The opaque and tangled web of companies, shady entities, consultants and corporations is… well, tangled and opaque. Prying open that shell of privacy and actually getting a peek at who wields power is one hell of a task. But you can take a crack at it with LittleSis.
LittleSis (the opposite of Big Brother, get it?) strives to be the most comprehensive and searchable database of those in corporate and government power. I say “strive” because it’s a wiki, meaning users and members work together to add and vet entries.
This is a great effort, even if it’s almost impossible to be comprehensive. The collection of information at your fingertips, though, is impressive and easy to digest. LittleSis divides information into subsidiaries, related organizations, employees, government contributions, and all sorts of relevant stuff.
Plus, they have a tool for making your own network graph, which is neat.
I would watch out for bias – I spotted the phrase “Trump’s cronies” and “Research for the Resistance”, which suggests it’s not as objective as I might like. The database is subject to the whims of its wiki contributors, but the mapping tool is not.
So you could make your own visualization – images, interactivity and all – and embed it without much trouble. I’d give it a whirl!