It sounds impossible, but it isn’t: printing out your own social network on a 3D printer. Jeff Hemsley, Research Assistant at University of Washington’s Information School, has used the program R to represent and explore social network data.
Image: Jeff Hemsley, SomeLab.
He used his Twitter network data for the 3D print, which makes the picture above an actual print of his social network. He writes: ”3D printing offers some interesting opportunities. Being able to touch statistics can make them more engaging and bring instant understanding.”
The full printed 3D model of your social network will cost you about $20,-, which isn’t much. However, the process can be difficult if you’re not a class A-technical person. If you want to challenge yourself and check out how Hemsley created the printed social network, we advice you to check out his website SomeLab.