The National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP) at the Library of Congress, in partnership with Zepheira LLC, is developing a free software platform called Recollection that allows users to upload their data and easily create interactive maps, charts, timelines, tag clouds and more. It’s elegantly simple, allowing users to take something like a standard spreadsheet and through a few simple clicks transform it into something else, like an interactive map.

Try it
While Recollection is still in beta, those interested in trying it out can request a free account to access it.

Online Workshop
Tomorrow, Tuesday, April 19, 2011 at 1 p.m., the Library of Congress will be hosting a free online workshop where you can learn how to use this tool.

Learn More
In preparation for the workshop, or if you’re just curious, watch this online video presentation for an overview and a step by step example of how Recollection takes data and translates it into an interactive visual representation.

This post first appeared on AHA Today.