digg rings visualization

 

Using the Digg API, I grabbed the top 10 most-dugg stories of the day (by midnight) for the past year - May 24, 2007 to May 23, 2008. I then rendered a series of tree-ring-like visualizations (moving outwards in time). Rings are colored according to Digg's eight top-level categorizations (see key at bottom of page). Ring thickness is linearly proportional to the number of diggs the story received. I also made a pair of visualizations using Digg's entire archive, which goes back to December 1, 2004.

Because the rings are cumulative, variations in digg volume (within the top 10 stories) can be seen. For example, when stories are broken down by day, we can see that Sunday has fewer diggs than Monday. Also, if you look closely, you can see that the volume of diggs has increased overtime (i.e., rings become thicker). Additionally, we can see how story categorization has evolved (or perhaps how the Digg community has changed), especially in the visualizations using the full archive. This is partially due to the fact that Digg has added new categories overtime (it started very technology centric).

For unknown reasons, some days have fewer than 10 top stories. This doesn't affect the visualization much aesthetically, but I wouldn't trust it for detailed quantitative analysis!

If you want a copy of the data or have a cool visualization idea, email me.

 

digg rings day visualization

Stories by days of the week. May 24, 2007 to May 23, 2008. Download PDF.

 

digg rings day visualization

Stories by day of the week (overlapped). Data from May 24, 2007 to May 23, 2008. Download PDF.

 

digg rings month visualization

Stories by month. Data from May 24, 2007 to May 23, 2008. Download PDF.

 

digg rings visualization

All stories (slice). Data from Dec 1, 2004 to May 23, 2008. Download PDF.

 
digg rings visualization
digg rings visualization
All stories (full ring)
Data from Dec 1, 2004 to May 23, 2008
Download PDF
All stories (full ring)
Data from May 24, 2007 to May 23, 2008
Download PDF

 

digg rings visualization

All stories (close-up). Data from Dec 1, 2004 to May 23, 2008. Download PDF.

 

 

digg rings visualization key color code

 

 

 

   
chris.harrison@cs.cmu.edu
© Chris Harrison