The google-verse has recently been expanded to include gapminder software as part of the ever impressive Google Docs platform.Below is an interactive spreadsheet example of the sophisticated motion graphs now available in Google Docs.The motion graph is based on the Gapminder software first demonstrated to the world by Hans Rosling in his exciting and highly memorable TED Talk presentations (2006 and 2007). I first noticed gapminder in march this year, and I’m very pleased to see how far it has come in the last 6-12 months.(html) Gapminder Graph;According to Gapminder.org, the motion graphs have been ported to become a new inclusion to the Google docs spreadsheet tool, and as you can see can be leveraged **very** easily for all kinds of shared data storage and visualisation. The data included in the graph is the boilerplate standard detail that comes with the gadget as a means of demonstrating it’s capabilities, and it seems to be a very compelling example of where collaborative work involving data sharing/massaging/viewing is heading. Hans makes the claim in his 2007 TED talk that the UN databases for statistical data have been opened up to the software and will be searchable in some form. As the presentations illustrate, it’s not only the capability of the software, but also the depth and accessibility of the source data that is moving at a remarkable rate.(html) Google Doc Example;For the record, the steps involved in going from 0 to google motion-graphed are as follows;i. sign up for free google account,ii. click the docs link on the homepage,iii. click new spreadsheet or upload an existing file,iv. select cells, click insert new motion graph gadgetv. publish as a webpage, share with friends/colleagues etc.voila!Last year when I was completing my architecture dissertation project, myself and a few other students were researching living conditions and economic data in countries external to Australia. Gapminder was a discovery made far too late to be of use to that project, but I’m certain that this kind of data empowerment is only going to facilitate knowledge or information distribution between on a local and global scale simultaneously.closing thoughts;i. Hans makes the comment that the $100 computer will be of integral value to impoverished and developing families. One only has to imagine the kind of super-users that could emerge using nothing more than cheap hardware, fluid access to the internet and freely distributed open source software.ii. I’ll be using the motion charts to interact with the household budget – sharing bills between 5 people can be tricky. I’ll post more on this topic when the tools have been tested.
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