1. This diagram from the Wired Science website shows the movement of glaciers in Patagonia and the reduced erosion they cause under lower temperatures—however, it took me a few minutes to decipher even that much, as the diagram is heavy with technical jargon. The pictures themselves are also similar, so it was hard to tell what exactly the diagram is supposed to show us. Perhaps the average reader of Wired Science is able to tell right off the bat what meaning this is supposed to carry, but for me, I would at least need an accompanying text piece to grasp the significance of what I’m seeing in the diagram. It does attempt to convey an active process of tectonic movement with the arrows.
http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2010/09/Nature-Glacier-diagram.jpg
2. I thought this diagram by Stacey Schutzman in the Columbia Missourian was a novel one: it shows the step-by-step simplified process of how potholes form in the road. It is easy to read, does not contain too many distracting colors or details, uses clear and simplified language rather than nuanced terms and jargon, and shows an active process of the way water moves through the pavement and the resulting cave-in. This graphic could stand alone as a story in itself, but I can also see why they would use this to complement the story on potholes in Columbia. http://www.columbiamissourian.com/multimedia/graphic/2011/02/08/how-do-potholes-form/
3. My vehicle has been giving my problems lately, and it made me think of those confusing (to me) diagrams they show in car manuals that require you to at least know all the parts and their functions before you can even begin to figure out what to do with them, or what they’re not doing and should be. So I went to freeautomechanic.com and found this diagram showing a basic air conditioning system to illustrate my point. This actually isn’t the worst diagram in terms of complexity, but it still uses quite a bit of technical terms, and I wasn’t quite sure where to start. I realize I am showing my ignorance here, but if the idea is to communicate information to anyone, they have to assume that they should also be talking to the ignorant, I think. It does give me a basic idea of how refrigeration works, as in the process it goes through, without telling me exactly how it works. For example, I still don’t understand how the high pressure liquid changes to a low pressure liquid when it comes to the expansion valve, only that it does. Maybe this information requires a separate article, or even a separate course, for that matter.
http://www.freeautomechanic.com/airconditioning.html
4. I think this diagram from Geek Tyrant is possibly my favorite: It’s immediately recognizable what it is conveying, and it’s entertaining. The designer used a Venn diagram to show the differences and similarities between those three often-confused monsters — robots, zombies and aliens. I would say this is a passive diagram, since it does not show an active process, but rather a static set of characteristics. The illustration is simple enough that it is not distracting, having only three circles and shaded portions. It is able to stand alone, but as a humorous form of explanation only, and not as a story in and of itself.
http://geektyrant.com/news/2011/2/4/zombies-robots-and-aliens-venn-diagram.html
5. Another one using the same humor tactic to display information comes from The Huffington Post. This Venn diagram shows the qualifications of those people who “Get Paid to Touch Your Junk,” namely, doctors, prostitutes and Transportation Security Administration agents. Like the monsters diagram, this one also shows a static set of traits and compares and contrasts a set of three different categories using the overlapping circles of a Venn diagram.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/27/touch-junk-venn-diagram_n_801531.html
No comments:
Post a Comment