Infographics

Everywhere I turn these days I'm bumping into info on infographics... or IGs

Infographics have long been used in mainstream media to convey complex information quickly - so how and where do they fit in VELS and the VCE, or the new Australian Curriculum for that matter?

Silvia Tolisano has some great ideas  on creating infographics with students and Kathy Schrock has an amazing collection of infographic links

Here's some of the references I've come across roughly sorted into:
 Articles - about infographics, how they're used and where they came from.
 Collections - sites that regularly feature examples of IGs.
 HowTos - practical guides on how to present data as an IG, or create graphics.
 Tools - suggestions on tools to use to create infographics.

Have you used or created infographics in the classroom?

Leave a comment, share your examples or experience.

Those of you who'd like to get really geeky about this should look up Edward Tufte.  One of the world's most respected authorities on information design.

Articles

The Do’s And Don’ts Of Infographic Design great article from Smashing mag. But then all smashingmags articles tagged IGs are worth a read if you need to get up to speed.

Why the infographic is the next Australian content trend

Informationgraphics in context

Three reasons to use infographics


Collections

( and where to share your infographics)

http://www.visualizing.org/

http://visual.ly/

http://www.coolinfographics.com/

http://www.infographicsshowcase.com

http://infosthetics.com

http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/

10 Beautiful Social Media Infographics


Also, don't forget the power of Google image search - search infographic and any topic of interest

eg. australian infographics or education infographics

Education examples

How to get better grades through social media

Coolinfographics features a bunch of education related IGs as do socrato with 10 edu infographics and Edtechtool with their edu IG collection


HowTos

Make Your Own Infographic


How to create outstanding modern infographics


How to create infographics


The anatomy of an infographic


From sketch to infographic - using Illustrator


How to make infographics with impact


How to create viral infographics that build backlinks


Infographics: How to Make Them Work Best


Huge Infographics Design Resources: Overview, Principles, Tips and Examples


Tools

Round up of free IG tools at makeuseof.com


Cross platform SVGs with SVGweb

Top 10 Free Tools To Create Visually Appealing Infographics Easily

Apps for creating IG resumes

ACEC2012 Call for Papers open now

Australian Computers in Education Conference

Call for Papers Now Open

abstract due 3 March 2012
full paper due 30 April 2012

ACEC2012 in Perth 2-5 October 2012

http://acec2012.acce.edu.au

ICT in the Australian Curriculum

For some time now educrats at ACARA have been working on a new Australian Curriculum.

English, Maths, Science and History were covered in Phase 1 and are pretty much done and dusted. Phase 2 is now underway looking deeply at Languages, Geography and The Arts. Phase 3 is set to cover design and technology, health and physical education, ICT, economics, business and civics and citizenship.

ICT competence is listed as a general capability along with literacy and numeracy. Let's be clear, this is a Good Thing. But is it enough?

Should ICT be a distinct learning area? Should it be included with Design and Technology under the general heading 'Technologies'? That's what seems to be under consideration at the moment.

The Australian Council for Computers in Education (ACCE) has just released a position paper and is seeking comments on their website.

http://acce.edu.au/nationalcurriculum


What do you think?

I think ICT is more like maths, arts and science than woodwork, cooking, jewellery making and textiles.

I do see a facet of the old 'trades' in ICT - there are profoundly technical hands-on elements to the body of knowledge encompassed in ICT technology. ICT certainly requires design and development skills and methods.

So maybe "Technologies" is right. But it doesn't feel right.

What about algorithmic or computational thinking? What about learning the basic skills needed to create ICT, not just use it?

ICT is not just about responding to a design brief - it's about dreaming the design in the first place. It's about making our lives easier and connecting us to each other. It's about solving problems using our brains, and getting machines to amplify, disseminate, sort and store our thoughts.

I know, I know. I'm probably just hopelessly idealistic and naive. But to me ICT seems very very different to woodworking, cooking and textiles.

Personal computers were only just being introduced when I was at school - now they are an integral part of all our lives.  I think we should all give some thought to the place of ICT in the new Australian Curriculum.

We should talk about it. Debate it.

Get involved.

geekgirl

DSC_2461 by Murray Wayper on Flickr

This geekgirl was at linux.conf.au earlier this year.

In the next few years she'll be turning up in someone's classroom.  Will that classroom be ready for her?