Thing 9: Reflective Practice (Visual Communicator Things, Option 2)

My task for this Thing is to reflect on Thing 3, an overview of image banks, Thing 7, an exercise in creating a small online exhibit, and Thing 8, gaining some experience in making an infographic. What an experience of extremes these last two were!

Completing Thing 3 was not an "extreme" activity, but still informative. I've used multiple image banks before (Flickr, Google Images, Noun Project, and Pixabay) when searching for just the right image to use, professionally (promotional posters and blurbs) and personally (mostly Christmas cards). Instead of focusing on the act of searching for an image, I chose to examine image tagging, as this determines what one can retrieve from a collection. I cannot tell whether my observations of Pixabay--finding that the visual representation of "entrepreneur" is narrowly defined--reflect an editorial voice, a type of groupthink on the part of Pixabay users who mark images with "Like" or "Favorite," or something else. Regardless, the experience makes clear that it’s essential to try multiple image banks when searching for representation of a type of person or a personal attribute. (And ideally, we users should create and add images that broaden the pool of options available for the next searcher.)

Thing 7 started out uncomfortably and the experience never improved. I couldn’t find any on-site collections appropriate for an exhibit and settled on re-working a handout—not the best of options. What I created was an unremarkable website comprised of a couple of pages. The whole experience was slow and tedious, even painful. Browsing through a multitude of themes--each with multiple possible variants--and "trying them out" holds absolutely no appeal for me. (I’m lucky that I’ve never had to select paint colors for a room, as I would run out of patience rapidly.) Trying to keep on schedule for Rudaí 23 added additional pressure. I grew fatigued, made mistakes, got frustrated, and made still more mistakes. CSS is a weakness of mine, and trying to revise the template to create the visual features I wanted gave me a headache. (When you have a brain injury, as I do, you can literally think too hard.) While I am not sold on using Blogger to create an online exhibit, the Thing wasn’t a complete exercise in futility. Since I feel more comfortable modifying templates, I have removed gadget clutter from this blog and added items I prefer to highlight. Other platforms listed in the original Thing post (WordPress and Omeka) might be more user-friendly, and I’d be willing to try them during a less stressful time of the academic year. At the job, however, I work in a department committed to LibGuides, and I am required to stick with that platform for anything I create in my role as a subject liaison librarian.

Fortunately, Thing 8 yielded considerably more reward for effort. The most challenging part of the activity was selecting a topic to portray via an infographic (so many options, so little time). There are a couple of reasons why this activity “clicked” with me. First, Piktochart presents a limited number of templates for each option (infographic, presentation, or “printable”), so it’s less of a cognitive load to browse the site. Second, the program steers users towards creating “blocks”--modular content that speeds the design of an infographic skeleton. Blocks can actually make for more flexibility in design--I used slides 1-4 and 8 of “Education Basic,” a presentation template(!) for something that is not a series of slides. Finally, I had the benefit of previous exposure to Piktochart via a webinar, and prior attendance at a library conference session on graphic design. I knew the key was to incorporate plenty of white space, minimal text, and just a few strong graphics. Looking back, I might have pared my content even more by removing the numbered blocks and reducing visual clutter in one block that contains three separate images. Because I found the execution of this Thing relatively painless, and the results look so professional, I will see if I can find opportunities to create more infographics (or other Piktochart items) in the future.

Statistics indicate that people from far-flung places (the Middle East and Asia as well as Europe and North America) have taken a look at my blog. I hope this post and others provide some useful information to readers, as well as a peek into the professional life and continuing education of an academic librarian.