Recently  blogs have also come to my attention that have some fascinating information visualizations and there seems to be more and more real applications for sharing information and ideas in this form. Here are a few of my recent favourites:

On “where does my money go?” you can see an interactive visualization of government spending in the UK. It’s an amazing way to actively engage tax payers and help citizens to understand government spending. Seems to me that governments could use tools like this to connect with people and develop new levels of transparency.

The classic information visualization from TED with Hans Rosling made me think that statistics might be incredibly interesting if only we could all get past the the numbers.

Over at the great blog, Information is beautiful I quickly and easily understood all I needed to about H1N1.

The internet is full of great visualizations of data and other information. Some of it is useful and some of it not but in bringing together art, design, and statistics information visualizations make difficult to understand concepts and overwhelming data sets something that one can understand at a glance. There is a huge opportunity for companies and governments to leverage these tools and ideas to communicate complex ideas to customers, employees, citizens and other stakeholders. Imagine a corporate annual report with financial information that even a layman could understand or a government budget we could review with a glance.

If you know of some interesting visualizations or where governments and/or companies are applying these concepts leave a comment and let me know.

I’ve been eating banana’s for years and taking for grated the customer research and user centered design that must have gone into this fruit.

As the video points out it’s perfectly made to fit in the hand end eat easily with no mess of fuss. The colour coded identification system easily lets you know the perfect time to eat the banana and that non-slip grip is great for busy professionals on the go.

The video does seem to focus on the human interaction with the banana but forgets that the designers of the banana pulled off a seldom seen feat of design making the banana not just human centered design but truly a cross species product as seen in the user test below. Watching the monkey enjoy his banana bridges the species gap and the designers of this product have made an amazing social statement of our common lineage and an evolutionary link by creating a product that both we and our distant cousins can enjoy equally. So next time you snap the open tab of a banana take a moment to think about the amazing product that has been created.

If you haven’t visited some of the more rural and remote parts of China you may not have noticed but the economic juggernaut is a multicultural society. While the country is 90+ % Han Chinese there are huge swaths of the country that are home to ethnic minorities like the Hmong, Uyghur, Tibetan and Mongols to name a few. China recognizes 55 ethnic groups within it’s borders.

If you didn’t know that China had so many ethnic groups living in the country you can hardly be blamed as it’s not exactly a celebrated part of the national identity. China actively promotes assimilation of ethnic minority groups and in recent years this policy has been exemplified in Tibet where the completion of the Qingzang railway to Lhasa caps off years of policies that have left the Tibetan population a minority group within what was previously their own country.

I don’t mean to sound self righteous or lecture on Tibetan self determination. I do support the cause, it’s just not the point I’m trying to get across right now. As a Canadian I’m lucky enough to see multiculturalism in another incarnation where the assimilation into Canadian culture is encourage but at the same time the cultures we come from are celebrated and shared. I’ve also read of the dangers of multicultural policies that have left groups of minorities on the fringes of society leading to alienation and social unrest in places like Denmark and France.

Maybe it’s a fear of embracing differences or losing control of natural resource rich areas that minorities in China inhabit but their policies towards minority groups and responses to demonstrations are far from measured. The crackdown on demonstrators in Urumqi yesterday showed no thought of diplomacy or tact. Much like the response to the Tibetan demonstrations last year it was knee jerk reactions to seemingly legitimate protests.  The march towards progress seems to also necessitate undermining the culture of minority groups like in Kashgar a famous stop along the Silk Road where 85% of the old city largely populated by Uyghur’s is slated to be demolished in the next few years.

I have visited Urumqi and Tibetan villages in China where there is a simmering frustration where minority groups feel squeezed out of the places and culture that they have grown up in by people viewed as foreigners. I don’t think there is an easy fix to the problem that China has been slowly creating over the years. Through sheer might of population minorities in China are likely to continue to lose their distinctiveness and be pushed further to the fringes with the veil of economic growth covering the heart of a social experiment to create a unified and uniethnic country.

This seems a sad loss in diversity and a failure to capitalize on the opportunity for tourist dollars and more importantly a chance to use their own people to build connections in the region by promoting ethnic diversity. China is home to people of decent from Korea, minority groups in Vietnam, Pakistan, Afghanistan and could build significant bridges with India and the West with adjustments to policies on Tibet. The heavy handed approach to managing minority groups within China is a failure on all fronts and even if successful in the years to come will lead to a China that is whole but less than it’s parts.

If you checkout the website you’ll learn that tweenbots are a Robot/People art project by Kacie Kinzer. The idea is to create human dependent robots and let them loose in New York with nothing but a note to tell their fellow commuters where it is that they’re trying to get to. Made out of  simple inanimate materials (cardboard with drawn on eyes and smiles) tweenbots are less like a lost ipod or virtual pet than they are a modern day courageous but helpless Wall-E. The experiment itself yielded some amazing results and over the months of testing Kacie says that no tweenbot was ever hurt or damaged on their voyages.

I love little things that show the helpfulness, caring and empathy of human beings and tweenbots exemplify an overarching good that still exists even in a giant city. If you watch the video below you can follow one tweenbot as it encounters good samaritans on its way. The interactions between the people and the little robot show how a person can almost instantly form a bond with an object and how such a simple idea can drive a meaningful interaction. I’m sure that the people who helped this little tweenbot still remember it and feel good about doing their part.

Maybe cities around the world should run pilot programs to see if tweenbots around the city can create a sense of community. Maybe if we all got used to helping out a tweenbot now and then it would make it easier to offer the same help to others. Plus they’re just so cute that seeing one on the street is bound to make anyone smile.

The concept is simple but I can’t say it any better than they do on their own website;

“Every week, we invite an artist or a band to play in the streets, in a bar, a park, or even in a flat or in an elevator, and we film the whole session. Of course, what makes the beauty of it is all the little incidents, hesitations, and crazy stuff happening unexpectingly. Besides, we do not edit the videos so they look perfectly flawless, instead we keep the raw sound of the surroundings. Our goal is to try and capture instants, film the music just like it happens, without preparation, without tricks. Spontaneity is the keyword.”

Lately more mainstream bands (Bloc Party, Sigur Ros…) have been making appearances on the shows. While some may miss the indie focus, I’m excited to see a wide range of bands opening up to the raw acoustic on the street feel of Take-Away Shows. Watching the shows you can feel that these artists are opening themsleves up by performing often with no backup, improvised instrumentation and in unplanned public places around Paris, New York and a few other locations around the world.

The exhibitionism and vulnerability of these recordings is consuming and a great way to be introduced to new artists or to see those you thought you knew in a whole new light. Below are my Top 5 Take-Away Shows but I suggest you visit the website and browse through some of the previous recordings. The easiest way to keep up is tosubscibe to their podcast. Enjoy!

1. Architecture in Helsinki – Heart it Races
2. Andrew Bird – Spare Ohs
3. St Vincent – Marry Me
4. Tom Jones – We Got Love (yes I’m serious, this is really good!)
5. Amanda Palmer – Amsterdam

The plan is based around the Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training (FIRST) model that I read about in a runners world article a couple of years back. The plan is focused around 3 to 4 days a week of running with extensive speed work and cross training 2 days a week.

It’s a tough plan but I’m already happy with the results. The most difficult thing for me is the pacing. I prefer to run a variety of routes and don’t have a good feel for the milestone distances within my runs making it very difficult to pace as per the plan. It would seem that some treadmill and/or track work (or one of those fancy gps watches) is needed to ensure that you are training to the proper pace.

In any case if you’re training for any type of running race I suggest you check out the runners world article and the FIRST site to see if it might work for you.

Hopefully this plan will save me from death in the Alberta mountains. I’ll let you know come August!

My weekend visits to Montreal have a tendency to become a friend filled days of eating and drinking. Something about the city makes it feel oh so right to party all night and have brunch at 2 the next afternoon. Things started off right as we arrived and were greeted by my favorite Quebec beer, Unibroue.

After an evening of dancing the first stop on the culinary adventure was poutine at 3am in a place that seemed to serve only poutine and hot dogs. The wait staff and kitchen clearly had some kind of competition for who could have the longest facial hair and the mix of goth, 30 something gay couples and university kids made for a special experience. The poutine did not diappoint but the highlight of the meal was the cheese dog that was cooked like a grilled cheese sandwich (buttered and fried) before a hot dog was placed in the middle. It was an extra special treat that I’m sure I’ll be recreating in my own kitchen some night at 3am.

Other highlights of the weekend were the always great poached eggs in an avocado and a mango, smothered in cheese and tomato’s served hot  with a jug of coffee at Senzala. Then it was off to have some Portuguese chicken which is amazingly similar to chicken tikka.

The best stop along the way though was coffee at Cafe Olympico. The groups of people milling around at picnic tables on a chilly March day suggested that this was a special place. The line up to get a coffee and the groups of families and friends watching soccer and chatting assured me that we were right where we needed to be. As we stood in line the short bald man making coffee faster than any Starbucks Batista yelled out for anyone who didn’t have a coffee and had been there for more than 5 minutes to leave. I guess that’s how you get good customer turnover! My latte and shortbread biscotti were delicious and served in a glass I probably would have used for water meant that my hands were nice and warm too. The coffee was so good it even converted a previous non-coffee drinker onto the dark gold.

A bag of fresh bagels and a purchase of 6 silver champagne glasses later it was time to say goodbye to good friends and head back to Toronto with a full belly.

I’m not big on Boxing Day sales but this year I stumbled across a great mp3 sales on one of my favorite music websites. Zunior which features a great selection of indie music from Canada and beyond was selling many of their cd’s at cut throat prices. I took advantage of the opportunity to get a few discs from bands I’ve never heard of before and one of those discs was Forest City Lovers.

Off the bat Forest City Lovers remind me of a one gender Stars with airy female vocals that draw foggy stories of love. As you listen more the folk side of things comes through and you can close your eyes and feel yourself floating away on a roadtrip. I’m guessing this cd might have been written while touring across Canada or at least spending lots of time at some cabin on a lake somewhere.

I’d highly recommend checking out this cd. If you got the bands Myspace you can hear a few of the best tracks of the cd including my personal favorite “Country Roads” (not a cover of John Denver but almost as good).

Valentines Day is always a special treat that sneaks up on me. If you’re single it’s the day when all your coupled friends disappear and groups of brave faced singles gather to talk about how Hallmark invented this painfully commercial excuse to make use feel lonely and consume. On the other hand if you are lucky enough to be in a relationship come Valentines Day then the pressure is really on.

Valentines Day in many relationships has become a strange game of ongoing attempts to one up each other. When planning for the day not only do you have to top what your partner is going to do for you, you need to top anything that you have ever done before and anything that has ever been done on TV or in a movie. That means surprise trips, diamonds, puppies and roses are all on the table and hopefully in some combination that will dazzle your partner into staying with you one more year.

With this crushing pressure on my mind, I asked my girlfriend if we could do something a little different this year and start alternating the responsibility for Valentines Day. Because I followed the rules and dazzled her last year, I handed over Valentines Day to her capable hands this year.

She organized a great day wandering around town and visiting the art gallery with diner at a cute little spot. The best part was she invited my brother to come along with us. It was a great day and fantastic to share it with my girlfriend and my brother. While I’m sure it would have been great to spend it as just a couple, I think we might make it a tradition to recruit friends for Valentines Day celebrations. Seems only fair to spend a day dedicated to love with friends and family and not just a partner. After all there are many people in our lives that we love and we don’t get to tell people that often how much they mean to us. So next year on February 14 maybe you should think about spending your time with a few people you love rather than just one.