Interactive Vs. Infographic: Comparing 2011 Social Unrest Timelines of VICE Magazine and WIRED Magazine
If you aren't already following WIRED or VICE, these two magazines are about as different as you can get. WIRED features polite commentary on technology culture and gadgetry, with a slight amount of snark. VICE's focus is unabashed and uncensored urban culture, and is (refreshingly) politically incorrect and honest. In the past couple of years, VICE has gained recognition as a legitimate news organization, partnering with CNN to share their VBS.tv reporting, and has moved into reporting on technology with a dedicated division: Motherboard.
We still subscribe to hard copies of magazines for good reason. We love the graphic design, researched articles and photography in any way, shape or form. Digital magazines (not restricted by pay-walls) are a bonus, because they make sharing far easier than photocopying and faxing clipped articles like we were forced to do in the nineties.
Global unrest is the theme for both feature articles for the December 2011/January 2012 issue for both WIRED and VICE, respectively. Without delving too deep into the content each magazine published, let's put the data representation methods for the timeline of 2011's 'resistance' head-to-head:
WIRED: Right-Click or Command-Click on Image to Open Active Slider in a New Tab
WIRED uses a Javascript slider to visualize the chronological timeline, which is fantastic for search engines because the text is discoverable through search engines, but terrible for someone wanting to embed the slider into a blog post. Here is a screen-captured, hyper-linked image of two months of the timeline. It's the best we can do with this format while still respecting copyright laws.
VICE: Right-Click or Command-Click on Image to Open Full Size in a New Tab
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VICE's infographic (illustrated by Jim Krewson) is saved in the super simple GIF format, so we can hyperlink these thumbnails and you can open their maximized versions in a new tab on their site. While their informative illustration is provided as two images, and can be republished fully on another site, you have to go to a separate page to maximize the images.
Remember to put your information in a format that geeks can use, otherwise geeks won't use it.
Information visualization is a global movement in and of itself. Infographics and flowcharts are designed for easy sharing and comprehension of content. VICE.com and WIRED.com are super popular sites, and as such they are not as dependent on the link juice trackbacks provide to small and medium sized businesses trying to crawl their way rankings of a search term. If you choose to publish your information as a visual device, the format of your file is as important for sharing as the layout of your design. When considering including an infographic in your social media marketing campaign, remember to put your information in a format that geeks can use, otherwise geeks won't use it.
Take a look at the latest infographic from Stikky Media here: High Heels Infographic
