Many Eyes, the data-sharing site from the Visual Communication Lab at IBM, is getting more features. The site was launched in public alpha in January and seeded with about 20 data sets from IBM. It now has over 2,000 data sets generated by users on topics that range from the humorous (most guitar stores by state) to the serious (flu outbreaks by country).
In response to user habits and feedback, the IBM research team is gradually adding social-networking components to the site that should be complete by summer. The idea behind Many Eyes, according to developer Matt McKeon, is that people who have a common interest in certain types of data can come together on the Internet as they do with music, movies and video. The group hopes that it will be a place for researchers to make contact, too.
Pictured is a bubble chart of student loan debt by most expensive type of graduate degree. It shows the total average debt for the degree holder's undergraduate and graduate loans combined.
Text by Candace Lombardi, staff writer, CNET News.com
Photo by Many Eyes
