The importance of having data

As it’s been a month since my last post, I just had to write something as proof of life. I’ve been busy working on my graduate thesis which has absolutely nothing to do with overpopulation. Although, as I see it, I hope to make a first step in reducing the use of concrete in buildings by 10-30%. If you didn’t know, concrete has cement as an ingredient. Production of cement requires vast amounts of energy and releases all sorts of wastes such as CO2.

Well, anyway, I’ve been ploughing my way through Livi-Bacci’s book on global demographics. It’s very interesting, but a slow read as it’s filled to the brim (is that the expression?) with data, tables, figures, graphs and so on and so forth. It’s become clear to me that the world would benefit from freely distributed, easily accesible and clearly represented data. Users could, via the Internet, compose all their own figures and data animations from global and decomposable data. I came across a TED presentation (tiled Debunking Third World Myths with the best stats you’ve ever seen) on a new data representation tool called Gapminder. They have some online examples using UN global data. It is absolutely fascinating and shows, clear as day, how some trends have developed globally, by continent and by nation over time. I recommend everyone take a stab at it. It’s actually fun.
Google bought Gapminder as I understand it, and Google spreadsheets already offers a Gapminder-like tool, though I found it unreliable for large amounts of data.

Still, a nifty tool, with very high potential.