A tangled web
July 21, 2007 5:16 AM Subscribe
It's cool to look at, but I've been staring at it for several minutes and I'm just not seeing the organization or logic behind how it is organized. The way things are laid out seems pretty haphazard.
I dunno, I'll keep looking but maybe I'm just a bit thick.
posted by psmealey at 5:24 AM on July 21, 2007
I dunno, I'll keep looking but maybe I'm just a bit thick.
posted by psmealey at 5:24 AM on July 21, 2007
So, apparently, the only way for "you" -- meaning "me" -- to get anywhere on the web is to pass through either Facebook or Apple (via Guy Kawasaki) on the Insiders line.
Huh?
posted by cyclopticgaze at 6:17 AM on July 21, 2007
Huh?
posted by cyclopticgaze at 6:17 AM on July 21, 2007
A general comment about Internet visualizations, just my opinion: they all try to convey more information than good visualizations can convey. Well, maybe not all of them, but a lot I've seen.
There are limits to what graphs and such can do. After a certain point, they become spaghetti. That's fine if you are specialist, but if you are just a guy or gal who wants it boiled down, well, you need to simplify. I have trouble doing this myself when I do visualizations, but it's really necessary. I've produced charts that I think are fine. Then I show them to people and they say "Good god, that looks like a plate of vomit." Then I know it's time to clean up.
posted by MarshallPoe at 7:00 AM on July 21, 2007 [1 favorite]
There are limits to what graphs and such can do. After a certain point, they become spaghetti. That's fine if you are specialist, but if you are just a guy or gal who wants it boiled down, well, you need to simplify. I have trouble doing this myself when I do visualizations, but it's really necessary. I've produced charts that I think are fine. Then I show them to people and they say "Good god, that looks like a plate of vomit." Then I know it's time to clean up.
posted by MarshallPoe at 7:00 AM on July 21, 2007 [1 favorite]
Let me make the obligatory Cory Doctorow comment. But, to at least partially make up for it, I will link this totally awesome Docotrow/subway snark.
posted by Mid at 7:11 AM on July 21, 2007
posted by Mid at 7:11 AM on July 21, 2007
The way things are laid out seems pretty haphazard.
It seems obvious that they are just entries in Oliver Reichenstein's bookmarks folder.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:11 AM on July 21, 2007 [2 favorites]
It seems obvious that they are just entries in Oliver Reichenstein's bookmarks folder.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:11 AM on July 21, 2007 [2 favorites]
I'm not sure how important it is, but I sure liked looking at it and found some new sites I hadn't heard of.
Also, is Orkut that successful? Am I that out of the loop?
posted by josher71 at 9:24 AM on July 21, 2007
Also, is Orkut that successful? Am I that out of the loop?
posted by josher71 at 9:24 AM on July 21, 2007
On this subway map, Orkut is successful in a dismal inner-city neighbourhood that is home to miles and miles of concrete tower blocks and burned out cars. What out for the skinheads and neo-Nazis.
posted by KokuRyu at 9:28 AM on July 21, 2007
posted by KokuRyu at 9:28 AM on July 21, 2007
Where's MeFi?
posted by SilverTail at 10:18 AM on July 21, 2007
posted by SilverTail at 10:18 AM on July 21, 2007
This is actually just a map of Tokyo. I've been there, and Myspacetown is off the hook. All the private clubs are next door in Orkut though.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 12:33 PM on July 21, 2007
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 12:33 PM on July 21, 2007
Orkut is successful in a dismal inner-city neighbourhood that is home to miles and miles of concrete tower blocks and burned out cars. What out for the skinheads and neo-Nazis.
Rio?
Seriously, this whole series-of-tubes thing has gone far enough.
It's a map of web trends.
How exactly does the UPS trend start the money line and eventually lead from Hotmail to Edelman? PR is more trendy than email? This map makes no sense. "Let's draw something with online brands and link it with color lines." Can I get a couple of hundred hits to my grocery list or hospital bill if I organized it like this?
On Preview, shouldn't everything be on the money line?
posted by metaldark at 3:40 PM on July 21, 2007
Rio?
Seriously, this whole series-of-tubes thing has gone far enough.
It's a map of web trends.
How exactly does the UPS trend start the money line and eventually lead from Hotmail to Edelman? PR is more trendy than email? This map makes no sense. "Let's draw something with online brands and link it with color lines." Can I get a couple of hundred hits to my grocery list or hospital bill if I organized it like this?
On Preview, shouldn't everything be on the money line?
posted by metaldark at 3:40 PM on July 21, 2007
These web-as-tube-map things don't make any sense to me: because the analogy of complex network -> layout of tokyo is fundamentally incompatible, the result obscures more than it reveals.
posted by MetaMonkey at 4:35 PM on July 21, 2007
posted by MetaMonkey at 4:35 PM on July 21, 2007
MetaMonkey has it. I love maps (including tube maps and similar) but they're for a completely different purpose. I just found myself getting annoyed.
Though I do have a poster version of The Great Bear.
Also, for those interested in tubes rather than webs: the real London Underground map.
posted by athenian at 12:19 AM on July 22, 2007
Though I do have a poster version of The Great Bear.
Also, for those interested in tubes rather than webs: the real London Underground map.
posted by athenian at 12:19 AM on July 22, 2007
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posted by WPW at 5:19 AM on July 21, 2007