THING 21 - CREATING INFOGRAPHICS

I would love to be able to post a link to a wonderful Piktochart but I am admitting defeat!

For now ...

I have read the module, followed all the links, dithered over what to create and finally, after a lot of deliberation, decided that I'd like to create a visual representation of the talk I give on "how to choose a book". This is quite an interactive talk with the class where I ask them why they chose the book they're reading and expand on their answers (eg: like the author, one in a series, genre, etc.) - I also usually add a few suggestions of my own.

However, I've not had much success with using Piktochart. No idea if it's my computer, my internet connection or what. But the site keeps freezing, failing to respond and then either reloading or throwing me offline. So I have given up in frustration. Think that's one of the problems regarding the use of technology ... it's wonderful when it works but when it doesn't (and often that's through no fault of yours - only this week I know of a colleague who had planned a series of lessons using online resources only to have the technology fail in the classroom), it can waste so much of your time.

Therefore I'm going to complete the first part of the task for this module "Consider a report or something that you’re producing at work, or for your local community. Do you think an infographic would better represent the data? What impact would this have on your audience?" although I'd much rather do the latter task and create something.

I think that several things I've done could be made into an infographic which would have a more immediate and visual impact. Even presentations where there is a linear relationship could be turned into a poster format, although the information may have to be simplified in order not to overload the viewer. Where I can see a use is to create an infographic AFTER a talk or presentation to reinforce what I've already said, something in an A4 format that you could give to people to take away.

I also think that because we now live in such a visual world that people are used to (and almost expect to see) information delivered in this way. And if you work in an environment that is dominated by PowerPoints then creating something different would immediately draw attention to what you wanted to say.

I'm going to try again but will wait until I have a bit more time and no deadline looming.