IT geeks come up with one great visualisation project after the other. They have whole websites for visualising data related to information and communication technologies. Even self-ironic ones like the webcomics site xkcd which just aired this Lord of the Rings lookalike representation of online communities of the world:
(click here for a larger version)
(from xkcd: A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language)
Biomed and biotech communities don’t seem to map their fields in this wonderfully childish fashion. Why? Does it have something to do with the fact that biomed & biotech people are geared towards solving problems of ultimate life-and-death importance? Whereas IT and Web 2.0 people are basically kids in adult skinbags that play around to invent the next gadget for entertainment and conspicuous consumption?