LivePlasma

Description
[|Liveplasma] is an interactive interface that maps music and movies linking them with similar groups based on Amazon.com's application programming interface (API). The site creators refer to it as a discovery engine. When a user enters a movie or band name, Liveplasma searches the API and generates a web of related results around the term that was submitted. Using this search technique the user "discovers" similar music/movies to that of the inputed one. Resulting objects that are closer to the original term are more similar than those that are further away. Also the size of the object displays the popularity of the object. This site enables users to discover music and movies that are similar in taste to their already existing library expanding their cultural horizon.

This is the web that is generated when one searches for the band, Nirvana. As you can see, similar bands are located close to the band, whereas band that are less similar are spread out further. This is a closer look at the bands that surround Nirvana. We can see that the most similar bands are located right beside Nirvana. The web also shows the connections between other bandb. We can see that Nirvana is connected to Pearl Jam and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but, Pearl Jam and RHCP are also connected in their own way.

Insights

 * From the view of someone who is an avid listener of music, Liveplasma has provided me with links between similar artists. If you have ever grown tired of one artist but still appreciate the style of the music you can use this site to explore other artists out there.
 * Liveplasma also generates it's web through historical influences, not just what was bought by customers on Amazon. This means that the resulting web displays which objects were influenced by each other, which is a large part of the history of music and film.
 * The fact that Liveplasma is directly linked with Amazon means that when the user look sup an artist, a discography shows up in the sidebar where one can be redirected to the purchasing page on Amazon.
 * The navigation for the site is a bit tricky and takes a while to get used to. If you accidentally click on the wrong artist you might have to wait for the web to regenerate before correcting it.