The volume of data in our age is so vast that whole new research fields have blossomed to develop better and more efficient ways of presenting and organizing information. One such field is data visualization, which can be translated in plain English as visual representations of information.

As television news continues its pathetic slide into the abyss of celebrity worship, political partisanship and 24-hour punditry, its encouraging to note that in one area of traditional broadcasting there is actually something of a renaissance going on.

Five years ago Polaroid announced that they would no longer make analog instamatic film. At that moment, if one listened carefully, one could almost hear some of the 20th century’s most famous artists wail in despair, even from the grave. Ansel Adams loved Polaroid and shot some of his famous Yosemite images in that format first.

Last Friday night, TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. Moments later, the indie documentary became freely available online, which left the film’s director, Simon Klose, grinning, not grumbling. It makes sense when you consider the premise of the film.

Internet trolls are very touchy people. Sometimes their rage is targeted at public figures, institutions, or groups who do and say horrible things (the Westboro Baptist Church comes to mind). More often, the phenomenon of “trolling” is a free-for-all of absurdist online pranks or verbal abuse directed at anyone and everyone.

Even if you hate or fear statistics, you’ve surely become more than aware in recent months of one particular statistician: Nate Silver.

If you still subscribe to old-fashioned print newspapers, chances are it’s because you like doing crossword puzzles and putting pen(cil) to paper.

In going digital, we’ve gained some convenience. That’s undeniable. But we’ve lost much when it comes to aesthetics and quality too. (Neil Young makes that point again and again.

In 2010, when The New Yorker released its iPad app, Jason Schwartzman made the comic pitch. Now comes the new iPhone app, and it’s Jon Hamm (Mad Men) and Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture filmmaker and Girls creator) doing the honors.

Back in March, we told you about the launch of The Nelson Mandela Digital Archive, which makes available thousands of papers belonging to the man who galvanized the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, before eventually becoming the leader of the nation.