NetSquared has been holding a little contest of late to promote the use of data mashups as tools for the betterment of life and society, and the 21 finalists might give you a few ideas about how an advocacy or communications campaign can use mashups to make information accessible to people who aren’t total data nerds.
Many of the finalists use mapping layers, such as a project devoted to the preservation of linguistic diversity and another that tracks threatened houses in New Orleans, while others involve social networking tools, video or rss feeds. Bonus: Cisco’s a sponsor, and the 21 projects will share a $100,000 grant. Pretty cool stuff all around — for those of us who aren’t numbers or software people, it can be hard to envision exactly HOW data can tell a story, so being able to see concrete examples is a help.
– cpd