A great and vibrant language

getting the message across

"Mir hunn eng flott a lieweg Sprooch a mir kënnen zu Recht houfreg drop sinn"

"We have a great and vibrant language and we can rightly be proud"

(Claude Meisch, Luxembourg's education minister on schreiwen.lu and through Google Translate)

The linguistic ability of the people of Luxembourg is remarkable. Not only do many communicate fluently in French, German, English and frequently in other languages as well, but none of those is their native language. Now the government is taking measures to ensure that Luxembourgish remains strong. One of their weapons is a campaign of infographics such as this video which reassures speakers that there is often more than one acceptable spelling for words.

so what exactly is an infographic?

Our Middle School students are learning to use infographics and I have been seeking a definition which makes clear to them and their teachers what is unique about this form of communication.

The name suggests that it is a:

"visual representation of information or data" (Google Search definition)

But a photo or diagram might serve that purpose and there is more to good infographics which:

"present large amounts of data meaningfully" (Kathy Schrock in this video)

So it does something that ordinary text or an image on its own can not.

Could it even do this?

"Convey a message in such a way that context, meaning and understanding are transcended to the observer in a manner not previously experienced" (Anders Ross on instantshift.com)

[caption id="attachment_142" align="alignright" width="255"] Hot Butter Studio[/caption]

It is important that an infographic does something different from a mere poster or an essay, because otherwise why would you go to the trouble? Data is a particular mode of expressing information objectively and a good infographic will answer particular questions better than other media.

After I have explained to my students what I think an infographic is, I show them this one (right) which uses only eight words to say it better than I could in five minutes of verbosity.

I suggest that the students think of types of information in four categories:

• 
  

  facts

  
  


• 
  

  statistics

  
  


• 
  

  location

  
  


• 
  

  time and date

  
  

I show them examples, both good and bad, of different ways of displaying information depending on its category including:

• 
  

  images, icons, illustrations

  
  


• 
  

  graphs and charts

  
  


• 
  

  maps

  
  


• 
  

  timelines and processes

  
  

[caption id="attachment_144" align="alignleft" width="428"] CoETaIL graduate Reid Wilson knocks it out of the park[/caption]

We observe, however, that most infographics combine more than one type of information and display.

In the examples I show to the students, we recognise some of the rules of design such as CARP. On the one hand, we understand that these are very helpful in terms of serving the audience, but on the other, we agree that they are not laws and are frequently broken with impunity by people who understand them.

As their educational technology coach, I want to help our teachers to guide the students to make the best infographic they can. My colleague and I have adapted an existing rubric which we have been using, but for some time, I have wanted to develop new guidelines to help students to do their best work.

While most excellent infographics combine text and image, they are neither simply a colourful essay, nor just a descriptive picture. They are more than either of those.

how do i make an excellent infographic?

Rubrics are very hard to get right. The style I prefer has a small number of categories which overlap as little as possible. The IB Theory of Knowledge course assesses student work using 'global impression marking' which recognises that a rubric

"is not a checklist, ...levels of performance are not discrete... and there are always exceptions".

In other words, however comprehensive the rubric, in the end the professional judgement of a teacher is the final arbiter. For this reason, I prefer to keep them short and spend my time on giving written feedback alongside the grade.

For an infographic rubric, I am considering three domains which cover the facts (INFO); the visuals (GRAPHICS); and how they work together to present the message (INFOGRAPHIC). I have often worked with four-point achievement scales which I find give sufficient levels (and an even number forces a judgement, preventing one from sitting comfortably on the fence).

For extra inspiration, the best resource on infographics rubrics is this one where a teacher had her classes brainstorm characteristics of their favourite infographics and the hive-mind came up with a comprehensive list which I have borrowed liberally from to create my own rubric.

does the rubric work?

Last week, I was on the London Underground and saw this very attractive infographic (right). Interestingly there are no sources given for the information nor the images. I found the artist's website (it took him five weeks to draw the infographic - with a mouse). The information could be regarded as common knowledge and not requiring sources, but the presentation is exceptionally good. It passed every criterion on my rubric.