SHOW & TELL A SHORT VIDEO

Meet Me In The Basement 

By Broken Social Scene, a Canadian indie rock band  

In response to the 2010 G-20 Toronto summit, the fourth meeting where the G-20 heads of government discussed the global financial system and the world economy, Broken Social Scene produced this short video, Meet Me in the Basement. The video is interesting because it brings to light (in one form) all of the chaos happening in the world today, from politics to changes in civilization. There is no constant narrative, but the few phrases – hate, love, protestors clash with a vengeance, you’re doing it wrong, riots and protestors, pop culture and Christianity, crime scene, etcetera – that do pop up carry strong messages. The images and footage in Meet Me in the Basement show events that have recently happened around the world and what’s going on in the world today – from 9/11 to Justin Beiber to Michael Jackson’s transformation to rioters and protestors to a starving black child in a third world country.

Talk about influence on society. I found this review of the video online: “The new Broken Social Scene video is a pastiche of shocking news footage and ugly still photos that basically amounts to the same "We are Rome before the fall! The world is ending!" gist you've seen projected on wall space at too many college art shows. But the editing is so expertly crisp and the song itself so propulsive and engaging that by the end, you find yourself ready to sign up for the revolution.”

MORE CARTOONS: CAN YOU DRAW THE INTERNET?

Can you draw the internet?

I don’t understand what the developers are going to do with the cartoons children draw and submit, but they do have a valid point: “Children today are growing up in a world of technology and communications. They have never experienced a world without the internet, with every part of their day consumed by mobile phones, websites, computer games, apps, Xbox, you name it.” So, they’ve come up with this site to find out what children’s perceptions of the internet actually is by way of scribble, drawing, or pieces of art. It's pretty interesting to see how children think and what they think about the web and technology through cartoon drawings...

CARICATURES & EDITORIAL CARTOONS

Nine out of every ten times I pick up DC’s free daily newspapers: the Washington Examiner or the Express, I find a caricature or editorial cartoon illustrating President Barack Obama in some way. Most of the time they ridicule his daily and weekly political battles. I got to thinking about the affects these types of illustrations have on the public. I also began to wonder are these the illustrators’ or the newspapers’ interpretations or both? And is it fair to boldly express their personal views – ultimately forcing them onto the public?  You see these graphical representations “reveal complex attitudes of certain people at a particular time.” Journalist and writer John Geipel stated in his book The Cartoon, cartoons “are a potent weapon of ridicule, ideal for deflating the pompous and the overbearing, exposing injustice and deriding hypocrisy.”

Professor Paul Lester said, “Cartoons tell as much about the audience as they do about the artists.” I don’t agree with that statement entirely because I don’t agree with most of the caricature and editorial cartoons in either of the newspapers. In fact, I get upset that the newspaper editors constantly publish those types of illustrations. They are extremely powerful illustrative devices I think can negatively persuade society. Take a look at some of the caricature and editorial cartoons I found floating around online: 

WHAT SHOULD AN INFORMATIONAL GRAPHIC DO?

I thought I would share a little information about infographs. I have a book, Visual Communication: Images with Messages written by Paul Martin Lester who dedicated one of its 17 chapters to informational graphics. It’s very interesting. If you pick up the book and don’t read the entire thing, at least read this chapter. You will learn about the history of infographs, how important infographs are in telling complex stories, important historical precedents for today’s infographs, and different types of infographs and how they’re used.

Let’s start with the definition: “Informational graphics (called infographics or new graphics) are visual displays that can be anything from a pleasing arrangement of facts and figures in a table to a complex, interactive diagram with accompanying text that helps explain a complex story’s meaning. With headlines, text, photographs, video, and audio, informational graphics are included in media presentations in order to explain aspects to a story that words and traditional pictures and video alone could not explain fully.” There are several types of infographics: informational graphics, which include newspaper infographics; statistical infographic elements, which include charts and data maps; and nonstatistical infographic elements, which include fact boxes, tables, nondata maps, diagrams, courtroom drawings, television schedules, calendars, icons and logos, flowcharts, timelines, and illustrations.

Remember, “A high quality infographic should do the following: 1) have an important message to communicate, 2) convey information in a clear, precise, and efficient manner, 3) never insult the intelligence of readers or viewers, and 4) always tell the truth.”

SHOW & TELL AN INFOGRAPHIC

Very entertaining. I think this Kill Bill infographic makes simple data needlessly complex. Don’t get me wrong. I think this is a creative and funny infograph, but is it really needed? Why not watch the movie? I wish it were in English so I could read the character descriptions, but because I saw the movie I get the gist of what it’s depicting.

SHOW & TELL AN INFOGRAPHIC

I believe someone from our class posted this very same infographic on his/her blog. However, I just had to post it on my blog because it's a wonderful infographic. Although there are no images or photos, the typography is perfectly arranged. The size and typeface are very effective and easy to read up close or from a distance.

The infographic gives us tidbits of information about black history (from slavery to present day) that led up to the first African-American, Barack Obama, being elected president. This graphic does an excellent job arranging a bunch of information in such a way that's both visual appealing and informative.