Thing 18 – Infographics and Visual Tools
Infographics
This is a snip from a search I did of Google Images for: inforgraphic
Rather than have you read a whole lot of text as I try to explain what an infographic is, just check out these infographics about infographics!
Wikipedia has a helpful entry describing what infographics are, their history and tools that you might use to create one.
Example tools are:
Here is a blog where you can go to learn about some of the latest, “cool infographics”: http://www.coolinfographics.com/
Blog Post
1. Search Google Images for infographics and write about one that was of particular interest to you. What made the infographic successful? Can you find anything about it that could be improved?
2. Is there a topic in your work or in your life that you wish there was an infographic for? For example, a complicated topic that you wish someone would simplify into a one page graphic for you? Describe what that might look like. Consider sketching out what the infographic might look like, take a picture/scan of it and post it to your blog.
Visual Tools (optional)
The following text and links are meant to expose you to a few tools that exist. There are no required activities relating to our 23Things programme. If you have the time and interest, please read on. Otherwise, proceed to Thing 19.
This thing represents the data-driven direction of much of what we do online these days. We’ll explore some simply tools for visualization of information.
Getting started
Google Public Data Explorer
Google Public Data Explorer is a tool developed by Google Labs that makes large datasets easy to explore, visualize and understand. It offers a simple way of generating different views and graphs (e.g. bar charts, line graphs, etc.) to better understand and present data.
Currently a range of public data (130 datasets as of 6 August 2014) from organizations and academic institutions—including US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Eurostat, Statistics Iceland, etc.—are available for users to explore interactively. You can also upload your own datasets, using the Dataset Publishing Language (DSPL) format, to Google Public Data Explorer for visualisation and exploration.
It is important to note that you will NOT be able to export data, only manipulate them within the Google Data Explorer environment. However, you can embed the data as part of a website or email the link to someone else. The tool produces interactive, animated graphics using the four available chart formats.
Gapminder
Gapminder is a visualization software package created by a Swedish Foundation to help enliven and disseminate freely available social science data using animated, interactive graphs.
Gapminder is powered by a software called Trendalyzer (which is owned and licensed by Google) and comes with a staggering range of data collected worldwide (519 datasets as of 6 August 2014), on subjects from national economies to AIDS.
It is also possible to use Gapminder to display data over a map so the statistical changes can be seen geographically. However, it has a limited ability to upload and visualize private datasets (possibly via the use of Google Docs) with certain functionalities (e.g. map) not supported.
Tableau Public
Tableau Public is a free desktop tool for generating interactive data visualization, graphs and reports onto the Internet. You can use this application to analyse any type of structured dataset, and can publish the work to Tableau Public web servers where they will be readily accessible to the general public.
Tableau Public is an advanced desktop tool for people who don’t have programming skills but still want to create highly interactive data visualisations on the web. It offers a ‘visual data window’ that allows you to connect different data sources by simply pointing and clicking. You can also apply various filters before exporting the data. Tableau Public can connect to Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, and multiple text file formats but has a limit of 1,000,000 rows of data in any single file.
The published data saved to Tableau Public is accessible by the general public but you can remove your content later if needed. There are also paid versions of Tableau software, namely Tableau Personal and Tableau Professional, that allow you to save your visualization works locally.
Most of the tools discussed here use publicly available datasets for generating the visualisations and graphs. When using a tool that allows you to upload your own data collection, for instance Tableau Public, you need to consider if these are any restrictions on those data being hosted on a public server.
Blog post (optional)
Think about the role of data in the work you do, your research or your hobbies. Can any of it be enhanced by presenting it visually, especially by presenting data visually? Can you think of how any of these tools might be useful to you? If so, how? Or, why not?
Thing 19 – Presentation Software
Videos and podcasts might be a growing part of sharing information, but presentation tools are used on a daily basis. In Thing 19 , we’ll explore some new tools for creating presentations, and you’ll take another look at sites like Slideshare that let you share your research and presentations online.
Most of us are, by necessity, familiar with PowerPoint and/or its Apple counterpart Keynote. There are open source alternatives, although you may find they’re not always compatible in the ways you need (there’s a list at Alternative To). Prezi is growing in popularity and offers an interesting alternative to the usual static slides you normally see. Prezi allows you to zoom, pan and layer levels of information, although these tools need to be used well in order to be effective. Instead of presenting a linear story, you can move around a storyboard, highlighting connections.Prezi can take some getting used to, but it’s worth jumping in and giving it a try. Take some time to experiment with it and think about what it could offer to help you share your research, present a subject to students or colleagues, or create an informational or induction presentation. You can even use Prezi as a collaboration tool – it’s great for mind mapping with colleagues.We particularly like this presentation by Ned Potter of the University of York on how to make good Prezis. As well as showing you what Prezi can do, it’s a great example of exactly that – a good Prezi: The how to make a great Prezi, Prezi on Prezi:
Presentation sharing tools
Now we’d like you to think about uploading your own research or presentations to them. We love the following tools:
These tools give you the opportunity to store all your research presentations or teaching material in one place. Maybe you gave a presentation at a conference, and you’d like other people to have access to it (or you’d like other people to see that you’ve been providing expert comment on the topic). Perhaps you use presentations as teaching tools, and you want your students to have access to lectures after the class. These sites bring your presentations to a much wider audience than you can ever hope to reach with handouts or even an institutional website. They also let you embed your presentations in blogs and websites.Have a look at each site (and feel free to look at others), and pick at least one to try. If you have a presentation floating around, upload it (extra credit: tweet a link to your presentation). Many of these sites let you upload PDFs as well as PowerPoints and other formats, so your ‘presentation’ could even be a simple handout. If you don’t have any presentations to upload, think about when or how you might or might not use these sites.
Exploring further: Some notes on presentations in general
Since we’re on the subject, let’s talk about what makes a good presentation in general. There are blog posts, courses and books galore on this, but we think it deserves addressing. Presentations should be engaging and interesting, and the standard bullet point format, while effective in the right context, can be the opposite of engaging.If you’re looking to breathe life into your presentations, there are some basic things to keep in mind:
- Cut text. Less is better.
- Don’t read our your slides – they’re there to support what you are saying, not replace it.
- Keep to one point per slide.
- Use good images (studies even show that this improves retention!)
Task:
Blog post
Now that you’ve experimented with Prezi and various presentation-sharing tools, what do you think they could add to your work? Can you see yourself using them? Do you think they can help you find new audiences for your work? Tag your post Thing 19.
Further reading
- Prezi: The PowerPoint Alternative?
- Steal this Presentation (tips for presenting with slides)
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23 Things @ PPL 2015 
