In this knowledge economy, one of the most important types of technology is the kind that helps people visualize and make sense of the loads of information all around. There are many sites which offer tools for comprehending the masses of knowledge in entertaining and exciting ways. Here are three that are mighty fine:
Wordle takes websites, blogs, RSS feeds, or just chunks of text and creates art from their content. More than just a painting, a Wordle work of art also provides valuable insight into the text itself. Using sizes and layouts it becomes easily apparent which terms are used the most and least. There are also tools for producing word counts and changing the fonts, colors, and layouts of the art. This image is one such piece generated from the text of an article on edutainment*:
The Iranian election and ensuing activity have left a lot of us playing catch up with Iranian politics and government. This interactive piece from the Wall Street Journal helps us learn the government structure in a way much more appealing than just reading an article:
Are you a news junky? Or maybe you just like to be in the loop. Well, with all the news sources and topics out there it can be hard to comprehend it all. Newsmap describes its goal as “to simply demonstrate visually the relationships between data and the unseen patterns in news media.” This site really does make the news easier to navigate, more fun to read, and legitimately more useful in terms of viewing the media landscape. It also looks really cool on a large screen:
Do you have a cool visualization tool you want to share? Please send it along. Email it to submit@edutainmentrevisited.com.
* Zühal Okan, Edutainment: is learning at risk?, British Journal of Educational Technology (34, 3). 2003. pp. 255–264
Gordon Carlson is a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is pursuing a PhD in New Media Communication. His work focuses on the role of technology in communication. Gordon's dissertation work looks at improving edutainment across various media. 