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50 Comments
- jayadelson, on 10/12/2007, -3/+20Remember these are works in progress. If you have thoughts on how these visualizations can contribute to the site, or parts of it, feel free to share.
- sophiaperennis, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Would be nice if you could filter the Swarm, by being able to only view a particular Digg Topics group, e.g. Technology. That would be a welcome enhancement.
- DarknessGP, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8One thing I want to see it more user integration. Like I'd like the ability to digg stories from digg labs, or be able to click the story link and have it open in a background tab in firefox...
Oh, I'd like to be able to filter by the containers. and on digg stack. I'd like to be able to "pause" or "freeze" the current stories, but still have the live data feed to it. meaning I have these 100 or so stories up, and still getting there diggs and such from them. - nobogeys217, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10I thought the stack and swarm were confusing. I like the curretn format.
- Chasin_Fat_Kids, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I think these tools will really start to shine when they release the official API for anyone to fiddle with.
And the mere fact that they are actually taking time and effort to make the Digg site as transparent as possible for it's users is admirable and is totally unique to the digg experience.
These guys are thinking big and I'm proud to be a part of it. - Darmichar, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7I'd have to agree, Stack just moves too fast to gather any information from.
Swarm, on the other hand, gives you a glimpse into the 'life' of a story as it progresses on Digg. - sophiaperennis, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7I prefer Swarm. It gives a new innovative ability to provide a visual display of how new stories develop on a content-aggregation platform like Digg. Furthermore, it shows the connection between stories, when someone diggs multiple stories. Interesting tool.
- konforce, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Being a web developer, I can appreciate the work that goes into creating something realtime like Swarm and Stack. However, I don't think that the concept in general has any lasting appeal. A website with up to date information is what people want. And digg already provides that very well.
I, and probably most people, don't want to sit and watch stuff happen on digg. I want to come when I have a 5 minute break and read through some of the top stories that grab my interest. Yes, things like Stack and Swarm are sort of neat, but that feeling wears off. Generally, subscription alerts are about as realtime as websites need to get. That is, I'd rather register to receive notifications about some topic then sit and wait for it to happen.
I do think there can be a practical use for realtime views, but mostly only for site regulars - and especially for site moderators. But hey, if you have fun creating something, it doesn't have to end up practical! - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7if you digg this story then you are a fanboy, of digg
- xsnslaine, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4i know i will most probably get a negative digg here, but at work i have been working on accessibility, problem with these are they are completely inaccessible to blind people, i have just spend 1 month converting 2 web based applications to be accessible. Its a real shame, i really do hope that adobe will assist in the accessible area as accessible website are becoming more and more important in this new equal opportunity world
- OmegaNine, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6My job is very boring.....me
- bonedog73, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Greaaaat! Another way for someone to keep track of everything I do...
- bantam, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Digg Labs is cool looking, but i really dont see why you would really want to use it. Its just an eye candy display for whats going on.
- sophiaperennis, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Does it currently show a different color for when Friends digg a story in Swarm? If not, that would be great as well. Show a Friend in a different color.
- heresy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Has anyone noticed their CPU usage go crazy when using Digg labs? I didn't know Flash was so resource intensive. I don't like using it on my laptop because the laptop gets hot really quick and the fan spins up under full load.
- siggyfawn, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6It's pretty much useless to be honest. Great fun for 5 minutes, haven't gone back since.
Who really has time to track what stories are being dugg, who's making comments, who's viewing what. There are things like job and life. Check digg, check front page, click a few links that look interesting, then leave.
Who really has 2-3 hours to watch a visual version of digg? It's terribly boring. - jazrock, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1For users swarm and stack don't have much value (other than the cool toy factor), but what could researchers or marketing companies do with this information. Imagine seeing how a company is Dugg... or a product... or a politician... there is value in this data for the right people. Very, very interesting. It will be fun to watch where Jay and Kevin take this going forward.
- titlesaysitall, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I like Swarm as my desktop and screensaver! : )
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -9/+10Ok, digg fan boys/girls, get over these "features". They're useless toys. Enough digg posts about them.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I use swarm on my desktop all the time now. I think it is very useful. I still use RSS but this is a lot more interesting when tracking digg activity.
Plus its a really cool looking desktop! - joeysafe, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4What digg labs has done is not new, swarms have been around. That doesn't make it any less fun to play with, but saying that it is the First step is giving a bit too much credit to digg simply because we are digg users.
- wspence, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The article is exactly right it doesn't have much use for the individual digger. However, it shows how a site can see what appeals to their users in real-time. That's pretty frickin' powerful and amazing as hell. You have to give it to the guys. This is a great project and it should continue to blossom.
- titlesaysitall, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I would like to see a Digg Swarm desktop app, where its faster and I can click it on my desktop.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Active desktop man, get with it...
http://digg.com/software/Digg_Swarm_for_Windows_Desktops
Don't do what the author says though, it doesn't work. Instead use the hyperlink from the digg labs; for more info check out the comments section of the story... - Ewige, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Digg swarm seems an awful lot like http://www.swarmthe.com/
- frogpelt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Does someone have an explanation of the connecting lines between story nodes in the swarm? I understand the connections between digg users and the stories but not the other ones.
- wendellmedina, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's a good visualization tool on how to display the digg users' behavior. This is also a great example of how to present statistics in a not-so-boring fashion. To many this might be just entertaining, but for some this can be a powerful tool.
- Chasin_Fat_Kids, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I agree w/ you there. Digg is not the most accessible site out there (e.g. you can't submit a story w/o using the image verification code). Are there accessibility standards for websites?
- DuoPros, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4I cant view it, as i dont have the latest flash.
Its possibly the only annoyance ive found while using linux. - Burritosupreme, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Swarm is awesome. makes it easy to get news in everything. I dont like to stick to one section.
- PaulC, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2@Darmichar
Stack really doesn't move all that fast. Once all the stories have scrolled to the left edge, the stories stop moving. To see the "life" of the story, just click on the story's bar, which opens up a bar graph of the story's diggs and comments. I think that Stack is much easier to visualize. - spin-docta, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5Flash is a lot more interactive and functional than AJAX.
- alej744, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5this isn't where the future of the web is going
flash sucks - jameand, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think Digg stack and swarm could have very cool uses in the Wall street type world as well as on closed government systems for collaborating on intelligence, security, or crisis management issues. Not that you have diggs per say, but apply it to visually correlate databases of information and their analysis. Great job Digg!!!
- deanlowe, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4Jay, where's the version of the swarm with the bees and flowers?
- foshizol, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1alej744
Yes we should all be morons like you. Morons that enjoy having the latest spyware and viruses on our computers because we have to be like everyone else. N00bs that don't know how to use a command line, who don't really know how to use a computer.
That's OK, I make a living off of people like you. When you fill your computer with ***** (starting with Windows XP) I get the call to fix it, and try to retrieve your photos, mp3s, and porn. Bill Gates is my hero thanks to him I make a really good living. - macewan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1http://labs.digg.com/swarm/main.swf
http://labs.digg.com/stack/main.swf
via: http://www.harold.liberty-host.com/digg_lab_method/index.html - alej744, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3HOW???!!!
- angler8890, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Just digg on....
http://www.ggag.info/sitemap.htm - Kendal, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Realtime and sametime experiences shouldn't be confused with observations. There's an inherent passivity to the web, while content contribition and colaberative forums/projects are available for peolple to engage in, essentially the statistics show 1% of web users creating content, with around 30% responding, and everyone else just observing.
- NoDakMAC, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2OK, this may be a little off topic...
Hot laptops may be warm and cozy, but they can roast your nuts. I read a story a few days ago about laptop heat decreasing testosterone and overall sexual function...
Digg and perish! Mwahahahaaa... - Character0, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I love the look and feel of digg labs... they make great screen savers. However, the problem that these types of interfaces have is that they show action rather than the information. Sure you can see the popular articles readily, but there is still another step involved for the user because he/she has to click through to the story. So basically that means it would be great if the article brief popped up when a user put their cursor over the stack or swarm and clicking would then take the user to the digg page. Still even that makes things a lot more complicated then just scrolling through the front page. Its a good concept, but it needs to be refined.
- Yez70, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3I've made the Swarm the Wallpaper for my desktop. It's Unreal and Live all the time. I like it a lot better than an RSS feed.
- diggmaddy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1http://community.tomshardware.com/dellpost.html?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=192887&ex=Dude-Dell-freaking-blew
this hot aint warm or cozy. It's flaming :P. - alej744, on 10/12/2007, -7/+4then don't use Linux, you fool
you know it will never gain "mass adoption" - jsmucker, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1Maybe I am a fanboy, although I will say this is were the future of the web is going and I like it.
- alej744, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1but hot laptops are awesome, they're warm and cozy
You can't argue with that - talltyler, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1In my mind technology should be transparent. Digg has huge amounts of information, the best kind of interface to view anything like that is give the people an easier way to view everything at once. A swarm of particles is not easy and it doesn't give you anything easier. It is true flash allows us to make great things, and I encourage all of us to use it in ways far beyond the normal html page but there are also ideas of interface design and information architecture that have been well established for many years. This are examples of things out of the box but they are not the future. Technology will make our lives easier and this is just pretty.
- thefinalruin, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3Swarm also happens to be my favorite, but it freezes my browser when I try to open a link in tabs.
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