Web 2.0 Meets International Relations

The internet allows for the creation of a lot of content that walks the line between "cool" and "dumb." For example, the PostGlobal Power Baromete from my good friends at WashingtonPost/NewsweekInteractive:

I've done this up just as a static image. On their actual page you can click where it says "supporting data" and find some supporting data. It's not clear, though, that the data is actually "data" at all, as opposed to just commentary. If the feature ever really took off, you might get a lot of people writing "wow! China's skyrocketing in the PostGlobal Power Barometer" which, in turn, would lead their rankings to go up even higher.

Comments

When they first premiered the Global power barometer, they seemed offended that a bunch of commenters thought it was stupid, and that I complained that I couldn't get my frog across the logs, even though they were all lined up and no alligators were in sight.

Seriously, though, I've tried looking at it a few times, and it is worse than ridiculous. A bunch of fancy graphics, and poorer analysis than you can find at The Note. It's pretty sad, all things considered.

Posted by jfaberuiuc | May 14, 2007 5:48 PM

You can read more about it on the site, but this is just dumb.

First, they identify "the general goals of monitored nations and ideologies." Islamists include Al Qaeda, Hamas, Somalis, Taliban, Turkey's AKP. They don't have a general goal.

After analyzing the days events in terms of those points, they calculate "the position of the key player on the chart." There is no objective way to think about this on a day to day basis. China today had a mine explosion, agreed to launch a satellite for Nigeria, and announced a trade surplus for April. China, up or down?

Finally they say this movement "reflects each player's ability to influence world opinion and events." The movement reflects the goals. This doesn't even make sense on its own terms.

As they say, this barometer presents "a visual snapshot so viewers can absorb the impact of complex, worldwide events in a few seconds."

Posted by Archit | May 14, 2007 5:49 PM

So, "Islamists" and "United States" are both meant to be monoliths? I dare say that this doesn't even come close the line that separates cool from dumb.

Posted by Aaron S. Veenstra | May 14, 2007 6:45 PM

That's pretty much the lamest infographic ever. I'm not sure how the density of information could go any lower. The intersection of that graphic and utility of any kind is the null set. A hyperlinked image of Fareed Zakaria and David Ignatius thumb wrestling as East vs. West would be less ridiculous. Bravo WaPo!

Posted by joejoejoe | May 14, 2007 6:45 PM

I'm not quite sure what this figure means. If it is claiming that Israel is the third most powerful country in the world, that is complete insanity. The entire population of Israel is less then New York City. Certainly Mr. Nasrullah doesn't think so.

Posted by SLC | May 14, 2007 7:44 PM

agreed. I will think twice before linking to WaPo for a while. for something meant to convey information succinctly, this may be the worst idea ever. hopefully it took no longer than an hour to create.

Posted by Exile | May 15, 2007 3:42 AM

this may be the worst idea ever.

Oh, surely it isn't as bad an idea as, say, the Iraq War, for example . . .

Posted by rea | May 15, 2007 7:07 AM