Marumushi Newsmap

Google News aggregates vast numbers of news sites, and collects detailed stats on them in the process. Marumushi’s newsmap takes that data and displays it in a Flash-based, database-backed, Mondrian-inspired visual aggregator. The size of blocks on the map represents the number of publications out there covering the topic in some way, relative to other topics. The color of each block represents the broad category to which it belongs (business, technology, nation, etc.), and the shade of that color represents time delta (I don’t really understand this aspect — time since last scan? time the story has been on the map?). Roll over any block for a summary of the number of publications converging on that topic. Kind of a visual, interactive snapshot of the news Zeitgeist at any given moment.

Not sure I’d want to use this as a primary news portal, but it does offer a quick way to tap the mindset of the world’s collective publication editors.

Music: Brian Wilson :: Our Prayer/Gee

2 Replies to “Marumushi Newsmap”

  1. Michael, yeah, 10×10 is on a similar track, but the interface is just abominable… unusable. All those duplicated images, tiny thumbnails telling you nothing… Admirable goal, but I think it’s a failure of usabiity.

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