Visual Journalism - Data For The Masses

Source: Jer Thorp, blprnt

Journalism, as a form of news reporting and information intake, is barely recognizable compared to 20 years ago. Through microblogging, smartphones, tweeting, and cable TV, journalism has metamorphosed about as radically as any other form of communication. Media outlets have become personal, immediate, and varied. Public interest consequently has grown, in pursuing the 2012 election or in watching the viral Kony 2012 video. Most contemporary news sources now fall into the emerging category of "visual journalism."

Visual journalism is more than photography, more than examining fonts for a masthead. A stuffy definition of "news design" refers to page layouts and captions. In reality, it encompasses graphic displays, interactive media, and data representations to present information in illuminating ways. There is even a Society for News Design, with the mission "to enhance communication around the world through excellence in visual journalism."

Source: Society for News Design

The popularity of visual news sources, such as Newsmap and Doodlebuzz, and the success of graphic readers, such as Flipboard and Pinterest, all point to the importance of visual journalism in our media literacy curriculum. Even the scrolling nature of Twitter feeds and the never-ended redesign of Facebook's layout reinforce the power of visual appeal. Our students use all of these news sources, and it's important to help them make sense of their sensory inputs. Image-based news sources also appeal to kids' visual learning styles and their quick-hitting, multi-tasking habits.

In a November TEDxVancouver talk, artist and educator Jer Thorp offers compelling reasons for telling news stories with data. Currently the Data Artist in Residence at The New York Times, Thorp has been responsible for fascinating illustrations and software codes for a host of leading publications. We've written before about the excellence of New York Times infographics. Visual.ly recently posted this TED talk with a great summary of Thorp's work. In "The Weight of Data," Thorp stresses the need for putting "data in a human context" and building "empathy" through news visualizations:



O'Reilly Radar recently presented an interesting series on the "Profile of the Data Journalist." The feature about "The Visualizer" describes the multi-layered job of a data-driven reporter. The Society for News Design also offers a loaded page of "Tools for News" to help aspiring visual journalists. Another resource for students and professionals is the "Visual Editors" ning, describing itself as "the classroom for visual journalism." Some universities, too, are also beginning to offer courses in news design to students of new media.

Redesigning The GMAT

Two weeks ago, the education section in The New York Times highlighted the upcoming changes to the GMAT business school admissions test. Starting in June, the exam will replace one of its essay responses with a new section focused on multi-source reasoning and graphic interpretation. Apparently, business school professors were asked what skills are not being addressed by the GMAT that are the most pressing in the current business world. The answer was data interpretation and visual analysis.

Source: The New York Times

If graduate-level tests are racing to catch up to the urgency of graphicacy, then why we can't we give our future entrepreneurs a head start? We can begin financial literacy and visual literacy in the earliest grades. We can integrate financial and graphic lessons into our daily classrooms with the simplest of charts, graphs, and tables. And maybe one day our students will use these tools in business school and beyond to nurture ingenuity and innovation.

Signs Of The Times

The New York Times frequently features excellent graphics in its news analysis. Its explanations of the Fukushima plant disaster helped educate readers about nuclear science and radiation risk. Its maps and political charts regularly add insights to daily issues under discussion. Online, the New York Times site offers interactive graphics about topics such as immigration changes or Netflix queues or Olympic medals. In the Op-Ed pages, regular contributor Charles M. Blow delivers astute commentary through his “Op Chart” column.

Source: The New York Times

We find all of these infographics catchy and appealing, and our students do, too. They are a great way to highlight discussions of current events in the classroom. They help make difficult news and economic concepts more approachable.