FWIP
Graphing the Influence of Thinkers and Ideas Throughout History
Brendan Griffen has graphed a network of all people on Wikipedia with who they’ve influenced and who they’re influenced by.
Via Griff’s Graphs:
For those new to this type of thing: the node size represents the number of connections. In short, I used a database version of Wikipedia to extract all people with known influences and made this map. The bigger the node, the bigger influence that person had on the rest of the network. Nietzsche, Kant, Hegel, Hemingway, Shakespeare, Plato, Aristotle, Kafka, and Lovecraft all, as one would expect, appear as the largest nodes. Around these nodes, cluster other personalities who are affiliated (depends on distance). Highlighting communities by colour reveals sub-networks within the total structure. You’ll notice common themes amongst similarly coloured authors.
Griffen’s influence is Simon Raper who recently graphed the history of philosophy.
The tools used are similar too:
First I queried Snorql and retrieved every person who had a registered ‘influence’ or registered ‘influenced by’ value (restricted to people only so if they were influenced by ‘anime’, they were excluded).
I then decoded these using a neat little URL decoder and imported them into Microsoft Excel for further processing (removing things like ‘(Musician)’ and other annoying syntax).
I then exported these as a csv and imported into Gephi and proceeded as usual. Fruchterman-Reingold algorithm followed by Force Atlas 2. I then identified communities using ‘Modularity’ and edited the rest in Preview. Due to the size, I’ve had to zoom up and take snapshots on regions of interest.
The csv file containing all of the data can be obtained here so you can make your own maps.
And yes, as Griffen notes, the information and visualization is biased towards Western ideas and cultures since Wikipedia skews heavily toward English speakers.
Meantime, we’re absolutely gobsmacked.
Read Griffen’s post on the project. Check out zoomable version. Get yourself a pretty print.
Images: Partial screenshots of Graphing Every* Idea in History, by Brendan Griffen. Select to embiggen.
H/T: Flowing Data.
Lotta men. Just sayin’.
While on the job as a high school teacher in Minnesota, artist Gregory Euclide (Hi-Fructose vol. 17) began creating ephemeral paintings on whiteboards during his 25-minute lunch periods as a way to push the boundaries of creativity in the classroom. The ongoing series of works, titled “Laid Down & Wiped Away,” features delicately rendered landscapes smudged with sweeping arcs and dotted with geometric forms. Euclide’s impressively resourceful works have now been documented as prints using Sumi ink on dry erase board, which David B. Smith Gallery in Denver has recently released along with portfolios chronicling the project. Take a look at some more images courtesy of Gregory Euclide and David B. Smith Gallery.
Sound Advice Project
A custom bracelet of a sound-wave rendered in 3D “designed” by the waveform of the message it encodes.
I would die from immense happiness it somebody got me one of these
That’s flipping cool.
We need one!
(Source: roguesandevolution)
Pete Gardmer | http://onecitizendesign.com
As a graphic designer I give my clients first class service responding to their requirements, questions and any problems which may arise throughout their briefs whilst maintaining a high level of creativity that results in a unique response and end product.
Yvonne Fehling & Jennie Peiz - Stuhlhockerbank,2009
Artists’ statement:
“A series of seating for public spaces that approaches users and viewers in an extraordinary way. The dividing lines between different types of furniture (chair, stool, bench) are eliminated as the three types blend. The results are immobile constellations that express a person’s inner stance in the particular situation.
Over and above the pure purposiveness of a piece of furniture, the objects come with narrative elements. They seem familiar and yet at the same time surprising, enhanced by a sensual and poetic dimension.”
(Source: likeafieldmouse)
View Larger Radical idealist, technology futurist, renaissance man, artist and dreamer: My piece on the Buckminster Fuller exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Utopian Impulse, is in Whitehot Magazine.
Mr. Phomer | http://phomer.com
Born in Lisbon, London based. Son of the 1980’s, raised by wolves, ink,heroes, polaroid pictures, videogames,cartoons,the cold war, tape mixing, sneakers, vintage references, posters,bikes, vinil collections and street playgrounds. He has learned through graffitti and urban culture and studied the fine arts of graphics and illustration to enhance the ever-growing selfmade knowledge. This is a lifetime work in progress that aims to cross diferent styles,times, cultures and other lifes, hopefely yours.His ultimate goal is to achieve total coolness.
