Natalie's Review:
I think that my group did a really good job of getting our information onto the graphic in a clean and attractive way. I definitely feel that our infographic is very C-R-A-Py. This is one of the things that we did very well: the organization and presentation of our infographic.  I think that we could have done a better job of communicating things amongst ourselves and getting things done in a timely manner. Next time, I would start researching our topic with my group a about a week before the visual is due. Though we did this individually, we had a hard time getting things done on time for the whole group because we were not working together when creating the infographics. This is because we divided the job up in three. Everyone in the group had to research one thing and create a visual with our findings. Though we completed these int he end, and were able to bring them all together on our final infographic, I feel that it would have been less stressful on all of us if we would have communicated a little more about our progress. 
Ten tips to effective infographics:
1.) Be concise: Try to represent your point through pictures/visuals more than you present it with your words. After a while, people are going to get tired of reading, so if you can get them to understand your point with a picture, this will be more interesting to them. 
2.) Be visual: Visuals catch a person's eye, so try to use pictures as your primordial means of presentation.
3.) Be smarter: Try to tell a story with your visual. If you can do this, you will have an effective infographic. 
4.) Be transparent: Tell the truth on your infographic. This is not the place to hide things or leave things out. Your should always put all of the most important information on your graphic. 
5.) Be different: Try to think of designs or visuals that other people have not thought of yet. Make it interesting and original. 
6.) Be accurate: Be sure that all of the facts that you put on the infograhic is correct. After seeing how professional your infographic is, people are going to believe the things on it, so make sure that the information you are feeding the public is true and accurate. 
7.) Be attractive: Though you want to use pictures as your primordial means of information, organize them in a neat way. You can't have too many or too little pictures on your infographic. You have to have a balance. Also, use attractive and bright colors or colors that mesh well. This will make your infographic pretty and enjoyable for other people to look at. 
8.)Be Varied: Use different kinds of graphics, use signs, and other kinds of visuals on your infographic, also, try to place the different visuals on your graphic in different locations to catch the reader's eye. This will catch their attention even more. 
9.)Be Gracious: Though you want to be concise with your information, you also want to give them enough information for them to know what is going on. Do this in a professional and kindly manner. 
10.) Be Creative: Try presenting your information in different types of ways like with cartoons or placing your visuals in way that they form the shape of something. Be creative with your information. 
I think that my group did really well in giving the public plenty of information and making the visual look organized and neat. I don't think we were as creative as we could have been. I think this had a lot to do with the fact that we did not have enough time to have fun with the graphic and we were trying to place our visuals together on one whole infographic in the neatest and most professional way that we could. 

Matthew Scuderi
Gina Dukes
Alex Brown
USH: American History - Libby, Montana Asbestos Crisis

This is a info-graphic that we created about the manmade disaster that took place in Libby, Montana. 

Matthew Scuderi's Reflection: 

Researching the Libby, Montana asbestos crisis was a very easy aspect of the project. We were all able to easily find multiple resources and learn lots of helpful information that was necessary and crucial to our info-graphic. By each of us working together to research various aspects of the Libby, Montana asbestos crisis, we were able to collaboratively combine our information into the info-graphic. The project ran smoothly and was not a rush of work at all, given the allotted time. There were times when some members would do work and others would slack off. In other times there were things that one member would expect something from another and it would not be there because he/she did not do what they claimed they would get done. It was also difficult to get the info-graphic in a large file given that we had done it in a regular sized first. We had to cram in the revision of the info-graphic so that it would fit into the large file within two days. Next time I would definitely set up a google doc or some form of communication so that each member would know what they have to research specifically. I would also include more visuals and visual representations. 

I think that my group and I were very concise with information, visual with the info-graphic, accurate with the information gathered and presented, and varied and creative with the visual. My group and I were exceptionally accurate, concise, smart, different, creative, and varied with the info-graphic and it's information. I think that we did excellent with all that we put into our info-graphic. However, we could have been a lot more visual I think and could have made the info-graphic more attractive rather than having a simple white background. There is a lot of room for improvement, but I believe that we did excellent overall. Elements such as being creative at the least and including accurate and various chunks of information was easy because they are and were things that we all have/had. It was tough making the info-graphic attractive and different because our ideas were centered around info-graphics that people would normally see rather than something outlandish and different. 

Group 7:
​Vichhay Roeung
Nikhail
Semaj


http://tinyurl.com/3ow2gev

Our project focused on the PCB Poisoning in Anniston, Alabama, that were caused by the chemical corporate giant Monsanto. For years corporate giant Monsanto have been dumping the toxic chemical (PCB) into the surrounding environment of Anniston. Infecting the citizens of Anniston’s livestock, food source, and water supply. Creating hazardous environmental issues the city of Anniston.  

 

During the project, the things that went well were the research aspects of the project. As there was a lot of information, most not so useful but still good background information to complete the story of the disaster. What did not go well was the amount of group collaboration as the final product was completed with only one member’s part of the project. What I would do differently is have better group collaboration and punishment for incomplete parts of a group member.

 

Be Concise - 9

Be Visual - 8

Be Smarter - 8

Be Transparent - 7

Be Different - 6

Be Accurate - 9

Be Attractive - 8

Be Varied - 6

Be Gracious - 7

Be Creative - 7         

TJ Nicolella, Emma Hersh, Nailah Adam
 click picture below to see it larger

Born from the islands 

The ocean drowned in her tongue 

She be my grandma 

Before and afters of pictures I took!

Some pictures I thought were cool:

What went well?
Our group worked really well together. We all did our share and kept our word during this project. There were no moments during the process where one person was holding the group up because of incomplete work. We all did research outside of class and we all produced quality work that resulted in a great poster.

What did not?
Honestly, I can not think of anything that did not go well. Although I ended up doing the actual construction of the poster visually, we all contributed and I did not mind to put in a little extra work out of class. We got our stuff done on time and did not have any issues.

What would you do differently next time?
Next time, I would spend more time trying to get the sizing of the text and pictures right. It was really difficult to visualize when putting together. Usually, an 8.5x11 piece of paper is simple to see printed because it is generally the size of our computer screen. When working with something feet long, it was much harder to actually think about how large each word would be. Next time, I would spend more time thinking about this so that it prints perfectly.

10 infographic tips
I think our group was very good at being concise; we spent a long time making sure our information was clear, to the point, and supported one idea the whole way through. As well as visual; we spent a long time making our chart visually appealing and using primary sources to make it further visual. We were different because we used a layout of a reactor and stars indicating faulty areas to represent what happened in the meltdown as well as using newspaper articles and comics from the time to help display the overall point. We were accurate by using all accurate information and using a layout of a reactor that has all to scale parts. This helped demonstrate how little or big each fault was to the machine. We were varied because we used a picture of the reactor as our background and used pictures and bubble to make it look interesting.
We could have worked harder at being 'smarter,' attractive, and creative because we used a lot of text in our infographic that could have been demonstrated in other ways. We also could have worked more at being transparent. Although we had many primary sources and took down all cites used, in the end we did not include this to our infographic because of lack of time to make proper citations.

What went well?

Our group was really easy to work with. Everyone was ready to take on the task. Everyone carried there weight.

What didn't go well?

​We had to start the project over because we didn't have the requirements for the infographic. I mean all the information I found is useful, but the we had to focus more on the government aspect and the aftermath. 

What would you do differently next time?

I would reread what the assignment again. My group went off track with what the Ms. Laufenburg asked of us. I would be more visual because I don't think we followed the directions still even though we started. 

Group Members: Dylan Lonergan, Kabbour Rizq, Rick Kinard

I don't even understand these odd formatting things that the blog post does.  The new/actual infographic is actually BENEATH the reflection, and I have no idea how to rearrange it.  It's confusing.


New/Actual Infograph

Sources




Old




Reflection

a. What went well? 
Ignoring the old what-ever-that is, I think the final infographic went pretty well, in terms of being pretty and also being an actual infographic.  I'll be the first to admit it doesn't really compare to the other ones we've got sitting around on the blog, but I like it at least.

b. What did not?
I'm not even going to lie, the old infographic was:
1) Not an infographic
2) Horribly rushed and pushed out at practically the last minute
3) Lacks any sort of cohesion or meaning
4) Not an infographic
For those reasons and after seeing everyone else's, we decided to create another infographic in the same day, the new one.  The old one is still there for posterity and my own desire not to attempt to hide our enormous failure of a project.  This is what a good historian should do, not try changing history or covering it up.

c. What would you do differently next time? 
My biggest issue with this entire project was that there was a certain lack of communication between group members, which led to a certain part of this project being pushed out at literally the last minute.  So, yes, I suppose what would be done differently would be taking synergy to the tenth power.


d. Specifically comment on the 10 tips for effective infographics -

Be Concise, Be Visual, Be Smarter, Be Transparent, Be Different, Be Accurate, Be Attractive, Be Varied, Be Gracious, Be Creative

Which of these areas did you excel in? Which were not so well represented? Why do you think some elements of design were easier or harder to include in the end product?

Speaking entirely of the new one, I'd say it's pretty concise.  A few images to show exactly what's up, text that elaborates upon those things, and a pretty little triangle with the title in the middle, all on a small pages document.  I suppose it's visual, quite a few images.  Not as many as on the non-infographic, and the amount of images is exactly equal to the number of text boxes (excluding the title).  Looking at our new infographic in comparison to the old cluster of images, I'm thinking that's a whole lot smarter now.  The information is quite clearly spelled out and depicted as best as we could possibly depict these things.  We're not particularly transparent; I now realize we've provided sources for our images but not sources for our data.  What a shame.  We're not very different, it's a pretty run-of-the-mill infographic.  That's one of the harder parts, really; seems like everything's been done.    There wasn't much room for accuracy in terms of scale, though I suppose the oil image being the largest image on the page is SYMBOLISM of some kind.  I just made that up right now though.  Sorry.  I suppose it's pretty attractive in a simple sort of way.  Doesn't seem particularly varied.  We're somewhat gracious in this.  Though it's not on the image, our (image) sources are linked in this blog and our names are mentioned.  I certainly hope it's creative.  It looks pretty at least.  I hope.  I think.



Rick's Reflection

What went well?  we collaborated pretty well we stayed on top of each other and made sure everyone did their part

What did not? the final project was rushed even thought we had all the work we put it together horribly

What would you do differently next time? even thought we made sure everyone was doing their part we had very little communication

Specifically comment on the 10 tips for effective infographics we had some very nice pictures and information to go with it it didn't really look like and inforgraph in a way which was pretty thrown off but when we redid it.. i found it to be pretty amazing and on point

Reflection:
a. During our project, we found an amazing site: Love Canal Database. In it, there were fantastic pictures. The majority of the pictures on our inforgraphic were from that site. We also learned a lot about this disaster and we were able to explain it extremely well.
b. The issue we had as a group was explaining the disaster in only pictures, it was challenging to organize an aesthetically pleasing poster while still completing all the components.
c. Next time, I'd take more time to organize the poster to explain the who, what, where, when and how with pictures.
d.
Be Concise- We used a lot of pictures to explain the background.
Be Visual- We used a lot of pictures, but we also used words.
Be Smarter- We were smarter considering that we were the ones that knew about he topic and were showing it to other people who'd never heard of it.
Be Transparent-Since I don't know what this means, we probably weren't.
Be Different-We weren't that different.
Be Accurate- We were accurate.
Be Attractive-It could have been more orderly.
Be Varied- We only used pictures. The only variety is the graphic demonstration Thea made.
Be Gracious- We treated this topic with respect and didn't present it as a joke.
Be Creative- We could have been more creative.

Sometimes, it's hard to consider all of these and still tell the story well enough. It's challenging finding the perfect pictures and the perfect spot for those pictures.

During this project, we researched the happenings and government’s response to the Tennessee Coal Ash Spill. What went well in our group’s project was our ability to work together with one another despite some group members being absent, our ability to convey the understanding of the project in one simple sheet and in terms that were relatively easy to understand and were relatable.

While we wanted to have some more graphic-oriented information about the spill, we did not want to copy the New York Times’ infographic about the spill. As a result, the scientific explanations were explained in words rather than visually.

In the future, I would be sure that the project had more concrete data that could be visually represented on the chart. For example, a better way of explaining the amount of sludge could have been to list dots for a certain amount of sludge, followed by boxing some areas with the respective sizes of buildings. 

Overall, I feel as though our group did well in the areas of being concise, transparent, accurate, attractive, gracious, and creative. The areas that could’ve been improved include being visual, different, and varied. These were the harder tips to incorporate due to the fact that very little numerical data (for the effects of the spill) were able to be found. In addition, since our team did not have access to many graphics-making software (such as OmniGraffle), we were not able to produce a graphic that was as visually appealing as we had originally planned.

A. Respuestas Breves

1)    ¿Qué pasa con Gómez?

2)    ¿Quién es Rachel?

3)    ¿Está interesado Martín en Hortensia?

4)    ¿Cocina bien Carmen?

5)    ¿Donde decide trabajar Carmen?

6)    ¿Qué noticias (news) tiene Yolanda?

7)    ¿Te gustó la película? ¿Por que sí? o ¿Por qué no?

B. Cierto o Falso

1)    Maribel y Andy se casan (get married).

2)    Carmen se va a Barcelona.

3)    Martin vende (sells) la casa para iniciar una nueva vida.

So I was at my house just relaxing and all of a sudden my internet goes out. I think its fine and then if i restart my router it'll work but i look at the wifi symbol and I isn't even on. Turns out my airport card crashed and I have to wait until monday to get it done. This is ridiculious. It is going to be extremely hard to work now period wih the 5 foot ethernet cable that I have. *sigh*

A. Respuestas Breves

1)    ¿Quién le escribe poemas a Leticia? (adivina quién es – guess who it is)

2)    ¿Dónde quiere vivir Carmen?

3)    ¿De dónde es Andy?

4)    ¿Está interesada Leticia en Orlando (el entrenedor de beísbol)?

B. Cierto o Falso

1)    A Martín le gusta correr.

2)    Orlando le escribió los poemas a Leticia.

Good begining, bad ending smh. I never do anything right :/

Sculpture:


Here are the photos that I edited and copies of the original

Original:


Edited:






Original:


Edited:


Original:


Edited:


Copied Artwork from an Artist:
I copied a work from Mark Rothko 

Original


My Copy


Bike Drawings

Line:


Negative Space:


Shadow: 


Artists Statement: 

I think that this marking period was fun and challenging as far as the work we were assigned. The first two projects, which were the sculpture and the pictures, were the most fun and easy for me. For the sculpture I made beads out of paper and threaded them to make a necklace. I was inspired to do this by a project that I did in BuildOn were we made the same beads. I think its a good project because it is eco friendly, you are reusing the paper. The pictures that I used where taken when I was in the Dominican Republic. I think that the originals were cool but the editing added a different touch to them. The bicycle drawings were the hardest for me. They werent as free form as the others. At first I never thought I would be able to complete the bicycles because they seemed very taunting. I am proud that I was able to draw them and hope I continue to improve on my still life drawings. 

Today I was sick still. I didn't want to come to school, I felt like crap, I still do. But I knew if I missed any more Calc I would really be failing. So I dragged my ass out of bed and went to school. I bought like thee oranges and two plain yogurts cause apparently that's good for your immune system? After school I just wanted to go home, but I still couldn't because my brother was home picking up some of his stuff for the new place he's moving into. So I stayed in poetry for about two and a half hours before finally going home, and taking a two hour nap. I'm now doing my school work, trying to knock it out before 11 and then go back to sleep.

You guys are going to love this music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHV04eSGzAA

...The gate way to imagination...starts with one line...

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