SOPA

SOPA has certainly polarised people, and it has been interesting to follow the global reaction to it. The day of internet blackouts and other protests certainly seems to have changed the minds of decision makers in the US. Whilst I'm relieved that the Bill won't be passed, if this infographic is to be believed, the speed with which members of the US Congress flip-flopped makes me cynical. I'm sure their change of heart has more to do with elections than conscience.

There is a part of me that admires the 65 supporters who continue to support the Bill despite the weight of opinion swinging to the other side. Are they the only members who actually have convictions, or are they simply those whose financial support comes from the entertainment industry, I wonder.

Image: SOPA-opera count via Whale-oil-beef-hooked

Infographics

I'm rather partial to infographics or 'data visualisation'. In the right hands, an infographic can make complex information accessible and interesting. This blog post not only contains links to a number of really useful tools for the creation of infographics, but also made me realise that their scope is so much wider than I had imagined. Better world flux in particular caught my interest: it has the potential to be a fabulous tool for teachers of the social sciences and geography. Sadly I couldn't get the website to run in any of the recommended browsers. Their demo video here shows the potential of the tool (ignore the over-production); hopefully the website will be more accessible to you than to me.

And just in case you think infographics is just a fancy name for a poster, take a look at this one explaining the population explosion.

Social networking

Another infographic this one by Jess3...

I was surprised to see that Skype is so much bigger than Facebook. People certainly are connecting.

Words, words, words

David Hopkins (Don't waste your time) blogged about this today. I would have called it a useful diagram, but thankfully, now I know that it's actually an infographic I won't embarrass myself in public! Although I haven't really caught the social media wave, I do think a lot of the tools have similar applications for those of us in education.

According to the CMO website "Infographics help communicate information in a digestible manner, as they creatively present data in an understandable and engaging format." I think we used to say, 'a picture is worth a thousand words'! 

If you're interested in social media, you can download a large pdf of this poster (oops, infographic) at the bottom of the CMO website.