Photography
Posted by Aaron in Photography on May 15th, 2009
I am the appointed photographer at many of our meetings at the office. Often, that means trying to take interesting pictures of what one of my colleagues calls “talking heads” (i.e., they’re just not that interesting). But sometimes I get to meet and photograph some famous and/or interesting people. Here are two from the files:
Dennis Wilder, Special Assistant to President George W. Bush and Senior Director for East Asian Affairs at the National Security Council
The power of a city: Mumbai an…
Posted by Aaron in Uncategorized on May 7th, 2009
The power of a city: Mumbai and suburbs account for 25% of industrial output, 40% of maritime trade and 70% of capital transactions in India
U.S.-Asia facts
Did you know:
• 93% of Arkansas’s international students come from Asia
• Mississippi’s “Asian alone” population grew 87% during 2004-07, fastest in the nation
• Louisiana has exports to Asia of $2,547 per capita, fourth in the country
These are from the new brochure for Asia Matters for America. The brochure is coming soon, but the website is available now.
Balance of trade
Posted by Aaron in Asia, Infographics on December 24th, 2008
And now a sneak peak into a project I’m working on right now. This is my first attempt at showing balance of trade between the United States and Asia.
US-Asia balance of trade (click to enlarge)
I like the concept but I think it still needs some work. The data I have is only from one month but I’d prefer to have an entire year. I also want to be able to show some change over time. I could obviously have two stacked charts, but I’m thinking of other ways to show the change.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
U.S. Exports to Asia
Posted by Aaron in Asia, Infographics on December 10th, 2008
This is an annotated map I produced for the Asia Matters for America website:
The lines in the map above represent U.S. merchandise exports to Asia, by U.S. state and Asian country in 2007. The thinnest lines represent exports of greater than U.S.$2.5 billion; mid-thickness lines, greater than $5 billion; thickest lines, greater than $10 billion.
Animated graphs, part III
Posted by Aaron in Infographics on November 26th, 2008
This is a continuation of Animated graphs, part II
I’ve talked the last two weeks about a series of animated, interactive graphics used by Hans Rosling to illustrate the differences, and surprising similarities, between the global “haves” and “have nots.” The first week, I showed how a little animation can make great graphs. The second week, I analyzed Rosling’s progression from simple graphs — which give the audience a framework for understanding — to complex, nuanced analysis of reality. Rosling uses animation to build upon his previous graphs for a seamless interaction with the audience
In this final installment, I look at just the following slide, in which Rosling shows not only the child survival rate and GDP per capita for each of 200 countries in the world, but he also displays data by quintiles for five African countries.
Animated graphs, part II
Posted by Aaron in Infographics on November 20th, 2008
This is a continuation of Animated graphs, part I
Last week I began an analysis of the images Hans Rosling uses in his presentation on the relationship between the global “haves” and “have nots.” In particular, his focus is on how people’s conceptions of the global North and global South (different terminology for the same concept of haves/have nots) may have been an accurate reflection of reality at one point in history, but may not be accurate today.
To make his case, he relies on a few sets of time-series data which he presents to great effect in some animated graphics. One thing that I like about Rosling’s work is that he start simple to get his audience to understand what he is talking about. Then he builds in data to make the presentation more accurate and nuanced.
For example, he presents a graph here that compares child survival rates with per capita income. Circles toward the top show better chances for survival, while circles toward the right show wealthier countries. Rosling adds a very helpful label (“good” and “bad” for health) to explain the “survival” scale, which some readers may find cryptic:
Animated graphs, part I
Posted by Aaron in Infographics on November 13th, 2008
This is the first in a three part series
I happened across this video on the TED.com network. In it, professor Hans Rosling demonstrates a number of good practices in conveying information to an audience in an understandable and innovative fashion.
It’s also quite enjoyable to watch him really interact with his data. The whole video is viewable here. It’s about 20 minutes long but quite worth it. What follows are a series of screenshots that explain some of the highlights of his techniques for information display.
1. This screen shows child survival as a function of GDP per capita. In other words, it answers the question: is there a link between how much money you make and health? The answer, viewable inthe graph below, is a clear yes, indicated by the linear progression of countries up the right hand side of the graph.
This is a clear graph, showing a lot of data in an organized fashion: mortality rates, GDP per capita and country population (the size of the bubble) are all visible. Notice all this data is for one year, 1962.
Election maps
Posted by Aaron in Infographics on November 6th, 2008
I’m writing this one day after what many Americans consider the most historic election in U.S. history. Elections provide an endless amount of data, and this was no exception. Particularly evident was the use of images to process data and extract trends.
For example, the following combination of graphics from CNN.com shows the difference between the electoral votes in 2004 and 2008 (click for full size):
Election map comparison: 2004 and 2008
More after the break… Read the rest of this entry »
The online presence of Aaron Siirila
Posted by Aaron in Uncategorized on November 4th, 2008
Welcome to aaronsiirila.com. This blog is intended to be the professional online presence for Aaron Siirila.