4 Stages of an Infographic

1. Decide on a question of interest.
2. Data manipulation
   • sorting and deleting rows to isolate groups of interest
   • “countif” function to count the # belonging to each category
3. Data presentation — generate a map, pie chart or graph
4. Data explanation — add words, arrows, color to clearly communicate the story you want to tell.

Your choice of question will be limited by the data available. But even with a data set like ours, with four columns, there are a LOT of ways you can slice that data:

• By isolating one group (just CGS students, or just kids from LA), you can tell a story about who those people are, or where they come from .
• By isolating two groups and setting them in contrast, you can tell a story about how, say, people in West Campus differ from people in East, or how people from the coasts differ from people in the middle of the country.

Above all, be creative. Come up with a question and a way of slicing the data that speaks to your interests and that’s different from what other people in your section are doing.

For class today, download the new dataset (with state and zip codes) and start work on your infographic. At the very least, I want you to complete stage 1 (above) and paste your question of interest into the Comments below. But if possible, start work on data manipulation (stage 2) and presentation (stage 3). Extra HW credit for generating a graphic and uploading it in a reply to your first comment.

Sites of interest for Stage 3:

• Graphs/Charts: piktochart
• Maps: OpenHeatMap | TargetMap

We will discuss these sites in class.

Note that I have to leave town Thursday for a family funeral. So there will be no class on Friday. If you want to see me for office hours, come in on Wednesday!