The power of crowds

Several years ago I decided to take part in an interesting experiment run by Galaxy Zoo (http://www.galaxyzoo.org).  I and thousands of colleagues were presented with myriad images of potential galaxies and asked to identify if they were galaxies (as opposed to visual artifacts) and, if so, were they elliptical or spiral.  Furthermore, if they spiral, what their direction was: did they spiral to the left or to the right.  It turns out humans apparently can do these tasks with greater accuracy and speed than computers.

The result of the initial work was published in astronomy journals, and has since led to other studies in which trainable amateurs (like myself) helped scientists make fundamental discoveries in the Universe.  The results of some of the recent work resulted in Galaxy Zoo getting “Hubble time” to look at some new galactic structures.  Their blog shows some amazing new photos of their discoveries!

This kind of project shows what power lies in social networking when applied to the sciences.  There IS wisdom in crowds and it is nice to see it in action.

In addition to continuing their work on galaxies, the project has led to a spin-off involving the search for interesting artifacts on the surface of the Moon.  My guess is that this project will provide interesting results as well.

Register with this project – you may just help to make a major discovery in the field of astronomy!

The death of analog

During one of the setups for one of the speeches I gave yesterday, I noticed a new box sitting on the table – a HDMI interface for the projectors used in the room. My laptop uses analog video, which was also supported, but the message was clear.  Analog video is dead.  The move to flat screen monitors was accompanied by the inclusion of HDMI video inputs along withe the traditional analog connections, and I expect dual mode monitors and projectors to be around for a (very) few years.

The reason for the shift is easy to understand.  With 1080 lines of vertical resolution becoming commonplace, and people getting less willing to accept the color bleeds and artifacts associated with analog video, HMDI connectors are sprouting like summer dandelions.  Android tablets come with HDMI connectors – not analog outputs.  I saw a new laptop last night that only has HDMI output.  Apple gets credit for balancing both in their computers, but the long-term trend is clear.  Once you have shifted to pure digital video, you never want to go back.

It is interesting that the revolution sparked by the rise of personal digital computers still held on to one vestige of the past for so long.  That day is nearly over.

Good bye analog, it was nice to know you.  And hello digital video – your time is at hand.

The visual Web

 

Years ago, I had the honor and joy of advising a startup company in California that had created a visual tool for exploring the Web.  The results of a search were displayed graphically, clustered by type, and this tool allowed users to see relationships that were hidden from view in text-based linear searches.  This tool (Grokker) did not last, unfortunately, but there are some new tools that come close to some of the features of this ground-breaking product.  I particular, I recently found Envionto (http://en.vionto.com).  This web-based tool lets you enter a search term, and produces a map showing search results based on categories it has gleaned from the content of each site it has found.

For example, a search on Android produced results in several categories ranging from Science and Technology to People.  Clicking on any of the circles provides more information, and dragging a circle to the text box under the search term produces a refined search.  The result is that you can not only drill down to the specific information you want, you can also visually browse through the informational space.

This tool is one of many tools for visualizing information – and this is an area that deserves a lot of attention as we all succumb to the flood of data that often hides the very things we are looking for.

Congratulations to these folks for addressing a real problem with grace.