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Information Design or Visualizing Information

  October 2, 2014 ,

Often we present statistical data not as exclusively the numbers themselves, but as a visualization of those numbers—as charts or graphs or tables or even pictures—giving the reader or viewer a better way to understand the meaning or impact of the information.  The goal in visualization of data is clarity of meaning, though it takes awareness and care not to distort or obscure the information.  Of course, as viewers and users of graphical representations, we also need to curb our natural impulse to find charts, graphs, and elaborate visualizations to be convincing just because of their form.  But, regardless of the potential drawbacks, visualizations can be excellent communication tools, and there are many great examples; here I share two from the nineteenth century that can still inform us today and give us ideas for our new digital tools. One famous 19th century example is the map John Snow created to show the pattern of deaths in a London cholera epidemic.  He discovered that largest number of deaths were of people drinking from a certain well on Broad Street and correctly confirmed that the disease was spread through water.  For more information about the cholera outbreak and Snow’s work see the article where I got the above information. Here’s his map, the visualization of the complicated problem he was trying to solve. “Snow-cholera-map-1” by John Snow. Published by C.F. Cheffins, Lith, Southhampton Buildings, London, England, 1854 in Snow, John. On the Mode of Communication of Cholera, 2nd Ed, John Churchill, New … Continue reading

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3D Reconstruction of 81 Decatur Street Project

  October 2, 2014 , , ,

Hey Guys! Just wanted to talk a little this week about the project some of the SIFs and I are working on! It’s been a rough week due to a stagnant cold that’s been ailing me, but we’ve managed to accumulate a lot of good data to throw at this project. What is it you ask? Well–every time you happen to walk by Classroom South on Decatur St, there is actually a rich history swept underneath the building that now stands there, namely 81 Theatre. It started as a Vaudeville stage and slowly evolved into a popular African American theatre in the 30s onward. The street was bustling with activity–pool halls, barber shops, clubs…it was an extension of the Auburn Avenue community’s spark. So our team wants to rebuild this block of Decatur St as an interactive environment–a game of sorts. If you’ve been reading my blog up until this point, you’ll know how into gamifying experiences I am. By adding a layer of engaging interactivity to this historical environment–we hope to promote education through engaging experiences that reflect what the different departments we represent do best: English and Literature, Anthropology, Geography, and Computer Science. It’s one thing to build a historically accurate 3D environment through maps and computing–it’s another thing entirely to fill it with narrative and meaningful culture that grabs attention and keeps it engaged. Can someone interact with this small microcosm and leave that interaction knowing more about the past than they realize? It’s hard to say, … Continue reading

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Getting more from images in the classroom

  October 2, 2014 ,

As I mentioned last week, one of my main tasks as a SIF fellow is to help generate video segments, essentially small documentaries, for GSU’s hybrid U.S. History survey course. Over the last week, I have been learning Adobe Premier Pro, so that I can transform a-roll footage of historians talking with each other about important historic events and phenomena into more engaging film. One of the questions I have been mulling over as I have been leaning the mechanics of video editing is how to maximize the pedagogical value of the films we are making. There is a kind of tension, hopefully a creative one over the long term, between the teacher in me (I have taught non-hybrid versions of the course several times), who thinks above all in terms of exposing students to important material, and to the complexity of historical circumstance, and the novice film-maker who is under the understandable mandate of producing a video that students will actually watch. All of the complexities of the discussion, which is a kind of wonderful dialectical back and forth between two historians trying to make sense of a complicated era, are lost if the audience for the film isn’t listening while watching. So, Ameer and I have been grappling with this question of how to use video as an engagement point, not a distraction, to produce videos that are as meaty as the lectures they are intended to replace, but hopefully will hold the attention of students in a … Continue reading

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A Sifendipity that turned into an activity

  September 28, 2014 , ,

This week I have been quite busy conducting interviews for my hybrid pedagogy promotion project, and one aspect that came up frequently during those interviews was my interviewee’s particular reservation against using the microblogging platform Twitter for pedagogical purposes. Most interviewees said they don’t (like to) use Twitter because it would sent their teaching into a tailspin, thereby making it more difficult to administer the students’ learning experience. I can certainly understand the attitude. Once we go hybrid with our pedagogy, we introduce additional spaces into the learning experience and it can become quite overwhelming not only to administer the content that students produce on Twitter, but also to use that content for assessment, not to mention that in every class there will be students who don’t use social media tools at all (at least that has been my experience so far). So, from that angle, I can surely understand how Twitter can be quite intimidating at first. However, a couple of days ago I found an email in my inbox from a research-sharing website which contained a paper on the rhetoric of hashtags by Daer, Hoffman, and Goodman, titled “Rhetorical functions of hashtag forms across social media applications,” and here I can certainly see the merit of using Twitter in the classroom for critical thinking exercises as well as for practicing analytical skills. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Twitter, hashtags are used to connect Twitter messages to larger conversations. Hashtags are words or unspaced phrases that … Continue reading

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Gather Around the Medicine Wheel

  September 28, 2014 ,

This week I have spent much of my time as a party planner for various events happening this month.  I was wondering how and why I find myself in this role so frequently, and I think it has much to do with my background as a geoscientist.  I know that might not sound very intuitive, geosciences and party planning, but when you think of the skill set (spatial thinkers that love spreadsheets) it kind of makes sense.  Couple my love for data sets and organization and my background in restaurants and bartending and you have yourself the ideal planner. One event that I am currently working on is closely linked with my thesis research and personal passion for urban agriculture in Atlanta:   This event is an important stepping stone to sustain a vibrant garden in southwest Atlanta and grow awareness around the value and possibilities these types of sites can have around the city.  Additionally, this group, along with others, will be coming to GSU once a month for a Farmer’s Market.  GSU’s Office of Sustainability and I are working in concert with many passionate student groups and departments to hopefully create a monthly (eventually weekly) market on campus that will connect GSU with the surrounding communities, while also providing local, nutritious food options for a urban campus that is surrounded primarily by less than healthy restaurant options.  This market shows the power of collaboration on campus and the determination of many invested folks to insist on more from … Continue reading