He describes the downsides of having a large online audience, where social networking breaks down. The key insights: large networks can hinder conversation and stifle the exchange of ideas, because socializing doesn't actually scale.

"After all, the world’s bravest and most important ideas are often forged away from the spotlight — in small, obscure groups of people who are passionately interested in a subject and like arguing about it. They’re willing to experiment with risky or dumb concepts because they’re among intimates."

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1. Lying Through Visualization?

An interesting bit of infoviz ethics here. AT&T is suing Verizon over a commercial which features a map comparing the two companies' 3G wireless coverage.

AT&T alleges that although the data may be accurate, the presentation is misleading. According to the complaint, although the map compares only 3G coverage (which Verizon has more of), the blank spacing in the map suggests that AT&T has no coverage of any kind in those areas.

I'm fairly certain legal action is the wrong play here. It only seems to validate Verizon's claims that AT&T is inferior. The map may be correct, but the message is not. AT&T has data coverage in those "blank" areas, just not 3G. AT&T should turn around and make an ad with a map comparing where iPhones work. Plenty of blank space for Verizon there.

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I use deli.cio.us to post the occasional (okay, infrequent) link, but I regularly follow info-viz Jedi Tom Carden of Stamen Design on my network. Check out this note he posted:

Deli.cio.us is social, but the level of interaction one achieves by following other’s links is so limited, it’s practically anthropology. That’s why I found Carden’s gesture of communication to his lurkers (like myself) positively shocking in context.

We’re still getting the hang of things like Twitter, so this example fits into our contemplative mode of late: What other ways can we challenge the conventions of these services?