This evening, I was trying to test and make full use of my powered-up internet connection so I watched a few videos, which, rather coincidentally, had a similar theme – data. Access to data, interpretating it, presentation of it et al. I’d bet good money on that there has never been so much raw information available publicly than there is now. Tomorrows will, most undeniably, bring more information, so I guess my definition and usage of ‘now’ is pretty much tagged to the ever-changing present, rather than a static time frame (i.e. ‘now’ being forever midnight on 22nd April 2009). But anyway, the following from TED are very insightful videos.

Tim Berners-Lee: The next Web of open, linked data
Hans Rosling: Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you’ve ever seen
Hans Rosling: New insights on poverty and life around the world

Am especially charmed by Hans Rosling, haha. Midway through the second talk, he demonstrated Dollar Street, which appears to be a very interesting interactive tool for presenting statistical data in a more palatable format than graphs and charts, and then correlating that data with more familiar / practical benchmarks (i.e. the presence of certain furniture in a room versus daily income). And he swallows swords too. Wicked.

Sigh. Spoke too soon. Connection just went ‘Local only’. Knn.