Animation in real space

Just over ten years ago I took off from my home in Las Vegas and embarked on the road of international development as a Peace Corps Volunteer in northern Namibia.  Ever since then I've continued to take an interest in the issues that look at the relationships between industrialized countries and the developing world.

About two years ago I first saw Hans Gosling's 2006 TED Talk on knowledge, statistics and preconceived notions. A Swedish professor of international health at Karolinska Institute and Director of the Gapminder Foundation, his presentation showed how with the correct understanding of information, you can have a fundamentally different understanding of 'the facts.'

A few days ago I came across an updated (and abbreviated) version of his same presentation. After seeing it, it concluded again how the intersection is the place for creativity and innovation. When you utilize it, the possibilities are endless.

Typically any discussion around data, you're guaranteed to fall asleep. In the 4 1/2 minute video below though, you'll see how Hans intersects animation, technology, and data and presents, typically boring and uninteresting information, in a way that is captivating, fresh and entertaining. Not only that, but he's showing how the disparity gap between developing nations and the west is decreasing and how we are, in Hans' words, "moving towards an entirely new converging world."