I've heard this called the Computer Age, the Information Age, the Age of Communications.
All wrong.
This is the Age of the Database.
Modern life is managed, manipulated, and massaged via the use of databases administrated by businesses, governments, and institutions. It is a rare day that you won't do something in your daily activities that gathers data of a personal nature. Databases are ubiquitous elements of your life, 24/7, utilized to track and mold your behavior for one purpose or another. Those purposes range from the sublime to sinister.
Fortunately a few folks are using databases and the information they gather for the greater good.
Professor Hans Rosling gave a presentation at the annual TED conference that shows how visual models of data analysis are having a revolutionary effect on how we can leverage the contents of the databases to better understand trends of great import to humanity.
Click to view Rosling's TED presentation
