Activity 4.1. Resource on Perception

Tufte

http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0002w4

The above link will lead to a blog by Edward Tufte.  Tufte is political scientist and artist specializing in the presentation of data and information.  In this post, Tufte praises the work of Megan Jaegerman, a New York Times reporter telling the news via infographics.   Infographics is a form of reporting that presents a news item in graphical format.   The graphic can serve as the entire story or in support of a longer piece of reporting.  

To Tufte’s mind Jagerman excels at this work.  It could also be said that she excels at educating the reader.    The images featured are clear and concise.   They use graphics and text to demonstrate the points.   By using the just the text, a reader can understand the main concepts of the article.  Or the reader can study the graphics and receive the same information.   Or the reader can combine both to develop a deeper understanding of the topic.

When first seeing the work of Jagerman, one is reminded of William James.   He said…”the principle of multiple impressions is well recognized.”   This work exemplifies this sentiment.