go "social exploring" in nyc & la

shamelessly stolen from kotkke.org, the must-see link of the day is Social Explorer.

An old proverb says that "a picture is worth a thousand words." In the case of data maps this is literally true. Data maps are made of thousands of numbers presented as a picture.

it's fun to see these cities grow and change, but the really interesting bit is creating slideshows. they've created a few to get you started:

New York City:
% White 1910-2000
% Black 1910-2000

Los Angeles:
% White 1940-2000
% Black 1940-2000
% Hispanic 1940-2000

hit the play button and watch the african-american community start as a little speck otherwise known as harlem and spread into brooklyn and queens. also of note, specific data on asians, hispanics, and native americans starts in 1980. pre-1980 you only get black, white, and "other".