Using Google Fusion Tables, I explored commonalities between 1990s sitcoms because they all followed a similar storytelling formula. Looking at 10 shows, I mapped out the locations of the settings for each show, finding that nearly all of them took place on the east or west coasts. The pie chart reveals the number of shows per network and the bar graph shows its data points comparatively. What’s most interesting to me is the network view. The connections between broadcast/cable network and series is a more visually engaging way of sharing the information. http://wp.me/p4UATe-fk
You can find interactive versions of these visualizations here, and my spreadsheet can be found here. (I added the “Genre” section after I made the spreadsheet directly into Google Labs)
In late 2013, when the first cases of Ebola started popping up in the DRC, it was not generally thought to get very large. Historically, Ebola outbreaks (including the various subspecies, such as Sudanvirus) infect no more than 400 people at their worst, and burn out rather quickly (as is the nature of the disease). However, here we are, almost a year later, with a looming health crisis that may very well wreak untold damage on the people, economy, and society, of Africa as a whole.
To frame the outbreak, I have gathered data from Wikipedia, the CDC and the WHO’s webpages. Using this, I’ve attempted to construct a Google Fusion table readout of what the ongoing outbreak looks like in comparison to other historic outbreaks of this strain- which, for those who did not know, is what was formerly known as Ebola Zaire (or, ZEBOV), but is now just “Ebola”.
The current species was the very first one found, back in 1976. It’s unknown if this strain is a familiar one that has just become successful due to proper circumstances, or if it’s a new breed that is somehow more effectively spreading than its kin. Regardless, more patients have been infected in the current outbreak than had ever been in the 38 years of the disease’s documented existence prior.
With any luck, effective quarantine will contain the disease long enough for it to either burn out, or buy us time to vaccinate and strangle it to death. Either way, this will be regarded as one of the largest and deadliest viral outbreaks in the history of mankind. Halting its spread means effective quarantine, improved logistic support for aid services in the area, and education of the population as to hygiene. Unfortunately, due to preexisting cultural conceptions and a distrust of Westerners, these efforts are hard to implement and, so far, have failed to make a real dent in problem areas such as Liberia (which has the largest number of infected, by far).
For full access to the table and all information, please click here.