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I would bet that the noise comes from people who have no idea just closing their eyes and clicking at random. Clearly the map wasn't coloured to differentiate

I would bet that the noise comes from people who have no idea just closing their eyes and clicking at random. Clearly the map wasn't coloured to differentiate bodies of water, considering the clusters in the Black and Caspian seas. (But you'd think people could at least identify the major oceans...)

insuffi 13y ago
Believe it or not, but there are many real people who point to UK, when asked where Finland is. The point is, if you know where Russia is, you likely know where Ukraine is. The clicking at random is by people who have no idea about either. EDIT: Sorry. I meant that as a reply to your comment regarding legitimacy of the map.
- Crito 13y ago
  > The point is, if you know where Russia is, you likely know where Ukraine is. I don't know about that. There are ~15 (depending on what you are counting) countries that border Russia. And while I am fairly confident that I could label them all, Russia would certainly be the easiest to label. It's the big one; it's hard to miss. I'm the product of American public schools for what its worth. I learned the countries back in middle school, but learning the locations of countries not in North or South America was extra credit for my class (as was learnin the state capitals, and country capitals).
  - waterlesscloud 13y ago
    Considering there are notable clusters in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, you're probably right. Those people probably located Russia, knew Ukraine is "under" Russia, so picked a couple of countries under Russia. Incidentally, I suspect those large clusters in the central asian republics account for a large amount of the error in the median response. The lone clicks in New Zealand or whatever don't count as much as big clusters do, and those clusters are pretty near the median error of 1800 miles off.
    - sentenza 13y ago
      It is human not to be an expert on everything, so I'd say the people that clicked Kazachstan, Belarus, the Black Sea and the like should be forgiven. Also, there are certainly a number (below 5%) of clicks that resulted from accident or interface understanding problems. Those could account for some of the most outlandish dots. But then there are a lot of people that selected India. That's kind of disturbing.
  - insuffi 13y ago
    Fair point about the 15 countries bordering Russia. I must have not been clear. What I was trying to say is, the least you can do is point towards Russia, if you don't know where Ukraine is.
    - Crito 13y ago
      Ah yes, that definitely makes sense. I misunderstood you.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
AJ007 13y ago
This would correlate with 'I have no idea what I'm doing' "In general, younger Americans tended to provide more accurate responses than their older counterparts: 27 percent of 18-24 year olds correctly identified Ukraine, compared with 14 percent of 65+ year-olds." 65+ year olds spent a big chunk of their lives in the cold war. Presumably they would know more about the geographical breakup of the Soviet Union than 18-24 year olds who didn't even exist when the Berlin Wall fell. From a data analysis standpoint, I would say discard the outliers that look like mis-clicks. Based on the groupings you still have people that identified Alaska, Greenland, Canada, India South America, and so on. Irregardless of the colorings or map size, those should not have been chosen. On another note, a given countries foreign policy always makes a hell of a lot more sense when placed in context on a map. I'm glad I read a lot of National Geographic as a child.
- huherto 13y ago
  Perhaps younger Americans took geography in school after the break out of the Soviet Union. I only know where Ukraine is because I recently looked at the map when this crisis came up.
- rcthompson 13y ago
  No, people who were in primary school before the breakup of the Soviet Union would probably have never seen the Ukraine on a map, since all they would see is a big red area labeled "Soviet Union". I doubt Soviet internal geography & politics were taught regularly. Younger people may not even know that the Soviet Union ever existed, but they have a much better chance of seeing Ukraine on a map in school.
  - loqi 13y ago
    Yup. No Ukraine on my globe as a kid in the 80s, just "U.S.S.R.".
  - dragonwriter 13y ago
    > No, people who were in primary school before the breakup of the Soviet Union would probably have never seen the Ukraine on a map, since all they would see is a big red area labeled "Soviet Union". Many of the maps I remember seeing (in school and otherwise) as a kid in the 1980s labelled the constituent republics of the USSR.

insuffi 13y ago

Believe it or not, but there are many real people who point to UK, when asked where Finland is. The point is, if you know where Russia is, you likely know where Ukraine is. The clicking at random is by people who have no idea about either. EDIT: Sorry. I meant that as a reply to your comment regarding legitimacy of the map.

Crito 13y ago
> The point is, if you know where Russia is, you likely know where Ukraine is. I don't know about that. There are ~15 (depending on what you are counting) countries that border Russia. And while I am fairly confident that I could label them all, Russia would certainly be the easiest to label. It's the big one; it's hard to miss. I'm the product of American public schools for what its worth. I learned the countries back in middle school, but learning the locations of countries not in North or South America was extra credit for my class (as was learnin the state capitals, and country capitals).
- waterlesscloud 13y ago
  Considering there are notable clusters in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, you're probably right. Those people probably located Russia, knew Ukraine is "under" Russia, so picked a couple of countries under Russia. Incidentally, I suspect those large clusters in the central asian republics account for a large amount of the error in the median response. The lone clicks in New Zealand or whatever don't count as much as big clusters do, and those clusters are pretty near the median error of 1800 miles off.
  - sentenza 13y ago
    It is human not to be an expert on everything, so I'd say the people that clicked Kazachstan, Belarus, the Black Sea and the like should be forgiven. Also, there are certainly a number (below 5%) of clicks that resulted from accident or interface understanding problems. Those could account for some of the most outlandish dots. But then there are a lot of people that selected India. That's kind of disturbing.
- insuffi 13y ago
  Fair point about the 15 countries bordering Russia. I must have not been clear. What I was trying to say is, the least you can do is point towards Russia, if you don't know where Ukraine is.
  - Crito 13y ago
    Ah yes, that definitely makes sense. I misunderstood you.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]

AJ007 13y ago

This would correlate with 'I have no idea what I'm doing' "In general, younger Americans tended to provide more accurate responses than their older counterparts: 27 percent of 18-24 year olds correctly identified Ukraine, compared with 14 percent of 65+ year-olds." 65+ year olds spent a big chunk of their lives in the cold war. Presumably they would know more about the geographical breakup of the Soviet Union than 18-24 year olds who didn't even exist when the Berlin Wall fell. From a data analysis standpoint, I would say discard the outliers that look like mis-clicks. Based on the groupings you still have people that identified Alaska, Greenland, Canada, India South America, and so on. Irregardless of the colorings or map size, those should not have been chosen. On another note, a given countries foreign policy always makes a hell of a lot more sense when placed in context on a map. I'm glad I read a lot of National Geographic as a child.

huherto 13y ago
Perhaps younger Americans took geography in school after the break out of the Soviet Union. I only know where Ukraine is because I recently looked at the map when this crisis came up.
rcthompson 13y ago
No, people who were in primary school before the breakup of the Soviet Union would probably have never seen the Ukraine on a map, since all they would see is a big red area labeled "Soviet Union". I doubt Soviet internal geography & politics were taught regularly. Younger people may not even know that the Soviet Union ever existed, but they have a much better chance of seeing Ukraine on a map in school.
- loqi 13y ago
  Yup. No Ukraine on my globe as a kid in the 80s, just "U.S.S.R.".
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  > No, people who were in primary school before the breakup of the Soviet Union would probably have never seen the Ukraine on a map, since all they would see is a big red area labeled "Soviet Union". Many of the maps I remember seeing (in school and otherwise) as a kid in the 1980s labelled the constituent republics of the USSR.