Location's Fourth Dimension

While I was prepping for the Minnesota State Fair edition of the Foursquare Traffic Report, it became apparent that a fourth dimension is noticeably missing from the current discussion about location.
Those of us who work with location-based data know what a pain it is to define where something is. We start with coordinates on the globe, a single point on a quasi two-dimensional plane. From there we look at area, but is that enough? Do we define the Minnesota State Fairgrounds as a single instance of coordinates? What about locations that are within the boundaries of the grounds?

Over the course of the Minnesota State Fair There were over 200 unique venues used within the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. Only 12 were duplicates, and nearly half of the checkins came from a single venue, the 2010 Minnesota State Fair. 

The 2010 Fair itself is a more popular venue than the fairgrounds. How often does when trump where?  If someone checks in from Austin, TX the second week of March, chances are they're at South by Southwest. Which of the expansive list of venues are they going to use? I'm willing to bet that a popular new venue will show up in early March called 'SXSW 2011'. 

As more and more people use location-based services we'll see more 'temporary venues' based around events. Right now Foursquare has pages for venue owners. What happens when several 'temporary venues' exist within a larger venue? Does this change the way venue administrators look at managing their traffic data?

A word about predictive advertising.

For those of you who don't know, I recently got engaged. It was broadcast to the world via a status change on Facebook about a month ago, and now I get the strip of ads to your right.  I'm pretty sure Dan isn't getting these kinds of ads. It's a little annoying. So, a word about predictive advertising. Yeah, I get it Facebook, you need to monetize, so why not go the google route and ad it up? I'll tell you why: when I'm on Facebook, I'm not looking for unique bridal dresses or bridesmaid gift ideas, nor am I looking for tooth whitening services or the latest trends in bridal styles. I'm not even looking for those things on Google, in fact, I'm not looking for those things at all.

Given my DIY ethos, I am not interested in ordering unique, personalized gifts for my maid of honor and bridesmaids, who are the marriage police that dictate that I should even have bridesmaids? Why be gendered about it? I'll make them something myself and spare those standing up for me your tacky impression of what a wedding party should be thankyouverymuch. As it turns out, my mother will be sewing my dress. I'm working up sketches for her right now. My fiancee has been making me a new engagement ring every day, mainly because I don't wear many accessories in general and he couldn't figure out my ring size (hard to find a ring size when your GF doesn't own rings). So my word about predictive advertising is that it's not so predictive after all, and really pretty superficial. End rant.

Circuits and Sensors and Code, oh my!

Over the last two days I attended two very different workshops at itpcamp. Both involved circuits and sensors, but the latter of the two included a programming environment. The contrast between the two sessions was dramatic.

In the first session (lead by Stephen Lewis) we looked at the KEAD6 from Hagstrom Electronics (the photo here is taken from their site). What a simple little board! It comes with a clear user manual and a program for windows that allows you to program sensor inputs to output keystrokes. How great is that! The nice bit is that you can control a simple game with a up to six sensors rather than your keyboard. you can set anywhere from two to 32 different levels of input for your sensors, depending on their range. Stephen helpfully pointed out that if for nothing else, it makes a great tester board for when you're buying sensors.

The benefits: No code! It can be intimidating to learn a new programming environment, especially if you've never done any programming before. the KEAD6 lets you get up and go in less than 20 minutes. Within our two-hour session we played with a bunch of different sensors.

The drawbacks: it must be tethered to a usb device for power. Also, the software for the keystroke setting program is only available in Windows. The board itself after it's been programmed will run on a mac, but the programming itself must be done on a windows machine.

Our second session (lead by Tom Igoe) covered the basics of the Arduino microcontroller (the photo here is by Nicholas Zambetti from the Arduino.cc site). I was recently gifted the Arduino starter kit by my magnanimous mate, so I was able to play along through the presentation. In our three-hour session we covered basic electronics, talked about different types of circuitry, and created some basic interactions in the Arduino programming environment.  Over the course of our three hour session the number of attendees dwindled from 40 to around 25. Working with the Arduino board was much more complex than the simple KEAD6, but the increase in complexity is mainly due to the vast increase in flexibility. Sure, you need a better understanding of electronics and you need to know how to code, but you can do much more than control simple keystrokes. (although you can do that, too if you'd like).

Both are great boards, full of possibilities. I think the KEAD6 is a bit more accessible for beginners, but whether you like it or not, to do anything really specific, you'll have to learn how to program, even when using the KEAD6. There's a part of me that thinks that simple programming education should be compulsory.

Fire!

I'm feeling pretty inspired after my first night of ITP. I attended Lawrence Lenihan's presentation entitled "Ready, Fire! Aim." That man has got some great swagger! It was a great glimpse into the logic of a VC who specializes in tech investments. The key message was this: failure is cheaper than planning. For software technology, I have to agree. Hard product development, however, is an entirely other kettle of fish. Web tech doesn't need a business plan, but brick and mortar businesses will always require a roadmap.

ITP Camp

ITP Camp starts today and I'm totally stoked for a month-long marathon of geeky goodness. My project will be focusing on meta-visualzation, probably using Processing, but who knows? I think it would be cool for Open Data Wiki to have a widget that shows the types of visualizations that work well with the types of data shown, or maybe an collaborative interface for categorizing information, like a simple virtual card-sort exercise.

June is a red-letter month for BitsyBot Labs. I moved into my space at SoHo Haven this morning. It's so good to have a working space without feline or televised distractions.

James Squire Guide to Beer

I love the way visualizations simplify decisionmaking. On a recent trip to Sydney I had dinner at James Squire, and when deciding which of their signature beers to pair with my meal, the following chart made my task a lot easier: 

It brought to mind this lovely number that was on display last year at Bobby Van's Steakhouse in Manhattan:

I find so much power in a simple two-axis matrix for choosing within a set of products. I'd love to see more services do this type of presentation to help consumers navigate the sometimes overwhelming choices that they are faced with. I've been thinking these types of presentations in the context of The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz and Nudge by Thaler and Sunstein. Does this type of visualization make increasingly complex decisions easier to navigate? I tend to think so. I like an aromatic beer, with savory undertones, so I should choose an ale rather than a lager. Rather than struggling to identify the nuances between the myriad of beer choices, I'm given a useful map. What other types of choices can be simplified by a little visual design? I'd wager the categories are endless. It highlights to me the importance of empathy in design. If the first mantra of the information designer is to know the purpose of your data, the second may be to respect your audience. Be aware that as a designer you're steering them to a product, you may as well steer them to the product they're going to like the most.