Map of science

Seed magazine printed a Map of science that opened the 2006 Gallery in Nature. The map was made in collaboration by Kevin Boyack, Dick Klavans and Information Esthetics (i|e) founder W. Bradford Paley, and it is now sold out but you can still find the pdf file on i|e. In Nature there was written:

“We begin with all of science all at once, in this conceptual map of 800,000 published papers. The red circles are nodes of papers that cite one another. They are named with a string of phrases that relate to their fields, and are connected with lines of various heaviness and length, depending on the cross-linkages. Pure chemistry is at the end of the right-hand peninsula. Medicine is located roughly at the lower left, and physics is at the top.”

The colour scheme was altered in the second-generation map that is still to be found on i|e (as shown above).

*****

Different kind of calendar for 2008

I have written about a special calendar, the “Once more around the sun 2008″, in another blog earlier this year and you can find it on Information esthetics . The calendar can be bought in the webshop, but there is also a pdf file if you want to print it yourself.

*****

Välkommen till världen, Nellie!

I går föddes lilla Nellie till världen och föräldrarna Elin och David säger att allt har gått fint, så ett riktigt stort grattis från Köpenhamn och många kramar likaså!

*****

On learning and data visualization

The classical way of taking notes at lectures is to fill the A4 with linear, continuous text, preferably in black and white. It is awful, so you should forget all about it at once. To illustrate the possibilities of data visualization I will direct you to a Periodic Table of Visualization Methods that effectively summarizes the methods used at the time being.

And when you take notes, you should consider using one of the programmes reviewed at Mind-mapping.org. It is a heaven for anyone interested in mindmapping, concept mapping and other types of information organisation, and you will be directed to pages where you can download software of all types (shareware, open-source…) suitable for all the different operating systems. (If someone wonders why I don’t mention Tony Buzan in the same sentence as mindmapping, then I will inform that the train left the station a long time ago and there are people all over the world giving their input to the method.)

Colour, different font (size), shape, and pictures are an important of the learning process and using mindmapping is efficient, gives you a fast clue to what parts of the subject you should emphasize more, and in general takes the learning experience to a whole new level.

*****

Time to clean the keyboard

My dear iMac is a couple of years old now, as is its beautiful, wireless keyboard. Or, hmm, the keyboard is not that aesthetic anymore, rather repulsive in fact. There was that out of nowhere flying coffee and the dust that accumulated and… With the help of a computer geek friend of mine I can now present to you the best way to make your mac keyboard as shiny as new again – follow the step-by-step instructions at the mini Blog!

*****

Art and stuff

Here are some blogs that I’ve recently stumbled upon:

• Femme Femme Femme collects paintings with women as objects from most art periods. Fantastic, go see for yourself!
• Art Sleuth presents an impressive collection of links to the art scene in London, true to it’s name.
• Monoscope puts focus on things, both big and small, around us that have that certain something if one’s into minimalistic art and typography. A pleasant surprise!

Art history is something that has always interested me, but unfortunately also has been classified as “thing to do when all necessities are done” until autumn last year, as I decided to finally do something about the situation. With some friends I started going to lectures and will continue to do so for a while. We’ve been through art since roughly 1000 BC (Ancient Greece, the Etruscans and the Roman Republic – later Empire) until Postimpressionism and next course will encompass art in the 20th century.

*****