My main research involves the use of geographic information systems for social change. Here are two excellent examples of the application of Flash to Internet mapping.
- This effective yet simple application shows, over time, the geographic distribution of soldier fatalities in Iraq. Note that you can click on the layers to the right to compare, for example, US fatalities to all other coalition partners.
- This application shows hundreds of front pages of newspapers from approximately 40 countries (I wonder who’s doing the scanning every day). To see a front pages, click on a region of the world and then surf over the country/state/provincial polygons. Be patient as some pages take time to load.
One of the intended consequences of the site is that you can conduct an armchair ethnography of how regions of the world, but especially the US, perceive a particular event.
The application is from the Newseum, “the world’s first interactive museum of news”, that opened in Arlington, Va., in 1997. Its mission is simple: to help the public and the news media understand one another better.”