Is the economy going to turn around any time soon? How does this economic swing compare to previous cycles? Amanda Cox et al of the New York Times explores these ever so important questions in her recent nine-part interactive series.

In a nutshell, the series is a story of business cycles starting at expansion, to slowdown, then downturn, to recovery, and we go in circles:

From there, we see the current cycle via industrial production in comparison to not just previous cycles (1969 to present), but also OECD leading indicators. It's animated, it's interactive, it's sexy.

Go take a look for yourself. It's pretty interesting once you take a couple of minutes to wrap your head around what you're seeing. I'm thoroughly impressed, and I feel a little bit smarter, which is saying something, because I'm an economic buffoon.

What do you think - is this interactive totally awesome or is the material kind of over your head?

Other Versions

This of course is not the first time this data has been visualized. Here are three other versions. Two use a similar concept while the remaining uses an indexed time series. However, while similar, the goals of each are different.

This one is from the Bureau of Statistics in Netherlands:

This one form the OECD:

Finally, this is from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis:

The NYT version plays out like a news story; the Netherlands and OECD ones are more like analysis tools with filters and more indicators; and the St. Louis fed uses a more traditional chart.

It's pretty clear which is better aesthetically, but what about from a data perspective?

Zum Kuckuck, a design group in Germany, visualizes data interchange and network traffic with Processing in this beautifully executed installation.

On behalf and under the creative management of the Atelier Markgraph (Frankfurt/Main, Germany) Zum Kuckuck (Wuerzburg, Germany) has designed and programmed flexible information graphics for the center`s Release 1, using the open-source software "Processing". The software analyzes the international data interchange as well as the network traffic of the Deutsche Telekom in real time, and reproduces it three-dimensionally, creating a cinematic sequence on a large size plasma screen, prominently placed in the room.

The above is the first view. Here's the second:

Okay, so we've seen stuff like this before with geotagged Flickr photos or Facebook friend activity, but I don't remember them looking this hot:

[via information aesthetics]

It's July 4 this weekend. You know what that means, right? It's Independence Day, and really, there's no better way to celebrate than to stuff down as many hot dogs down your throat as you can in ten minutes. Or if that doesn't sound appetizing, you can just enjoy watching the annual Nathan's hot dog eating contest on Coney Island.

Joey Chestnut won the hot dog crown for a second time last year. Will he win again or will Takeru Kobayashi take back the crown? Punch your ticket in the poll below. Take a look at the full version of the graphic above to make a fully educated decision.

Contrary to what a lot people might think they know from the movies, the X-Men universe stretches out quite a ways with lots of characters and lots of relationships. This super detailed relationship map for all X-Men characters from UncannyXmen shows just that.

Connections are color-coded to show the type of relationship between a pair of characters. For example, green is a one-sided infatuation, pink is a flirtation by both parties, and a dashed line signifies one of the characters is from an alternative reality. Wolverine sure gets around.

[via VizWorld]

Manolith, in collaboration with InfoShots, tells the story of Twitter. The graphic starts at Twitter's humble beginnings and ends at present day where you pretty much can't go a day without hearing about that little bird. I wonder what this Twitter tree will look like next year.

[via Techcrunch]

We'll share some of our experiences, but mainly we want to know what's on your mind. Submit your one-page position statement and tell us about your experiences, propose discussion topics, or ask questions that you're wondering about. We'll review the topics and you'll hear from us by the end of July. Get your submissions in by July 17.

Find more details here.

What It Is

RoamBi is a free data visualization application for the iPhone by MeLLmo. You download datasets to the app and it creates visualizations so you can drill down into the data. The app is pitched as a mobile business tool for viewing sales reports and the like, but the sample visualizations included with the app suggest another possibility: RoamBi could easily be a killer app for statistics-minded sports fans, such as sabermetrics devotees!

Visualizations

RoamBi gives you several ways to visualize a dataset and they all look gorgeous:

There is the Cardex, which is a Rolodex view of your dataset where you actually flip through cards, with each card being a row in your dataset. I imagine is a useful way to view business reports but it is hardly a sophisticated visualization.

The PieView is a pie chart with slices that can be selected to view more information about the segment.

The SuperList is essentially a spreadsheet viewer: the data is displayed in cells and you have the ability to filter rows and display some or all of the columns.

Finally, there is the CataList. This is perhaps the most complex, and most visual, of RoamBi's options. Like the name suggests, it shows the dataset in lists and grouped by category. For instance, one sample dataset has information for the top 50 grossing films. The categories include Total Revenue, Average Weekly Revenue, Weekend Gross Revenue, and Weekend Gross Revenue Per Theater. Within each category you are presented with the list of movies sorted from highest to lowest with revenue over time line graphs for each movie.

What RoamBi Is Not

Perhaps this doesn't need saying, but the RoamBi iPhone app is not a data manipulation tool. Any data set creation must be done elsewhere and then uploaded to a RoamBi server for access from the iPhone app. Also, there is no complex querying mechanism, so your datasets must be relatively small or easily aggregated. This being said, the app does a very good job of efficiently using the iPhone's screen real estate, so you will be surprised at the amount of data you can navigate using the app.

RoamBi.com

RoamBi servers are a key component in using the iPhone app, as they are the only way to create your own visualizations to download to the iPhone app. While RoamBi sells an enterprise server, I imagine most users will use the free RoamBi.com service (called RoamBi Connect within the iPhone app). To create a visualization on RoamBi.com you create a free account and launch the Flash-based creation tool. Once you select a dataset, whether via uploading an Excel or CSV file or via importing a Salesforce.com report, you tell RoamBi the columns and categories of your data. It selects basic defaults and as you edit the parameters the visualization is updated in an interactive simulation of the iPhone app. As a side note, it is strange you cannot share the simulation, as this would be an easy way to share your visualizations across the web to people who do not have iPhones and it shouldn't require any additional work on MeLLmo's part.

Unfortunately, I found the RoamBi.com visualization process somewhat obtuse and often was unable to assemble and group my data into the visualization I wanted. For instance, I was unable to duplicate RoamBi's sample movie sales visualization, despite importing the same raw dataset into my own CataList visualization. However, I believe someone more experienced with Excel or similar tools will have more success.

Conclusion

I see the RoamBi iPhone app as a tool to view datasets, rather than examine data visualizations. Perhaps this is peculiar distinction, but I mean that you are never far from the original dataset and cannot do sophisticated things to the data either mathematically or visually. However, for simpler data visualizations RoamBi is a well-executed and free product that let's you easily drill down into your data from your iPhone. If you have a dataset you're looking to share on the go, perhaps at a trade show or conference, and you have an iPhone, you should give RoamBi a try.

Have you tried RoamBi on your iPhone? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

Say what you want about Michael Jackson, but there's no denying the great effect he had on the music world. In honor of the pop king's passing, practically half of The New York Times graphics department stayed up late last night building this graphic. It takes a look at his majesty's Billboard rankings over his career compared to other popular music artists.

Decade after decade Jackson produced numerous hit albums. Click through time to see the mountains of each. Timeless.

To the man, to the legend, who no one will ever be able to replace:

[Thanks, Amanda]

How Do I Enter?

All you have to do is pay me one thousand dollars. No, I'm totally kidding. Ten thousand. A million?

Okay, okay, nevermind. I'll make it easy on all of you. Simply leave a comment at the bottom of this post. If you're too lazy, just copy someone else's comment (and let it weigh on your conscious for the rest of your life :).

Do this by today at 11:59pm EST. I'll randomly pick three winners. One entry per person, and as always, make sure you leave a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. Winners in the continental United States get free shipping and internationals just have to cover shipping. Good luck!

Look at these &$(*@^@# Statistics - It's heavy on the swear words and light on the actual data, but I guess it's amusing. Just don't click if you're offended by potty mouth. [Thanks, j2]

Why Making Maps Guides Us to Be Greener - A picture is worth a thousand words, and that's the case for maps too. Turns out, using some visual mapping helps groups show people their purpose and get the support they need to accomplish their goals.

Financial Responsibility in the United States - In the growing trend of financial applications posting infographics to drive traffic, here's another one.

Is Information Visualization the Next Frontier for Design? - I don't know. What do you think?