Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Grand Ballroom
Information graphics (infographics) have become popular in the mass media as ways to communicate complex information in an easy-to-understand format with graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge. Infographics have appeared in major media outlets, green industry outlets and internet blogs. In 2011, a new conference for nursery crop growers, NurseryWorks, was conducted at Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS. Participants (both in person and online) were asked by email to complete a program evaluation via an online survey website (www.axiolearning.org, licensed by Kansas State University) The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation at Kansas State University evaluated the survey to ensure proper etiquette and question format. Some information was also obtained from program registration information. Survey response rate was 30% and gender response was the same as participation (31% female, 69% male). Primary results from this survey were compiled into a two-page infographic displaying information about the program participants (age, gender, location, business type), participation methods (in person vs. online, social media), perceived industry engagement, knowledge gained, relevancy of information, motivation to use ideas from the conference, impact statements and preferences for the next NurseryWorks conference. The infographic was created in Microsoft® PowerPoint® for Mac 2011(version 14.1.4, Redmond, WA), an easy-to-use software with which most Cooperative Extension professionals are familiar. Some graphics could be natively created in the software (pie charts and bar charts), but others were created by independently by representing the values obtained in the evaluation questionnaire (change in perceived engagement). A map of participant location was created with Tableau (www.tableausoftware.com/public), a free online data visualization tool. This method of sharing program results communicates program impact quickly, efficiently, and with value. Infographics are ideal for conveying state Cooperative Extension impact to legislators and other stakeholders who need to quickly glean the value of a program or related program. It is also simple enough for most Cooperative Extension professionals to adapt for their own uses.