One of the things I’m tossing around for improving the accessibility of the research the scholars at my office is to start working with them to develop infographics to accompany the papers they produce. Although the process has gone more the direction of “I’ll do all the work and produce this graphic using your paper,” due to several combining factors, looking around for inspiration has gone pretty well. In particular, I’ve been impressed with what al-Jazeera has been putting out as of late.
The first, from back in November, did a great job of explaining what seems to be an unnecessarily obfuscated electoral process.
Yesterday, in a bit of a shift for organizing the graphic, in line with a Powerpoint presentation moreso than a traditional web infographic, al-Jazeera explores a few aspects of the on-going realities in Iraq.
I’d say that the slideshow provides a useful separation between what are presented (except civilian v troop casualties) as disconnected snapshots. That said, the whole of the object looses something of it’s simplistic force, precisely because it appears as staccato research, rather than a considered message.