Data Data Data - how to digest it all?

Data is one of 2013’s major trends - more specifically, people are starting to realize how valuable it is. Unfortunately, the vaste majority of data is unwieldy large and complex, inaccessible to the public, and/or difficult to understand and turn into something useful. Food Genius is a new app that aims to manage one specific kind of data - restaurant data - and make it more digestible (ha) for people who will benefit from its analysis. The app indexes 14,000 different ingredients from multiple restaurant databases, analyzes the numbers, and then publishes results that users can manipulate through an accessible and attractive UI. And, according to Co.Design, the depth of the results is astonishing . Apparently, through Food Genius, I can learn “not just how prevalent beef is in American restaurants, but the average price for a filet in New York, or the popularity of venison paired with sage and apples in Kentucky.” Sounds fascinating, and almost too good to be true. Lets hope this is the first of many comprehensive and accessible data managing apps launched in 2013.

The 10x10 Girl Rising campaign, a global action campaign with the goal of bringing education to girls in developing nations, launches on 10-12-12, the first International Day of the Girl. Inequality in education is one of the primary propagators of gender disparity all over the world. Because access to education leads to new opportunities, girls with access to education can articulate their opinions, can improve their social standing, and can change their societies for the better. Equal education is a step towards social equality, and today we all need to recognize that its a privilege that is not available to every girl.

I found the video through Co.Create, which published an interesting article on some of the strategy behind the campaign:

“Producing the content is quite a complex process given that it is being customized for local markets because what works in say, India, might not be as relatable in Peru or Haiti. … We are going in and working with partners in the local markets. So we know what the barriers are to girls getting an education, and we can customize the stories around relevant issues, and obviously there are cultural things that we must customize or avoid based on that particular market.”

The new Myspace. From the video, it looks like it has a simple layout, clean design, and is friendly with Facebook. It looks like it stays true to MySpace 1.0’s identity as a personal profile network, in addition to incorporating MySpace 2.0’s musical roots. I’m intrigued, to say the least. 

Also, it’s pretty funny that Justin Timberlake, star of The Social Network , the movie that solidified Facebook’s identity as a groundbreaking cultural phenomenon, is heavily promoting Myspace.