• 2005
• Domain Map
• Exhibit map
• Project link

Dr. Marc Smith was a Research Sociologist leading the Community Technologies Group at Microsoft when this map was created. He directed the setup of Netscan, one of the most powerful social network analysis infrastructures in existence today. Dr. Danyel Fisher is a researcher in the same group interested in understanding the ways that members of online groups interact. This visualization portrays the activity of 189,144 newsgroups with 257,442,374 postings in 2004. It uses the treemap layout originally introduced by Ben Shneiderman at the University of Maryland. Each newsgroup is represented by a square. The size of each square corresponds to the number of people who posted at least twice. Color coding is used to show the increase or decrease in the number of posters compared to the 2003 data: red indicates fewer; green denotes more. Each square is labeled as a literal hierarchy, i.e., rec.pets “contains” rec.pets.cats. The growth of certain newsgroups, e.g., the alt.binaries groups (at the bottom left), and the decline of the comp. groups (in the middle right) can be seen at a glance. Description of Unique Features: This map brings out a broad overview in the dynamics of Usenet and shows something about how groups are changing. It represents a very large, diverse online space very vividly. Visual Perception or Design Principles Applied: Color opposition: Red and green are color opposites, and show vivid contrast for growth and shrinkage. Cognitive Principles or Metaphors Employed: We apply the notion of drawing out the hierarchical names of Usenet groups as a literal hierarchy, including the idea that rec.pets “contains” rec.pets.cats. Data Used: The Netscan project (http://netscan.research.microsoft.com) has collected a thorough archive of Usenet message information since 1999, and statistically aggregates messages by group. This map is based on an analysis of the Usenet data store. Spatial Layout Techniques Applied: The “Treemap” technique (Shneiderman, 1992) fills a space with rectangles proportionate to the size of the groups.