Tuesday, May 1, 2012

News, Numbers, Infographs, and Syria

When an image can provide information and news faster, it becomes an effective form of data communication.  We have all heard of the deaths in Syria and the protests, but when transformed into an image, much like a photo, the impact is stronger.  In the realm of numbers and journalism, it can be difficult to convey data to an ADHD audience, numbers becomes exactly that, numbers.  Journalism becomes ineffective when it loses the ability to draw an audience in, and it essentially loses all value in information.  Inforgraphics have been on the rise as it is able to convey meaning, information, and if created with skill, can be impactful. 

It's clique to say that an image can be worth a thousand words, but infographics can do more than a thousand words can do in an article sometimes. Note how the above infograph does not give the actual number of deaths, which is currently estimated 9000.  The infograph does however, provide an image of 9000 men, women, and children, the children are in red.  This communicates the level of destruction done to the people of Syria far better than any numbers given in an article.  


  1. This is a powerful way to represent the war and the atrocities. Thanks for posting. -- Sam

  2. I agree that this is a very interesting strategy, which combines the visual impact of an information graphic with the strong editorial message of a more traditional political cartoon. I actually posted this on my own Facebook status update page as an example of the great work that digital journalism students are doing.