Three out of five Americans go online to influence the opinion of other people, and twice as many to socialize than to shop. I suppose that speaks a lot about the intent of folks participating online whether it’s Twitter, blog commenting, sharing with Digg or shopping on Amazon. So with that, the folks at Public Relations firm Ruder Finn bring us the Intent Index. Now we know why we do what we do and it’s all presented to us in a pretty Flash interface.

Link: Intent Index

Link: Ruder Finn

From HistoryShots.com – The Conquest of Everest:

I wish I had this while I was reading Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air.

This award winning print measuring 36 x 24 inches maps the conquest of Everest.

It has two related components each with its own intriguing design and rich set of content. On the left, the year, sponsor, duration, dates, height reached, and members of each of the major expeditions are provided. The history of climbers who went on more than one expedition are tracked as well. On the right is a detailed graph of the numerous ascents and descents of the 1953 team as they blazed trails and ferried supplies ever higher up the mountain. In addition, the weather conditions predominate for each day are provided.

Concept, research, and data: Larry Gormley
Design: Kimberly Cloutier (White Rhino Productions) and Larry Gormley

virtual gravity – the physical weight of data from Sillenet on Vimeo.

Virtual gravity is an interface between digital and analog world. With the aid of analog carriers, virtual terms can be taken up and transported from a loading screen to an analog scale. The importance and popularity of these terms (data base: Google Insights for Search), outputted as a virtual weight, can be weighed physically and compared. Therefore impalpable, digital data get an actual physical existence and become a sensually tangible experience.

via virtualgravity – the physical weight of data.