I recently watched a TED talk by Hans Rosling, who is a professor of global health at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute. His current work focuses on dispelling common myths about the developing world, which he says is no longer worlds away from the West. His work indicates that the majority of the Third World is on the same trajectory toward health and prosperity.
The way that he presents this – with unique data and a visual interest, makes the observations and trends “come to life.” Data and statistics of social and economic trends creates an interesting picture and predictions and trends come to life in flowing curves, moving bubbles, and playful color.
The material presented is drawn often from data from the United Nations, and is illustrated by visualization software that he developed in his nonprofit company, Gapfinder. World health, population, energy, and war come up in his presentation.
You can check out his talk on TED talks, and the software is free and can be used with any data at Gapminder.org.
Image Source:
http://www.ted.com – Hans Rosling Talk
http://www.gapminder.org/
Links:
http://www.ted.com – Hans Rosling Talk