New Posts Coming

Ok, so I have been a bit neglectful over here at Perlita Labs. I got a little distracted with work, life, other projects, etc… but I plan on some more posts this year.

Over the past year I spent a bunch of time working with Drupal and Flash. All of my creations were being put on my  Family Art Studio site where you could use the Flash tools to create art.

My interest is now turning to Android development and I figured I would resurrect Perlita Labs for this work.  Here is the link to my first app: The Legend of Chess.  I will add a post on it as things progress.

Data Activism: Geeks for Good

Data Activism is a new an emerging trend with designers, developers and artist utilizing technology to help society understand and address the issues of our times.

The new U.S. Administration has established initiatives to make government data available to the public.  This is converging with the growing number of developers and designers that are familiar with mash-up’s and data visualization technologies.  The convergence of these trends create the ability for developers, designers and artist to create apps, sites and art that educate and provide transparency to the government.

The Open Government Directive is a memo sent by the White House on December 8th, 2009 directs federal agencies to:

1. Publish Government Information Online
2. Improve the Quality of Government Information
3. Create and Institutionalize a Culture of Open Government
4. Create an Enabling Policy Framework for Open Government

Each of these are follow with specific actions that must start to show results in the next couple of months.  The main hub for this information will be Data.gov, providing Federal data sets, and links to State and local efforts as well.

This is amazing progress for the government that will bring both innovation and efficiency.  Possibilities will be opened up as great designers get creative on representing the governments data.  The government agencies will be pressured to improve as their performance becomes public knowledge.  All of this is a win for Americans with more services, useful information and government efficiency.

Everyone can participate by using the data, giving feedback, building visualizations, building reports, etc.  You can get involved by yourself, or join a team of like minded individuals.  What are you waiting for?

Resources:

• I found a group local to me  on the list of Sunlight Labs Great American Hackathon
• Join the dialog and vote on suggested improvements
• Code for America

Examples:

• A terrific list of apps developed for New York City: NYCbigapps.com
• If you want to be inspired to make a difference using data visualization view this Chris Jordan video.
• Data Visualization to fight Climate Change
• Visualization of what governments spend their money on
• Great Infographics from Good Magazine (on Flickr)

If you have other resources or examples you recommend, add them as comments and I will update this article.

Confession of Photo Booth Addict

That is what my wife would say.

You might read the title and think that I am always taking pictures in photo booths, but it is actually much worse… In the last 5 years I have built and programmed about 5 photo booth variations…. and of course there are a lot of pictures to go along with those.

So it all started when I went to my friend Joey’s wedding.  I was discussing with a buddy that we should start a business.  Then I recalled having used a photo booth at another friends wedding in California the year before.  It was a great idea… we would go into the photo booth business of renting out photo booths and services to special events: Weddings with scrapbooks, corporate Christmas parties, etc.

Next I went online and researched the cost… they are actually pretty pricey and require chemicals, film, etc.  After a couple of days I started to think, “how hard could it be, all that is needed is to take a couple of pictures and print them out.”  Well it is not that hard, but it is not that easy either.

To make a very long story short I have gone in and out of the photo booth business.  In the process I have used a PHP\Command Line scripted software, written one in C# and written another in Processing.  I have built a booth out of wood, plastic, an old picture frame, steel and now a antique radio.

Some of these photo booths have been for the business, but at this point that is no longer the motivation. I really enjoy the time spent on these creations. It is an opportunity to bring all of the computer graphics geekiness to my family and friends in a way that they love.

Above is a picture of the new booth.  As for the software, I bought it fromBreezeSystems ($75)… and it is better than anything I ever wrote.  There is still some finishing work needed, but the new booth is ready for our holiday party.

My Data Visualization Holiday Wish List

As I have been writing this blog I have come across a number of great minds in the Data Visualization space and some of their books.  My Amazon wishlist has actually gotten quite long, but I narrowed it down to 3 books I want to add to my Data Visualization library:

Beautiful Data by Jeff Hammerbacher and Toby Segaran has caught my eye for a while, but it was not until I saw it in Barnes and Noble that it made my list.  There are 39 contributors that share some of their greatest data visualization with a large number of color pages showcasing their work.  This is the kind of book that can get you out of a mental block and inspire you to create.

Running the Numbers: An American Self-portrait by Chris Jordan made my list because of his Ted talk.  If you have not seen Chris Jordan pictures some shocking stats please do.  It is an inspiring video demonstrating how Art and Visualization can help the human mind make sense of the biggest issues facing society today.  I came aware motivated to make the world a better place and inspired that data visualization can play a role in creating change.  I am really excited to all of the “portraits” that are included in the book.

The Visual Miscellaneum by David McCandless proposes to be a collection of great data visualisations, diagrams and infographics.  I have seen the book promoted on the well designed site of David’s Information is Beautiful.   You can just tell from the site that this book will be a good one.  I recently used one of the infographics he contributed to for a political conversation with my wife, regarding the traits of the left vs the right.

So there are the 3… and yes, my order is in and they are on their way.  Lots of good reading and sources for inspiration.

New Java Script Mapping Library – Cartographer.js

This morning I came across a very useful looking javascript libray to work with Google maps called Cartographer.js.  It is based on the Raphael.js libraries and they are well thought out and extremely simple to use.  Looking at the code examples and demos it looks like a quick and easy way to create some great looking mash-ups of geographical data.

A cluster map built using Cartographer.js

Update….

Sorry not to post in a few days… I have been heads down working on a Processing project and swamped at work. Once I get a draft of the processing work I will try to get it up. I also have a almost finished post on Processing.js.