#OSE Open Source Everything – Page 124 – Public Intelligence Blog

900 Years of Tree Diagrams, the Most Important Data Viz Tool in History

By Kyle VanHemert

WIRED, 04.08.14

You’d be excused for thinking infographics are a modern invention. We’ve witnessed an explosion of data visualization in the last half decade, and only occasionally are we reminded of the field’s historical forebears, like Florence Nightingale’s polar area diagram of causes of death in the Civil War from 1858, or Charles Joseph Minard’s sophisticated flow map of Napoleon’s ruinous Russian campaign, published in 1869.

A new book by designer Manuel Lima, however, shows that data viz’s roots go much deeper–some 900 years, at the very least. And calling them “roots” is very much appropriate.

The Book of Trees: Visualizing Branches of Knowledge catalogs a stunning diversity of illustrations and graphics that rely on arboreal models for representing information. It’s a visual metaphor that’s found across cultures throughout history–a data viz tool that has outlived empires and endured huge upheavals in the arts and sciences.

Read full article.

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2014/04/072014/04/07

Yoda: US Government Gets It Right on Open Data

Data

Open Data Law Aims To Demystify Federal Spending

Landmark DATA legislation, near passage, would transform the US government's spending information from a maze of confusing documents into easily accessible open data.

Both houses of Congress stand poised to pass a law three years in the making that would standardize how the federal government's spending data are published. The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act), regarded by some observers as the most significant open-government legislation since the Freedom of Information Act in 1966, would transform the US government's spending information from a maze of confusing documents into easily accessible open data.

The new law would require the federal government to automate, standardize, and publish its myriad financial management, procurement, and related data in electronic formats that can be easily accessed and analyzed by interested parties in the public and private sectors.

Read full article.

2014/04/072014/04/07

Stephen E. Arnold: Open Review Breaks the Back of Citation Cabals and Incestuous Science

Access, Crowd-Sourcing, Economics/True Cost, Governance, Innovation, Knowledge, P2P / Panarchy, Science, Transparency

Open Review Brings Peer Review to the Scientific Masses

This seems like a step in the right direction for the world of academic publishing. ResearchGate News announces, “Peer Review Isn’t Working—Introducing Open Review.” We know that increasingly, papers based on shoddy research have been making it into journals supposedly policed by rigorous peer-review policies. Now, ResearchGate has launched a countermeasure—Open Review brings the review process to the public. The write up happily tells us:

“We’re excited to announce the launch of Open Review today. It’s designed to help you openly voice feedback and evaluate research that you have read and worked with, bringing more transparency to science and speeding up progress.

“With Open Review you can:

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2014/04/062014/04/06

Stephen E. Arnold: New York Public Library Posts Open Maps

Access, Data, Geospatial

New York Public Library Posts Maps

The New York Public Library has a massive collection of beautiful maps, but instead of keeping them locked in an archive Motherboard reports, “The New York Public Library Releases 20,000 Beautiful High Resolution Maps.”

All of the 20,000 maps are available via open access. What is even more amazing is that the NYPL decided to release the maps under the Creative Commons CCO 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. If you are unfamiliar with a Creative Commons license, it means that users are free to download content and do whatever they want with it.

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2014/04/062014/04/06

Stephen E. Arnold: USG Considers Open Acquisition

Data, Governance

Government Tackles Acquisition Inefficiencies

Given evidence like the vile backlog on veterans’ benefits and the still-operating paperwork bunker in Pennsylvania, one could be forgiven for suspecting that no one in government is even trying to bring our bureaucracy into this century. You may be surprised to know there is plan in place for at least part of the problem, as evidenced by the Integrated Award Environment: the Path Forward from the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). That document, which looks suspiciously like a Power Point presentation converted to PDF, outlines the GSA’s recommendations for improving the federal government’s acquisition procedures.

Anyone interested in the details should check out the document, but the list of “our principles” summarizes the organization’s targets:

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2014/04/052014/04/05

Yoda: Mobile Learning (M-Learning) the Future + InfoGraphic

Access, Education

Why Care About M-Learning?

Justic Ferriman+

LearnDash, 27 March 2014

Mobile learning is becoming increasingly popular in the workplace. There are a variety of reasons for this, but many have to do with the accessibility of mobile devices, the savings associated with a mobile enabled learning program, and the convenience mobile learning affords the learner.

In fact, today if there is a learning management system (or courses) that do not perform on mobile devices, it is borderline in-excusable. In five years time, it will be flat-out archaic.

The infographic below (originally created by Upside Learning) presents some very compelling facts about the shift to mobile learning in the workplace, and the opportunity that is there for organizations that take action.

The section of the infographic that rang true for me were the points around the way work is changing – particularly in reference to no office, device freedom, and the desire for greater flexibility on the job.

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2014/04/052014/04/05

Berto Jongman: Federico Pistono on Learn Anything Anywhere [Grossly Over-Sold But Provided for Information]

Crowd-Sourcing, Education

IEET contributor, Federico Pistono discuses a project him and an international team are working on that will allow anyone, anywhere access to information in all languages, cultures, and economic situations ON VIDEO. Home page: esplori.net

BOOK: Robots Will Steal Your Job But That's OK: How to Survive Economic Collapse and Be Happy (2014)

BOTTOM LINE: They make software tools available for individuals to create specific small video learning modules suitable for hand-held learning. This is NOT a concept for a global brain or a distributed diaspora of volunteers.