More Visual Data
Here’s my MousePath from some time at work today. The large black dot is when my mouse didn’t move as I was out on a coffee break. 
Data Visualization and Tableau Public
I’ve been playing around with this data visualization software known as Tableau. I created this chart by downloading data on the Seattle Mariners 2009 batting numbers and a new product that they’ve put out called, “Tableau Public.” It’s free, by the way. Check it out if you’re into this kind of thing:
Google Earth, Google Ocean: mysteries of the seafloor are mapped for the first time
Google Earth, Google Ocean: mysteries of the seafloor are mapped for the first time
This looks like it could be another fine offering from Google. I just downloaded this and will be giving it a try before my workshop on using Google Earth in the classroom later this week. Enjoy!
Online Literacy Is a Lesser Kind - ChronicleReview.com
Online Literacy Is a Lesser Kind - ChronicleReview.com
When Jakob Nielsen, a Web researcher, tested 232 people for how they read pages on screens, a curious disposition emerged. Dubbed by The New York Times “the guru of Web page ‘usability,’” Nielsen has gauged user habits and screen experiences for years, charting people’s online navigations and aims, using eye-tracking tools to map how vision moves and rests. In this study, he found that people took in hundreds of pages “in a pattern that’s very different from what you learned in school.” It looks like a capital letter F. At the top, users read all the way across, but as they proceed their descent quickens and horizontal sight contracts, with a slowdown around the middle of the page. Near the bottom, eyes move almost vertically, the lower-right corner of the page largely ignored. It happens quickly, too. “F for fast,” Nielsen wrote in a column. “That’s how users read your precious content.”
I read this article recently and it got me to thinking about how we design web sites and pages. I also find this type of research really intriguing and interesting, believe it or not. As we consider how the web is used and how we use the web it is important to consider how people read while online. I wonder if the way we read web pages changes as humans age. In other words, does a first grader read a page the same way a high school student does, or a middle aged person does? Hopefully more research will be done in this area and the evolution of our interaction with online worlds will improve. Now, please go and remove anything located in the lower right corner of your website. No one will notice it, anyways.
NOVA | scienceNOW | Dark Matter | PBS
NOVA | scienceNOW | Dark Matter | PBS
Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson hosts this excellent science show. watch, learn, enjoy!
Put a Little Science in Your Life
Put a Little Science in Your Life - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com
It’s striking that science is still widely viewed as merely a subject one studies in the classroom or an isolated body of largely esoteric knowledge that sometimes shows up in the “real” world in the form of technological or medical advances. In reality, science is a language of hope and inspiration, providing discoveries that fire the imagination and instill a sense of connection to our lives and our world.
I stumbled across this op-ed piece today and it resonated with me. It’s worth the read, both as a person and also as an educator. In my observation of education in Virginia, science is something that isn’t emphasized enough, in a way that makes it exciting and compelling to students. A good science teacher is able to do that: make students curious about the world around them and want to explore more. The op-ed piece challenges us with that thought.
