Cool infographics: Science as tumbleweed and an orbital calendar

"I can't get over how pretty this is:" That's what my colleague Saheli said to me about this Nature Map of Science, as reported in Seed magazine. It's a very cool image, and you need to download the 5.3MB version in order to really appreciate it. Here's how the creators, Information Esthetics (aka i|e), describe it:

As to what the image depicts, it was constructed by sorting roughly 800,000 scientific papers into 776 different scientific paradigms (shown as red and blue circular nodes) based on how often the papers were cited together by authors of other papers. Links (curved lines) were made between the paradigms that shared common members, then treated as rubber bands, holding similar paradigms closer to one another when a physical simulation forced them all apart: thus the layout derives directly from the data. Larger paradigms have more papers. Labels list common words unique to each paradigm.

Um, okay. So, I think I get what this is showing, but I am totally at a loss for why they're showing it this way. It's certainly impressive, but how am I to utilize this graphic to learn something about the data within? I know, let's ask one of the guys who made it, W. Bradford Paley:

...they are used daily as a tool by Dick Klavans to determine such things as which areas of science are most closely connected to one another, are most and least intellectually vital, or which scientific areas produce the most patents. Here’s an image on which he and I collaborated (again, with Kevin Boyack’s help & ISI’s data) that discusses the variations in how different nations pursue science.

Oh, okay, it's to see where research is vital and where it's flagging (during 2003, which is where the data came from). And it would be most useful if we made versions for every nation, for comparison purposes. All right, I guess it's not of any use to me, but at least I can still keep not getting over how pretty this is.

On the other hand, i|e also came up with this absolutely brilliant calendar called Once More Around the Sun. Follow the link and download the PDF, because (once again) the thumbnail doesn't begin to convey what's going on. It actually displays the entire year in the form of the Earth's revolution around the sun, visually connecting the organization of time to the physical process from which that organization arose! So brilliant-- It makes the traditional grid calendar look like a graceless (though practical) kludge. Even more awesome, this calendar actually shows every hour of the year. So you can use it as your day planner as well! (Though a highly non-portable one.) But just imagine using this for a year, and being able to see the way you used your time, all spread out at once. So cool! Or more likely, depressing. But at least it is of obvious use to anyone, not just those big-time science dudes. Put that in your pipes and smoke it, big-time science dudes!