Mycrocosm: Visual Microblogging

Abstract

This paper introduces Mycrocosm, a micro-blogging site in which users communicate via statistical graphics, rather than the usual short text statements. Users of Mycrocosm can record everyday "personal statistics" and share this information in the form of simple graphs and charts. People have used it to track how they got to work and how long it took, what color clothes they wore, how often they checked their Facebook updates, how often a colleague shows up late, and many other trends and events. Mycrocosm raises awareness of the strong yet subtle effect a medium has upon the messages it conveys. Most computer based communication interfaces are text based, so while the conduit is computational, the medium is not far different from a typewriter. Mycrocosm, by using easily updated statistical graphs, creates an easy to use and understand medium that nevertheless is quite different from other forms of communication, both direct and computer mediated.