Explorables and interactives
Between exploratory data analysis and games
2020-03-12 — 2025-07-14
Wherein a curated list of extremely interactive data visualisations is presented, links are collected, and concrete exemplars such as Moon and a playable COVID-19 simulation are cited.
Just a list of links to extremely interactive data visualisations. If I want to throw some generic graphs into a bucket and give them a stir, I’ll use data dashboards. If I want something magical and intricate…
1 Theory
Bret Victor has a whole schtick here.
Nicky Case
They created a diagrammatic account of how “systems journalism” might work, and built many wonderful exemplars.
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No screens, no devices. Just ordinary physical materials — paper and clay, tokens and toy cars — brought to life by technology in the ceiling.
Every scrap of paper has the capabilities of a full computer, while remaining a fully-functional scrap of paper.
2 Tools
- observable.js by Mike Bostock
- Nutshell: make expandable explanations (not quite explorable but same vibe)
People often imagine that patchers are explorable data-processing tools, and maybe they’re not wrong.