5 Diagrams

This diagram ran in Publico from Spain. It shows how Spain spends its money. Even though I'm not fluent in Spanish I can still understand what the graphic is trying to display and I think they do it very effectively with the two hands at the top and bottom and then with the break off of different sources coming off from the main source.

This is an interactive diagram in the New York Times, showing each shot Tiger Woods took on the 15th hole during the US Open. As someone who thinks golf is a pretty boring sport to watch, I enjoyed this graphic because I could rotate the ground to get different perspectives. I would consider this an active diagram. I guess this would be an effective graphic for gold fans, but probably wouldn't interest too many other people.

This is a mixture of passive diagram and chart picked up by the Guardian. It shows the rising sea levels and which cities they will affect, and it shows which ice sheets are contributing to the rising levels. One meter doesn't sound like a lot of water, but when it is shown like this, it is a bit more alarming. It's also alarming to see how many major cities fall within that one meter increase. I like that the cities are a silhouette because we can see what city they're talking about without being distracted and the gradient blue helps show the danger areas easier. This issue is definitely relevant to today.

This passive diagram is from the National Post and is about the intricacies of the Berlin Wall. I thought I knew a lot about the Berlin Wall, but this graphic shows details I've never heard about, such as the Death Strip. I think this is a passive diagram. It is definitely effective in showing the detail and work put into the Berlin Wall and the seriousness of the situation. This graphic ran during the anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down and therefore is relevant for a news publication.

This diagram is from National Geographic. I think it is a active diagram because it gives more information when you click on the different levels. It shows the different layers of the underground in New York. The additional information is really nice. For example in the first level you learn that in order for workers to dig, they must rely on new and old maps to make sure they don't hit anything that could cost millions to fix and knock out power/water to hundreds of people. As far as I could tell, this was a stand alone graphic, but would compliment a story about New York's underground well. I think this is a very effective graphic.

5 Interactive Graphics

This graphic by Jeff Glick and Kent Travis is from The Tennessean. It starts out as a video explaining funding for higher education. After the video you can click on different groups of people to see how budget cuts could affect them. I felt like some of the graphics within the video are unnecessary and seem corny, but the overall video seems effective in giving information. This would be a non-linear graphic since it doesn't have to follow a certain order.

If you've never been to Nashville, then you might not realize how funny/relevant this graphic is. Just about everyone is trying to get a record deal. This graphic by Jeff Glick and Kent Travis from The Tennessean, allows the reader to click on a tuning peg from the guitar and find out more about that process of signing a deal. There is also audio throughout that helps guide the reader and after you find out about the type of deal there is a pro's and con's list that gives even more information. This would also be a non-linear graphic since the reader can choose what order they want to view the graphic in. I think the poor quality of the audio detracts from the graphic. Also the illustrations within the graphic get a little silly as well.

This interactive graphic from Sky News shows the skeleton of monkey that has human characteristics. When you scroll over an area, a pop-up gives more information. I think this graphic is extremely underwhelming and the interactive aspect is unnecessary. This would be a non-linear graphic. The only nice part about the graphic is the extra info that pops up when you scroll has enlarged pictures of the bones.

This interactive timeline by Elisabeth Goodridge and Jason DeParle is from the New York Times and shows the history behind food stamps. This would be an example of a linear graphic since the reader is suppose to follow the timeline to figure out what happens next, but the reader also has control of where they want to scroll. Since there is so much information in this graphic, I think making interactive was a good choice. It organizes the information so the reader doesn't feel overwhelmed.

This interactive graphic is from the New York Times and was created by Graham Roberts and Bill Marsh. It shows how St. Vincent's Hospital accidently killed a man with too much radiation. I really like that the first couple graphics show a procedure I've never seen before. I feel like the slides towards the end get a bit redundant and could have been consolidated. Also there isn't much actual interacting with the piece except hitting the next button. Just because the graphic is animated doesn't mean I'm interacting with it. The graphic is linear.

Critique 3

This graphic is from the Missourian. One strength of this graphic is the information it provides. I really like seeing the changing temperatures throughout the month. It took me a little while to understand the graphic. I wish the yellow boxes were just another line. It's a little confusing mixing a bar graph with a line graph.

This graphic is from the New York Times. When I first opened the page I made my window bigger thinking I had cut off the map and then I realized it was just the graphic. I wish they had included the whole states on the side and just ended the map after the state. The map doesn't give a lot of information about the locations they chose. This would be a good interactive graphic if you could click on each location and find out more information.

5 Maps

1) This is an interactive map I found linked from multiple stories. It's by Gallup.com and the graphic package is called "State of the States." There are three different interactive maps. The political map shows party affiliation, ideology, and approval of Obama. The second map is about business and shows economic confidence, job creation, employer hiring/firing, and standard of living satisfaction. The third map is on well-being and rates the states on overall well-being, life evaluation, emotional health, physical health, healthy behavior, work environment, and basic access. Each map is accompanied by a table and bar graph and when you click on a state from the map, the table will highlight that state to show it's specific numbers. I really like that this map is in depth and has a lot of information, but at the same time it is not boring and is organized well. Each graphic provides a different view of the information and together they enhance each other. I also liked that the interactive page did not take long to load. That was a problem I ran into with some of my other graphics. Since this is a map of the US, it easily illustrates location and gives enough context for the reader to understand all the data involved.

2) The Tennessean is my local paper at home and I usual am not very impressed by their website, but I found this package they put together about cancer and it has a really great interactive graphic to go along with it. The package begins with this quote to bring the reader in and explain why the graphic is important. "Tennesseans die of cancer at the fifth highest rate in the nation, mostly because of the way they live. Doctor's say quitting smoking and earlier detection would save lives." The map breaks down Tennessee into counties and when you scroll across the county it gives you numbers on how many people were diagnosed with cancer, how many died, and then a breakdown of lung, breast, colorectal, and prostate cancers. I really like that this map loads quick, is easy to use and doesn't give too much information at once. I really would have liked to see the economic breakdown of each county as well to see if wealth plays a role in deaths, especially when there is an extreme economic difference between some counties. The map shows accurate locations.

3) This was a Chicago Tribune fail. They have a whole section of their website devoted to Black History Month and there are a lot of really good articles and then there is this graphic, which brings the whole section down. They could have created a really interesting/interactive map, but instead they just created a google map with points of interest. The map is not interesting and the blurbs about each place look like something copy and pasted from wikipedia. The only reason this map would be helpful is if you were planning on taking a road trip to all these places because you can conveniently just plug in your address at the bottom and get directions! (note sarcasm). It is really sad that this is the best they could come up with. It does communicate location effectively though.

4) This is a map from the Columbia Missourian that shows higher education funding throughout the US. I really like that this map gives me two pieces of information without overwhelming me. The color shows the range of funding for each state and the lines show which states raised funding. I'm always interested in why some states give significantly more or less so I would have liked to see maybe the number of public higher ed. institutions in each state. The map definitely communicates the location effectively.

5) This is an interactive world map from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics website. The first thing I liked about this map was the scroll bar about the map that goes all the way back to the 1924 Winter Olympics and each year has its own map with the metal numbers from that year. When you scroll over the points on the map it gives you the number of medals that country won. The one negative thing about this map is that it requires the reader to install JavaFX and then it loads slow. I really don't like interactive graphics that aren't supported by all browsers and require an installation. Most readers by that time will have left the website because they don't want to download a new program and they don't want to take the time. I do think the map gives enough context and effectively communicates a location.

5 Charts

This is a chart I found from the Virginian-Pilot about foreclosures in Hampton Roads. With the news of foreclosures falling 10% in January, there were about 97 new stories out on GoogleNews from sources around the nation. I viewed at least half of those sources and this is the only chart I could find. I was surprised that for such a large issue no one would take the time to show readers the changing foreclosure rate over time. I would have liked to see at least half of 2008 added to the graph to show the comparison of what the housing market was life before it crashed. It is also interesting that RealtyTrac changed the way they report foreclosures now, not including any first stage defaults. I definitely think this graph could stand alone and does a good job giving information to the local community.


This is a chart from the Wall Street Journal regarding a study on a heart procedure found unnecessary by a government funded research group and how their findings effected the use of the procedure. This is an important chart because the procedure is covered by insurance companies. I think the chart's greatest strength is that it uses a scale that doesn't try to skew the numbers. When the news came out about the findings, the procedure's use dropped only 13%, which is a significant amount in a short period of time, but at the same time isn't a huge percentage. I'm glad they chose to show its usage over time, which is the best way to present this information and definitely enhances the story. I don't think this chart could stand alone because it doesn't explain what the Courage Study is and why it is significant.



This chart is from USA Today and is about the decrease in communities installing red light cameras. A weakness of this graphic is that it doesn't give enough context. I want to know why the y-scale goes about 100%. Also the story gives good information on the drop in dangerous t-bone crashes and the rise in not-so-dangerous rear-end crashes. I would have like to see additional graphics on these stats because I feel they are an important element in the story. I feel like the graphic adds to the story but could not be published alone.


This chart from the Columbia Missourian and is about proposed changes to electric rates in either the state of Missouri or Columbia. The problem with this is that it is not with a story on the website that I could find and there isn't enough context in the graphic to explain where or when this could go into effect. Also if the Large Transmission category only shows one consumer then the graph is skewed because it looks like residential is having to pay the difference for that one consumer to have a decrease. This graph should not have run alone because it give enough information about the topic.



This chart is something goofy I found from a personal blog. It charts what the media was reporting on the day Britney went into the Hospital. The first thing I would add is the date of her hospital visit because I think she went to the hospital more than once. I also think I would have done this in a bar graph. If the blogger only poled their favorite sources we would have no idea. It would show more objectivity to have a bar graph and show how many sources were reporting on each topic. This graphic does a good job of standing alone if you know anything about pop culture and Britney's troubled past.

Week two: Comparison on Toyota graphics

When I saw the Missourian's graphic that ran on February 4th, by Manu Bhandari and Joe Bradley, on the Toyota pedal recall I was really impressed and decided to find out how other sources handled the issue. It was surprising how few graphics I found and the lack of detail in them. Here is the one we ran in the Missourian:

The strengths in this piece are definitely organization. There is so much information in this graphic but the direction arrow around the pedal with the numbers organizes the information so that nothing gets lost. The timeline under the main graphic is also helpful and easy to follow. The only thing I was a little confused about was the box on the side that says "Affected Models" and then it includes all Toyota models but * the ones that were affected. Why include the cars that weren't affected at all? You can really tell that Manu and Joe did a thorough job in researching this and adding as much information as possible. I definitely think the graphic succeeded and has all the context it needs to be a stand alone graphic.

The graphic I found to compare this to can be found on USA Today's website. It is a graphic created by Toyota to explain the recall:

The only strength I really see from this graphic is that it is simple and easy to follow. It's misleading though when compared to the Missourian graphic because it doesn't explain how the problem happens and how the reinforcement bar will fix the problem. For people who aren't familiar with the inner workings of a car, this graphic makes very little sense. It also is interesting how Toyota chose to use phrases like "rare occurrences of excessive friction." Is that suppose to reassure the driver's of these vehicle's since the occurrences are rare?

Critique 2

This interactive graphic is from USA Today. I really enjoyed this graphic because it was easy to use and gave a lot of information in a structured way. It is simple because it lets you add and take away information so that the map is never too cluttered to read. All of the information given is relevant to the situation and relief efforts. The audience could be a number of different people including relief groups, government officials, and even just the international community that may not know a lot of about Haiti and want to understand the situation. I really think this graphic succeeds in its purpose of informing the public of what happened and spawn a desire to help in relief efforts. My favorite part about the graphic is when you click on aftershocks it shows that the country suffered from not just the one major earthquake but experienced fear and panic many hours after the initial quake. For the design the map is very simple but can get more enhanced when you add certain options on the side. I think this was a great way to keep everything simple for the audience. The piece is interactive and very user friendly.