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Featured Explainer: 8th Graders on Net Neutrality

by on April 26, 2011 in Featured Explainer


C-SPAN has announced the winners of its 2011 StudentCam contest, which challenges students from grades 6-12 to create a short documentary focusing on the theme “Washington, DC – Through My Lens.”

Three eighth grade students from Farragut Middle School in Knoxville, Tenn., took home the first place award for their piece “Net Neutrality: The Federal Government’s Role in Our Online Community.” The opening line of narration poses a succinct argument for why the issue of net neutrality is worth understanding: “The Internet: it’s something our generation has grown up with and takes for granted.”

Throughout the video, the trio of Melissa Yu, Katy Becker, and Sara Atkins explores the growing concern that a free and open web — the way we’ve always known it — may not be the way we always will know it. They also do an excellent job of staying balanced. You get the sense that they are pro open web, but you also understand both sides of the debate: whether or not the federal government should be regulating this issue.

This explainer is exemplary, and not just because of the ages of its creators. Kudos to them for tackling the biggest issue facing the future of the web.

Top 3 Explainers on the Government Shutdown

by on April 8, 2011 in Explainers, Featured Explainer

Politicians and federal employees are biting their nails, looking out their windows, anxiously awaiting that eviction notice. It’s the end of the road. April 8 is here. And although President Obama says top Democrats and Republicans are closer to an agreement, it still looks like the lights are about to flicker off in the nation’s government.

But here at Explainer.net, we’re all into this impending government shutdown. It’s confusing. It affects a lot of folks. And there’s plenty of finger pointing to go around. Earlier this week, we piled on links to coverage across the Web that sought to explain this tangled extravaganza. (Wading through complicated news events? It’s the kind of stuff we’re made for.)

But for this go-round, we’ve picked our Top 3 explainers across the Web on the makings of an impending government shutdown. Continue Reading →

Featured Explainer: U.S. Intervention in Libya

by on March 27, 2011 in Featured Explainer

As part of our FAQ research, we experimented with animation service Xtranormal to create a visual script of an explainer. Looks like someone took our advice, with this conversational FAQ on the United States’ intervention in Libya. In this case, the explainer takes a pretty clear political point of view, taking aim at those who back Obama regardless of his actions.

The dialogue from the Obama supporter is pretty unreasonable, and I can’t say I necessarily agree 100 percent with the sentiment. But as far as the execution goes, this is well done. And with more than 175,000 views, it seems I’m not the only one who thinks so. Bravo.

Congressional Redistricting in Iowa: Explained

by on March 2, 2011 in Featured Explainer

The Des Moines Register has a fantastic new app to explain the impending redistricting that the state faces as a result of the 2010 Census. Per the Register:

“Iowa grew more slowly than the rest of the nation in the past decade, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. That means Iowa will drop a congressional district, from five to four.”

To help explain, they’ve created an interactive map with all 99 counties in Iowa that gives you the power to decide how to redistrict. There are some rules; namely, the laws that the process must abide by.

Why It Works: For a lot of reasons, really. For one thing, there’s the application of game theory. I spent a good amount of time trying to get it right and had to clear it once when I failed. But, determined to succeed, I kept at it (you can see mine here). It’s also both functional and instructional. It’s not too high tech to comprehend how to use it, and I came away feeling like I understood – on an entry level, at least – why something like this is actually more challenging for lawmakers than it might seem. Granted, I spent about ten minutes on it. But when you consider all the other factors that might go into something like this, you can understand how tricky it might become. They’ve even built in a Facebook sharing function. Nice!

What It Lacks: Not much. As a standalone piece of explanation, it works pretty well. I’d be happy to see some other background included in this, like what kinds of decisions lawmakers will be faced with when drawing up the new boundaries.

Of course, it helps to have a little knowledge of Iowa to get you through it. I lived in the state for almost 4 years before coming to New York, so this isn’t all corn to me. Consider this an excellent explainer for an important regional issue.

Also make sure to check out their helpful interactive powered by Google with just the data about how the population has changed.

Tracking Unrest in the Arab League: Explained

by on March 1, 2011 in Featured Explainer


In our last post, we visited the National Journal’s interactive map about the varying stages of unrest in North African and Middle Eastern countries. The Economist has created a similar interactive, served to us by of the Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan.

Much like the previous map, this allows you to click over and gather information about each individual country. But unlike its predecessor, it doesn’t give you as much of a picture of what’s going on in each country, preferring a statistical snapshot.

Why It Works: We love maps, especially ones that situate issues that are rooted in complex geography. There can’t be enough done to help us contextualize the issue in the region, especially as the conflicts potentially spread to more of these states.

What It Lacks: Unfortunately, it leaves us wanting more. The statistics are only so illuminating, and some key questions are left unanswered. For example, what exactly is the Arab League? It isn’t a term that’s being used too much in the overall coverage of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and the other countries involved in conflict, so a brief breakdown would be helpful. Another major question is why so many of the states register “na” on the index of unrest. Isn’t that what the graphic is measuring?

Some more explanation here is necessary.

What other explainers have you seen like this? Let us know in the comments or tweet us .

Unrest in North Africa/Middle East: Explained

by on February 12, 2011 in Featured Explainer

After yesterday’s resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, many people are wondering if a succession of such revolutions will be happening in Middle Eastern countries with similar, totalitarian regimes. In their explainer yesterday, Slate asked the question, “OK, so which Middle Eastern government is going down next?” Reports are already coming in of demonstrations in Algeria and Yemen. With these events in mind, we turn to the National Journal’s interactive map that helps us understand what the situation is in other neighboring countries. The explainer was created by Sara Sorcher, Brian McGill, and Julia Edwards, and has been live throughout the Egyptian demonstrations. It’s been updated with the current developments and is worth keeping an eye on.

Why It Works: A good map always helps situate someone, especially the reader who may need a refresher on the region’s geography. It’s also helpful in giving context as you roll over each country. The quick fact sheet it offers means the reader gets a brief picture of what the status of the country is, and where it may be going. There’s just enough text to give key facts — such as how long each ruler has been in power, and how he got there — and how likely a deposition might be.

What It Lacks: Well, links for one. Some embedded links in the roll-over text would be an extremely useful gateway to more information on each subject. We’d also like to see some dates in there. It’s been updated, but doesn’t always tell you how recently. For example, under Sudan it reads: “On Sunday, the same day that preliminary results of the recent independence referendum…” But it isn’t immediately clear which Sunday they are talking about. Tomorrow is Sunday, by which point we’ll definitely need a date to identify which day exactly they are referring to.

That being said, keep this resource available as more developments come in. It certainly doesn’t look like the end of Mubarak’s reign will be the end of unrest in this region.

The Tunisian crisis explained: Mother Jones

by on January 17, 2011 in Featured Explainer

A Tunisian flag is held aloft at a rally in support of the Tunisian revolt, in Paris, France. Copyright: Gwenael Piaser

One country for which 2011 has heralded great upheaval is Tunisia. TV news networks are reporting violence in Tunis and showing protests in Marseilles, but what does it all mean? Mother Jones breaks it down just the way we like it. Continue Reading →

Wikileaks backlash explained: The Guardian

by on January 11, 2011 in Featured Explainer

We know that we keep coming back to Wikileaks here on ExplainerNet, but it’s probably one of the hottest news topics of the last six months, and one that often needs explanation. Since the site released its dump of diplomatic cables in late November, the international backlash has been unfolding faster than news consumers can keep up. The Guardian has put together a comprehensive and exhaustive timeline explaining exactly who is targeting at Wikileaks right now, and who has stood by them. It’s a longer read, but a good one for those who need catching up on the story so far. Continue Reading →

Market Trends Explained: The New York Times

by on January 5, 2011 in Featured Explainer


Special thanks to Sean O’Neill for letting us know about this great explainer

There are few subjects more daunting and confusing to the general public than America’s financial system. Luckily, this demand for knowledge has led to some of the best explainers, including NPR’s “Giant Pool of Money” (without which, the “Building a Better Explainer” project probably wouldn’t exist). On the news, we constantly hear quotes like “the stock market is up x points” or “the market plummeted today.” But unless we know the context surrounding these changes (the market may be up… but from what?) these are nothing more than empty, meaningless figures.

That’s where New York Times’ recent story/pixel chart, “In Investing, It’s When You Start and When You Finish,” comes in. This clever infographic shows how S&P 500 investments have performed over the past 90 years, depending on when the money was deposited and when it was taken out. By providing a long-term perspective, it becomes easier to determine whether past market changes were merely temporary ups and downs or signs of larger trends.

Continue Reading →

Facebook Privacy Explained: Matt McKeon

by on January 4, 2011 in Featured Explainer

Image by Matt McKeon

Happy New Year from Explainer.Net! If there’s one thing we can count on in 2011, it’s that Mark Zuckerberg will continue to hear criticism over Facebook’s erosion of its privacy settings. But at what point did Facebook go from innocent time-waster to target of privacy crusaders the world over? In the Evolution of Privacy on Facebook, Matt McKeon, a software engineer for Google (who says on his blog that “someday I’ll get to talk about what I do there”) has presented the data behind this evolution in a way that is clear, concise, and comprehensive.

Continue Reading →

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