This is Now

Information is power, and in the hands of 10x10, it's also art. Every hour, 10x10 collects the 100 words and pictures that matter most on a global scale (culled from a number of leading international news sources, such as the BBC World Edition, Reuters and New York Times International), and serves it up as a picture postcard window, composed of 100 different frames.



To access 10x10, you simply click on the “This is Now” link on the website's splash page, which reveals a screen capture of the current grid and a link to the 'live' version of the Flash application. The active grid displays images from the hour's top stories, arranged by rank in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom sequence, while to the right, a key word is posted for each of the images. The two navigational methods are linked to each other as well - so scanning the words will highlight the corresponding images, and scanning the images will enlarge the corresponding words.

Click on an image or word, and a pop-up window appears with a larger thumbnail and links to stories related to the word. While any of the stories can be found by more conventional means, 10 X 10 presents them in a fascinating chronological/cultural context, showing not only what major news sources are considering the important stories of the moment, but also inviting questions about what might be influencing those choices.

It's a simple but powerful idea beautifully done.