Here is a set of cartoons inspired by one of my latest free courses over at diydatadesign (I think the report color scheme one is my favorite). As an FYI, I just made diydatadesign simpler by combining all the self-paced video lessons and activities into one single course. I also split the live coaching sessions […]
The “oh crap, Trump was elected” cartoon post.
I don’t like cartooning politics. So I often don’t. But after this election… Well, let’s just say I needed to draw and post these before I could draw almost anything else. So here goes… Hey Trump supporter, can I borrow your hat? If Canada were not so cold… This one is for all those upcoming […]
Creating rabbit-hole content
The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down what seemed to be a very deep well. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland “How can you possibly fit all that we […]
Cartooning #Eval16
*UPDATE* If you attended one of my sessions, I mentioned a coupon code for diydatadesign. Here it is, enter Eval16 when asked for a coupon code and you’ll get the first month for only $5. As in the past several years, I’ll be live cartooning this year’s American Evaluation Association Conference. This post will keep […]
The Content Strategy Problem
Many organizations have a content strategy problem. Their problem? There is no strategy. Our new reporting universe. The web has opened up a lot avenues that organizations can use to reach their audiences. A lot of avenues. To the point that the number of avenues is overwhelming. Off the top of my head, a contemporary professional […]
Serve up Survey Data with a Menu Infographic
During this week’s Thursday discussions over at diydatadesign we’ll be talking about different strategies for visualizing survey data. Preparing for that call inspired this post. The Problem Surveys are not setup in a narrative format. So after the results roll in and it’s time to sit down in a meeting to go over the results, you could be […]
One-Pagers and Free Courses
So I decided to make a few tweaks to my workshop. Instead of offering free weekly webinars, I’m switching to offering temporary free courses. Basically I’ll be making the short animated courses I launch free for their first week. So if you follow my blog closely enough, you’ll get free access to lots of premium content. If […]
Are you THE Creative?
“Oh yeah, we have someone like you.” I remember when I first heard that. I thought to myself, “really, you have a cartooning sociologist techie and blogger who also happens to have a decade of experience in research and evaluation?” That’s not what they meant of course. What they really meant was that they had a creative. […]
Want better visuals? Make the process cheaper, easier and faster.
Saying that we should budget more money or time towards data design is like saying we should increase teacher pay. You can get a lot of nodding heads from decision makers but when it comes time to actually commit the funds… That’s a no go. So you’re left with a few options. Option 1: Keep fighting the […]
Understand. Reach. Engage. A 3-part digital dissemination strategy
Far too many research and evaluation teams prioritize high quality dissemination like I prioritize learning a second language. It’s definitely on my list of things to do one day, but it’s so far down in priority that unless something changes it will likely never happen. So instead, we keep with the status quo. We write […]
The Dashboard as a Dataset Interface
In practice we see two very different types of dashboards. The first, the literal translation that evaluators tend to latch onto, is the dashboard that gives you all the data you need at your fingertips. These are hard to build because you need to both have the data your audience really needs AND actually understand […]
Reporting for the Small Screen
Just a guess here, but I don’t think smart phones are going away anytime soon. I think it’s time to really start focusing on how we can use the technology as a reporting tool. And stop pretending that it’s not the place where a large number of our stakeholders engage with our programs on a […]