Who influenced who? An epic data visualisation

A new technique for visualising the connections between people based on their influences according to Wikipedia has been created by Simon Raper of the Drunks and Lampposts blog who initially used the technique to map the links between philosophers. The technique has been applied by the blogger Brendan Griffen to include a broader snapshot of Wikipedia. In the graph below each node is an individual and the links between them are based on the “influenced by” field in Wikipedia.

The colours represent different genres:

• Red – 19th/20th century philosophers
• Green – antiquity & enlightenment philosophers
• Pink – enlightenment authors
• Yellow – 19th/20th century authors (~fiction/philosophy)
• Orange – fiction authors
• Purple – comedians

Hit “full screen” and F11 for best results and scroll the wheel of your mouse to navigate.

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