Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Stupid Map

Time magazine published an interactive map regarding the most dangerous places to live with regard to "natural" disasters.

They failed to normalize it on a per-capita basis.  That is, counties that have high populations and their attendant high property values are most likely to have deaths and property damage.  The map fails to correct for that tendency. Duh!

This is a fine example of an information dead end caused by "push" reporting.  "Oh, this looks cool.  We should publish it."  Push reporting is an artifact of reporters and editors who are out-of-touch with their readers.

"Pull" reporting would involve interviewing real people to learn what decisions they face.  A good reporter would then find and package information that is germane to the decisions they face..

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