viz.

Mindmap: Noel Radley with NovaMind

This mindmap reflects a number of of viz.'s connections in 2010-2011 including those with other blogs, photographers, museums, and initiatives, centers and programs both in the DWRL and at UT, Michigan State, and Rice University. Find out more details on our outreach after the jump. 

Image Credit: Screen capture of a powerpoint from my E314 course

For my final viz post of the semester (I'm officially off duty in the spring, but might pop back in occasionally), I'm going to reflect back on one of the more pedagogically interesting technologies I've discussed this semester -- using QR codes in the classroom. 

Image Credit: Apres Garde, by way of Google Maps Mania

The above image is the Saturday, November 13th entry from the Tumblr photo blog of local writer Matt Bucher, Apres Garde, where he collects picturesque images from Google Street View. Apres Garde is one of several Google Street View art sites featured on Tuesday by the Google Maps Mania blog along with Montreal-based artist Jon Rafman's 9 Eyes Tumblr which presents a mixture of scenic views and interesting or suggestive situations captured by the Google Street View Camera alongside Lehel Kovács Google Street View inspired cityscapes and Bill Guffrey's Virtual Paintout. All of these blogs use the images captured by Google Maps street view as (or for inspiring) their work. 

Image Credit: Rachel Stephens Photography, by way of the Nashville Examiner

At the same time that several European governments are considering trying to force advertisers and brands to include disclaimers on photoshopped promotional images for the purposes of bolstering viewers' (and particularly young girls') self esteem, American photographer Rachel Stephens has promoted the use of photoshop to her clients on the premise that image manipulation can function as a source of empowerment. Anna North's November 8th Jezebel entry "Photoshop Treatment Not Just for Models Anymore" includes an unsolicited email from Stephens forwarded by a reader of the site in which Stephens writes that "every woman deserves to see herself retouched."

The Restoring Honor Rally held on August 28, 2010 and the Rally to Restore Sanity (and/or Fear) on October 30th were two media-led rallies with the former appealing to the political right and the latter mainly to the left. The images featured in the SoundSlides presentation above are from both of these rallies. 

Image Credit: Screen capture of Colors of the Web infographic from Colour Lovers by way of Cool Infographics

Lately we've been discussing image production in our viz meetings including slide shows using Sound Slides, Animoto, and other ways of encouraging students to create images while getting beyond the basic slideshow. One of my pet projects for this semester was to learn more about creating infographics and to determine whether it would be reasonable to ask students to create a basic one-layer infographic (no statistics, just visual relationships) of an essay for an English or Rhetoric class. After the jump, I'll give a brief overview of my findings so far. 

Image Credit: DJ Spooky's Website

In the wake of DJ Spooky's Sound Unbound rip mix burn lecture here at UT yesterday evening, I'd like to recap some of the topics covered last night. DJ Spooky's discussion of remixing, music and sound, art, and space and global adventuring resonate particularly well with recent discussions here on viz. Above is a representation of global ocean currents that DJ Spooky presented as the inspiration for his symphonies on ice. 

Image Credit: Eric Rice's Flickr

H/T : 2D Code Blog and Hampton for the QR reader demonstration

In anticipation of Viz Blog's upcoming collaboration with the DWRL Immersive Environments Group, I'm devoting this week's post to a bit of background on QR codes - two dimensional barcodes that can contain several different types of data: URLs, a limited number of plain text characters, phone numbers, or SMS. In the image above, Eric Rice's "nerdscaping" of his driveway has been captured from space by Google's satellite view. Although the code wasn't quite completed when the photograph was taken, Rice's project will inevitably be only one of many giant QR codes that will soon appear on satellite images. Driveways, yards, parking lots, and building rooftops are all spaces where these codes can be placed to embed information on specific locations in the real world.

Image Credit: Ralph Lauren, by way of Photoshopdisasters

As a followup to my post last week on the British government's plan to meet with health officials, fashion executives, and advertisers in October 2010 to discuss the legal status of the un-indicated use of photoshopping in advertisements, I would like to re-showcase a blog entry by Tim Turner from October 2009 when British and French politicians began discussing possible photoshop disclaimer requirements.

The above ad, in which the circumference of Filippa Hamilton's waist appears to be less than that of her head, is a prime example of photoshop abuses in fashion photography and the rationale for next month's meetings. View Tim's "Photoshop Disasters" entry reposted after the break, or link to the original post and the comments, which include a video interview with Ms. Hamilton. 

Image Credit: The Illusionists.org 

The pervasive use of photoshopped images in advertisements and magazine features has stirred up a veritable maelstrom of debate over the ethics and legality of image manipulation. On Monday, CBS News published an article on the British government's decision to meet with "advertisers, fashion editors, and health experts to discuss how to curb the practice of airbrushing and promote body confidence among girls and women."