Visualization – Kristen Baumlier

Category: Visualization

Quaddel – a Process for Growing 3d Plants and Other Structures

Posted on February 16, 2014February 24, 2014 by Kbaumlier

Dominik Kolb and Christopher Bader, 26-year-old students at the University of Applied Sciences in Germany have developed a project where an interactive application can help users create abstract forms.

Called Quaddel, the project combines 3D printing and an interactive application to assist users in creating dynamic development of 3d imagery and output.

Quaddel’s formations are built on formulas, math, and randomization and create unique images that replicate coral, flowers, plants, and bronchial lungs. The structures are organic, and the videos of the images forming are engaging.

The 3d models can be 3D printed, and go from a video to a physical object. Check out some of the videos below, or check out the project page on Behance.

curvature based growth process that simulates coral like structures

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--TUH-Y

Links and Image Sources:

Quaddel – www.youtube.com

www.behance.net – Quaddel

www.deskriptiv.de/

Reading for the Future: an Infographic about Reading and Success

Posted on February 22, 2013February 26, 2013 by Kbaumlier

I streamed an older show of This American Life recently that featured a segment on Baby College, a program for parents and children in Harlem that teaches the importance of building a strong foundation in the early years of a child. One thing I learned by listening to the interviews in the show is how important reading to children when they are young is. A study was cited that proved that interaction and learning done with young children leads to better skills later in life, and is more effective than training older children to catch up on skills.

Reading is one of the most important skills a person can have. The ability of a child to read in third grade is a point that can be measured for success, since children go from learning to read to reading to learn.

An infographic created by Good.is, the Apollo Group, and Teaching for Tomorrow shows how reading can impact a child’s life, and how parents and teachers can work to ensure students stay at the grade level of reading.

You can check out the infographic on the Good.is website

Image Source:
http://awesome.good.is/transparency/web/1212/reading-for-the-future/flash.html

Links:

http://awesome.good.is/transparency/web/1212/reading-for-the-future/flash.html

http://www.hcz.org/programs/early-childhood

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/364/going-big

Statistics that Reshape Your World View: Hans Rosling and Gapminder

Posted on January 23, 2013January 28, 2013 by Kbaumlier

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

http://www.gapminder.org/

Maps and Being Here: Unique Geographies

Posted on October 19, 2012October 19, 2012 by Kbaumlier

Every so often things just seem to coincide and pop up into my inbox and life. Recently things related to maps and mapmaking have been coming up.

This week I saw some of my students working on an assignment for another class. They were creating a Google map about a place they have not been to, but wish that they could. One student shared what she was working on, and it was a map of the Yukon. She was creating a journey and trail and added images of moose, an overhead view of the Yukon, and other photos for a trip she has not taken.

The other day I read and checked out a book called You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination by Katherine Harmon. The book shows images of various maps that are not about reality – but about the imagination. There are maps to heaven and hell, happiness and despair, moods and mythological places. One section of the book is about the mental geography of Appalachian Trail hikers, and has examples of inventive maps that show this trail and experience through mapping and design.

And the third mapping event happened today when I randomly chose an episode to play of This American Life radio show while I painted our porch. The show I had picked was called “Mapping,” and had 5 stories about people making maps.

One interesting thing I learned in the opening of the show is that the majority of maps have been created in the last century. Previously, people did not really use maps that much unless they were an explorer of some kind. Today we see maps every day which includes weather maps, directional maps, and other visualizations. Some of the stories were about a cartographer who maps things in his neighborhood (like who ha pumpkins on their porch at Halloween), someone who maps different kinds of sounds, and people that map smell and taste. The show focused on how the world could be redrawn by the five senses.

So far I have looked at one weather map today, and will use a directional map later.

Images:
You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination – book

Links:

You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination – book

thisamericanlife.org – Radio Show “Mapping”

Wordle – Create “Word Clouds” from Text

Posted on April 10, 2012April 9, 2012 by Kbaumlier

Want to visualize some text in a new way? Wordle is a webtool that can generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. You can copy and paste text, put in a webpage, or enter text into the tool. The tool gives greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can adjust the Wordle by selecting different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. After your Wordle is done, you can print them out, save them, or post in the Wordle gallery.

On the Wordle site they have some examples which include a Wordle of the United States Constitution, and an image that I’m guessing a high school student created. The Wordle website was created in 2009 by Jonathan Feinberg and part of the application are owned by IBM.

I had some fun playing with the tool. I made a Wordle by copying and pasting the minutes from a committee I am on at work, another from my blog, and one from my artist statement. It is interesting to see what images are larger – which shows what was repeated and brings out the key points.

The Wordle posted above is the RSS feed from the blog – so this Wordle is from the last 10 days of posts.

Links:

http://www.wordle.net/