autocratic for the people.

My man Jesse Kriss sent me a link to his research group's collaborative data analysis site, Many Eyes, but of course I've put off writing it up for weeks. Well, now it's on Slashdot, so .. it's probably been long enough. Sorry, Jesse.

Many Eyes is a site wherein users contribute data sets, visual analyses of said data sets, or both. The user-contributed visualizations are customized from stock types, from simple charts to complex node-and-edge graphs. It's an interesting idea, in that it provides both a convenient place to go for weird data as well as an easy gathering point for discussing and contesting the resultant analyses.

To put on the poop hat for a minute, it is somewhat concerning that the range of visualizations will almost certainly end up producing incorrect assessments of statistical likelihood, but I suppose the appropriate response to an incorrect analysis on the site is just to link to a better analysis from the same data set. Aside from that (and the other common criticism), though, it's a great idea, and well implemented. It'd be nice to get some data on game console sales in there; that might shut Sony up for a few minutes.

posted by avixe @ 4:35 PM