GO

wednesday >

Now You Can See Who Really Pays NYC Property Taxes

Property tax revenue makes up around a quarter of New York City's budget, but until now broader information about it has not been easily accessible. Users could only look up individual properties by entering lot and block information into a basic online form on a city website, and would have had to cross-reference that information with a building's address and other sources, explained Chris Whong, co-organizer of New York City's Code for America brigade betaNYC. "This data is much more powerful in the aggregate," he said. That's why, as part of last week's Code Across NYC hackathon, he along with several collaborators worked to develop an online platform "born out of curiosity" that maps New York City property data. GO

Facebook's Got A Finger in India's Political Pie

Facebook is an increasingly active political force in India. The company launched their Indian election tracker Tuesday to coincide with the first Facebook Talks Live digital broadcast, “Town Hall” style conversations in which 2014 candidates field questions submitted by Facebook users. These projects build on the get-out-the-vote collaboration between the Times of India and Facebook, which was announced in September.

Civic Crowdfunding Looks to Bigger Projects with Phased Campaigns

Civic crowdfunding dreamed big but started small. The platform Neighbor.ly grabbed attention for a 2012 campaign to help fund a multi-million dollar rail car in Kansas City, but only raised $3,775 of its $10 million goal. The early campaigns of both Neighbor.ly and Citizinvestor that were actually successful reached for modest goals, usually less than $15,000. A look at the campaign pages of either platform today shows larger projects, in the tens or hundreds of thousands, creeping in as well. Civic crowdfunding is growing. To facilitate and attract more large projects Citizinvestor this week announced a plan to crowdfund projects in phases. GO

YanukovychLeaks.org Exposes a Corrupt and Violent Regime

Thousands of documents float and sink in a remote reservoir not far from a grand 345-acre estate contained within a sprawling wrought iron fence. As evocative as it may seem, this not the beginning of a spy thriller, but of Yanukovych Leaks, an online portal where the leaks have been uploaded by investigative journalists who say the extravagance detailed in those papers may prove ousted President Viktor Yanukovych's depth of corruption. GO

tuesday >

Surveillance in the Overlooked Corners of Africa

In the video below, filmed during the Oslo Freedom Forum in May 2013, Jacob Appelbaum breaks it to Rafael Marques, an Angolan investigative journalist and anti-corruption activist, that his laptop is being surveilled through a crude backdoor in spite of the fact that he is using Tor. He opens up a file where they can see all the images that have been stored and are waiting to be collected by the hackers. Appelbaum tells an understandably concerned Marques: “Every computer that's targeted is compromisable,”

Civic Hacking

WeGov

Online Organizing

BackChannel