See the project page.

I recently developed an application for interactive patent database visualization and navigation. It’s still in progress but I thought I’d post a couple screen shots. It’s the standard mass/spring ball/stick network visualzation, which isn’t terribly intuituve or efficient, but it’s a start. This interactive program is written in Processing and uses various online patent databases.

Currently it allows several interesting group selection operations including tag cloud generation, date, inventor and class-based organization.

I’ll post more pictures and an online demo soon.

It was also quite exciting to share the project with the larger public for the first time. Some viewers were skeptical that it was a custom program. Some assumed that it was hand drawn. I was also struck by how unexposed this kind of mapping remains. While I (and others) have been immersed in the field for a quite some time, and can easily see precedent for my work, many viewers did not have that same knowledge of the precedents. It was gratifying to be able to give them a glimpse of the field.

For more info on the project, take a look here.

I recently submitted “My Map (A Self-Portrait)” to the College of Design’s All Student Exhibition. You will find the exhibition in the Commons Area at Ralph Rapson Hall (a map). On display for your enjoyment is a massive 44″x44″ archival print of my email corresopondence between May, 1998 and Jan, 2007.

Please stop by before the 6:00pm reception on Monday to cast your vote for “Student’s Choice Award”.

Here’s the my statement:

Email became an integral part of my life in 1998.  Like many people, I have archived all of my email with the hope of someday revisiting my past.  Of great interest to me is revealing the innumerable relationships between me, my schoolmates, work-mates, friends and family.  This could not readily be accomplished by reading each of my 60,000 emails one-by-one.  Instead, I created My Map, a relational map and alternative self portrait.  My Map is a piece of custom designed software capable of rendering the relationships between myself and individuals in my address book by examining my email archive.  The intensity of the relationship is determined by the intensity of the line.  My Map allows me to explore different relational groupings and periods of time, revealing the temporal ebbs and flows in various relationships.  In this way, My Map is a veritable self-portrait, a reflection of my associations and a way to locate myself.

Here’s a picture:

I’m thinking of this in terms of a self-portrait initially. This particular visualization strategy was influenced by CAIDA, SCHEMABALL, GNOM, etc. An interactive version will be up sometime soon.