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Federal Fiscal Priorities
January 25th, 2007IBM recently unleashed unto an unsuspecting public a new tool that allows anyone to upload data sets, and then allow the world to visualize and comment on the meaning of the data. Many Eyes has the perverse provision of allowing people to view data in ways the media and other informational gatekeepers do not like or allow.
For example, someone uploaded the U.S. Federal budget numbers for the last few decades, and the initial graphs merely showed the budget rising faster than Ted Kennedy’s blood alcohol level.
But the sweet part of Many Eyes is the ease that anyone can change the view. There was a little button at the bottom of the default budget graph that said “percentage”, and changed the graph to show year-over-year what percentage of the budget was spent on what. Click the little graph and notice that (1) war spending has remained relatively the same, but (2) Social Security and Medicare have blasted the dome on Capital Hill.
The Internet has unleashed many troubles upon the people. Now IBM is unleashing clarity of information. Woe be us.
