Tag Archives: infographic

Sunday’s Top Links (1.8.2012)

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Categories: Musings Sunday's Links
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And I’m back with the first installment of Sunday’s Top Links for the new year!

1. The 11 Best Innovation Essays of 2011

Fastcodesign recapped their 2011 with their top essays on innovation from the past year, including essays on Steve Jobs, disruptive innovations, the 4P’s of marketing, design, and more.

2. Stefon Harris: There Are No Mistakes On The Bandstand

In this TED Talk, Stefon Harris performs an improv with his Jazz Quartet, followed by some insight into the idea of mistakes. Essentially we learn how many actions are perceived as mistakes, only because we don’t react to them appropriately.

3. The Truth About Facebook Depression

This infographic gives us some perspective on how we use Facebook. It breaks down things based on popularity, sentiment, timing, and more, giving us some interesting insight along the way.

4. Newspapers, Paywalls, and Core Users

Clay Shirkey takes a very real look at the state of newspapers, the impact of paywalls, and the future of content in general. Ultimately he says it is up to the core users to decide how everything will play out.

5. The Best Time To Buy Anything In 2012

Finally, Lifehacker shared their updated guide on when to buy anything during the new year. The breakdown shows you the ideal months to buy electronics, furniture, clothing, appliances and more. And for a micro look, check out their Best Days of the Week to Buy Anything.

Enjoy!

The Companies Behind 90% of Media

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Categories: Media Musings

The following infographic is pretty eye-opening, as it shows you the ‘illusion of choice‘ we have when it comes to our media outlets.The simple fact that 6 companies control 90% of the media in the U.S. is baffling to say the least. Does it matter?

Small Business: Hard Facts

In this infographic we learn about the ‘Hard Facts’ of small business in America. There’s some interesting numbers in here that show the value of these business that are often overlooked by there more visible, corporate counterparts.

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Categories: Media Musings
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Small businesses are the heartbeat of the economy and true entrepreneurship. Unfortunately we often focus on the few startups that make it big, turn into gigantic corporations and file for million dollar IPO’s down the line. In the meantime, the hundreds of thousands of smaller businesses are overlooked. I feel like its often the same in government, as they focus on bailing out the major corporations, giving them incentives and tax breaks, but we’d be served well not to forget about the little guys. In the following infographic we get more information on small businesses in America and the Hard Facts if you will.

Infographic courtesy of Focus.com and the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Sitting Kills You

In this infographic from Medical Billing and Coding, we get a clearer picture of the affects sitting has on our lives. Based on the sheer number of hours we sit (9.3 hours daily), its something that clearly has an impact on our well being.

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Categories: Media
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The following infographic shows us why sitting is detrimental to our health. Some interesting facts include how often we actually sit (9.3 hours!), the affects of non-activity (decreased calorie burn, no muscle activity, etc), and how to overcome these potential issues. If you think about we sit all the time: for our meals, at work, while watching TV, in the car… basically everywhere, so its clear that the potential threats of constantly sitting need to be taken seriously.

In short, be more active!

US vs. The World: Education

I recently came across this infographic from USC that put together some interesting numbers about how we compare to the rest of the world. The focus of this comparison is on U.S. annual spending on education, which is at $809.6 billion compared to the next closest spender being Japan at $160.5 billion.

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Categories: Media

I recently came across this infographic from USC that put together some interesting numbers about how we compare to the rest of the world. The focus of this comparison is on U.S. annual spending on education, which is at $809.6 billion compared to the next closest spender being Japan at $160.5 billion. So with this knowledge that we clearly spend the most money on education, here’s what we get:

  • 99% Literacy Rate (9 out of 12 of the countries rated are at this level or higher)
  • Math Test Scores 474/600 (ranked 10th out of the 12 countries rated)
  • Science Test Scores 489/600 (ranked 9th out of the 12 countries rated)

So what does this tell us about our education system? First of all we’re spending a hell of a lot of money on education, yet were still not leaders according to these tests, which I suppose exposes some problems. What I’d rather focus on though is how these tests are really not a good indication of what our students are capable of, nor is it what our students should be focused on. There is a shift occurring from the more left brain approaches mostly found in schools, towards more right brain, unconventional thinking. Characteristics such as creativity, soft skills, leaderships, conceptualization, design, and emotional intelligence are the areas that we need to be focused on, not whether or not we can score well on a test. So maybe we no longer have the best test scores, but we also need to realize that that’s no longer what’s important for the future (complete infographic below).

A Look At Today’s Entrepreneurs

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Categories: Media

A recent infographic on Entrepreneurs was released by Grasshopper this week, giving us a better look at today’s entrepreneur’s. A few things that stood out to me.

  1. The average age was about 31 with approximately 50% of entrepreneurs being from age 26-35.
  2. Average education level was a college degree.
  3. Sixty percent were bringing in revenue of less than 100K
  4. Their general outlook on life was very optimistic

Now I think this shows a lot about what entrepreneurs are all about, and I especially love the question about level of optimism. Shows that its definitely not easy to be an entrepreneur and having that positive mindset is almost a necessity in creating a successful business. You can find the full survey below… what do you think about the results?

Entrepreneur-Survey

And a special thanks to Grasshopper for the Survey!