Session 3

In this seesion, the first thing I learn is that I have to make sure that the information conveyed is not misleading. As information can be searched via internet, I need to make sure that the information searched via internet in preparing the visual display is valid. To do so, I need to compare authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency and coverage, etc. (Lederer, n.d.; Beck, n.d.) in evaluating different web resources. To ensure the visual display is correct, I may also need to ask some experts (if any) or friends who have the relevant knowledge to double check the content for me.

Secondly, I should be careful of the unintended consequence or message brought forwards by the visual display, e.g. the audience may hold misconceptions after looking at the visual display.

Thirdly, in visual display, I not only convey the knowledge, but also communicate with each other, no matter how complicated or abstract the context is. I need to make sure that my visual explanation does not bring further confusion to the audience, but is accessible to non-technical people as well without obscuring the complex details that are of interest to specialists (Woodbury & Kaczmarek, 2003).

As I have mentioned in my previous blogging that I need to look from a different or new angle, I totally agree with Daniel that we must stop thinking about things that will limit our scope to accept innovation (the 13th comment in Daniel's blog about 'Text to Visual'). Now, one more point I want to add is that besides learning new things in this module, I also need to unlearn in order to open up and try new ways of expressing. Lack of technical skills should not be an excuse of repeating old ways of representation.

References:

Beck, S. E. (n.d.). The Good, the Bad & The Ugly, or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources. Retrieved 7 March 2007 from http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/eval.html

Lederer, N. (n.d.). How to Evaluate A Web Page. Retrieved 7 March 2007 from http://manta.library.colostate.edu/howto/evalweb2.html

Woodbury, H. & Kaczmarek, P. (2003). Why Your Ideas Need Visual Explanation. Retrieved 7 March 2007 from http://www.dynamicdiagrams.com/all_pdfs/dD_visual_explanation.pdf