Social networks, and specifically social networking tools, are an ongoing fascination for me. Most of what I do for a living is project management, so understanding the dynamics of social interactions on a cross functional project team tends to occupy a great deal of my time and mental effort. A dysfunctional social network will translate to delays or even a project failure, which is not a good thing.
I'm always on the lookout for new tools because there are few good tools available in this area. I tend to use Viso or my old faithful quad pad to do the job. When a news filter I have setup hit on Mapping New Testament Social Networks, followed by a second hit from a religious filter I have setup, well I could not resist.
The map below shows the social network of Jesus in the New Testament and is a good example of a social networking visualization.
The article highlights the use of Many Eyes as a data visualization tool. To quote the site:
Many Eyes is a bet on the power of human visual intelligence to find patterns. Our goal is to "democratize" visualization and to enable a new social kind of data analysis. Jump right to our visualizations now, take a tour, or read on for a leisurely explanation of the project.
Frankly - I could waste my whole day at Many Eyes, but I'm not going to - I'm not. I swear.