Ten minutes into watching “Journalism in the Age of Data” I realized
1- why you are making us watch this
2- I want to make my info graphic into a motion info graphic.
It was very interesting to see how far visual aesthetics and the visualizing data has come over the past few years. I would say decades, but it seems to me that in the past couple of years things have changed so drastically. People are thinking outside the box and working hard at getting as far away from the norm as possible.
The use of modern visualization is inspirational. It has taken boring data and made it interesting. It gives you a chance to look at things again even if it is information you already know. Honestly I would never look into unemployment rates if they were stacked up in a table, but I think I would be more prone to exploring it in a more visual and interactive display as was shown. It allows you to go deeper into the subject, it is more enticing and exciting.
My favorite use of visual data as shown in this documentary was the MTV related twitter analysis. It gives you a clear idea visually on what you are looking at and helps you understand trending topics ( Taylor Swift and Kanye West scenario). — How else would you know who the asshole is!!!–.
I didn’t realize Visual Data Specialist was even a thing until I saw this, and I must admit.. I’m intrigued!!!! I think I would like to be that person, working with data, trying to make general information that is available to everyone more interesting, more attractive and more visually pleasing. As much as print can tell a story visually, it has nothing on VIDEO.. Making a motion info graphic allows you to hear the story as well as see it 🙂
It is time everyone got on board, because this is not going away ever.. Unless we manage to somehow come up with something better..