Obama | One People

Visualizing a Historic Moment

Obama | One People is an unprecedented analysis of Barack Obama's Inauguration Day on January 20, 2009.

In partnership with AT&T Labs, this work created visualizations of mobile phone call activity that characterize the inaugural crowd and address the questions: Who was in Washington, D.C. for President Obama's Inauguration Day? When did they arrive, where did they go, and how long did they stay?

The results of our advanced data analyses are presented in two dazzling visualizations that celebrate Barack Obama and the people that paid him homage from all over the United States and the world.

The City

Illustrates the emotional flow of the Presidential Inauguration in Washington, D.C. Through an analysis of the number of mobile phone calls made on Inauguration Day and the home state or country of phone origin, it is possible to see peaks of call activity as the crowd anticipates President Obama's oath, a drop in call activity as the crowd listens to his inaugural address, and peaks again as the crowd celebrates. On the morning of January 20th, call activity is two to three times stronger than usual, rising to five times the normal levels after 2 pm.

The World

Reveals the international nature of Inauguration Day. It represents the variation in call activity among US States and foreign countries as flows of people traveling to Washington, D.C. The event is truly international with people present from 138 countries, totaling over half of all the countries in the world. Among the foreign countries, the main international callers are from Canada, Great Britain, France, and Puerto Rico.