The recent hype of visualization is an answer to floods of information that we just can't overllook any longer. Economic power moved to those who can show us how to get to what we look for. Maps show the terrain from a bird's eye perspective, or they translate and make tangeable the vastness of information stashed away in the code or in databases somewhere in California. They can reveal linkages: relationships we were not aware of.

While I did not learn much from the beautiful graphs that this Swiss applet creates, it is surely enjoyable to observe their procedural unfolding. The graph on the left maps this blog. Visualization for visualization's sake? That's the problem with many visualization projects that become merely eye candy or, well, decoration. In any case, these particular website graphs are popping up all over the blogosphere.

The OpenNet initiative mapping Net Filtering is not as visually appealing, perhaps, but it is revealing. My favorite recent visualization project in the arts, The Dumpster (left), maps 2005 breakups as seen on MySpace. It was created by Golan Levin with Kamal Nigam and Jonathan Feinberg.

Martin Dodge is the geographer of cyberspace but also Yahoo is in the business of visualizing (tags) now.

If you come across (network) visualization projects that struck you as meaningful, send me an email.