Infographics

Smore
[|http://www.smore.com]

Ideas and Samples
Create and embed posters promoting library events or create newsletters for parents or faculty.

Pros
Easy to use with drag and drop feature for photos. Can also add videos. Viewable on smartphones and tablets Can be shared via Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Craigslist, or Pinterest. Can be embedded into a website though it's difficult to get the poster to show completely...on this site at least, hence, the image you see above instead of the widget.

Cons
Must either sign up with facebook or with an email account. No custom backgrounds with free version. Rigid templates with some fields required. Sometimes videos don't show up.

Poster My Wall
[|http://www.postermywall.com] Create posters to share online or download. You may also order print copies through the mail for reasonable prices.

Ideas and Samples
Use to promote books in certain genres or advertise the library and events. Students can use it to visually document something they've done or learned.

Pros
It's free to create, download, or share posters online (via their gallery, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Google+). There are some great backgrounds and nice fonts. You can also upload your own backgrounds. There are also a few nice effects you can add to the pictures. It's easy and quick to use, and you can even invite others to collaborate with you on a poster.

Cons
You must use either Facebook or email to sign up and use. Free downloads are stamped in the lower left hand corner with [|www.postermywall.com]

Easel.ly
[|http://www.easel.ly] Infographics that are excellent for showing data

Ideas and Samples
Here's a great chart from Naomi Bates with fiction/nonfiction book pairs: [] Use to exhibit statistics related to your library resources or program. Have students use it to show data they've collected on their own or through research.

Pros
It's free and easy to use. You can download, embed, or view your infographic online. There are several great templates (vhemes) including flow map and venn diagram.

Cons
You must use an email address to sign up. You can't create a chart within the program, but you can create charts in Excel and use a screen capture program to capture and save; then upload it into your easel. You can also use their objects (like stick figures) to represent numbers as seen above.

Piktochart
[]

Ideas and Samples
Chart statistics from your library or survey results. Easily share on Twitter or Facebook.

media type="custom" key="26167752"

Pros
Six nice layouts, and you can delete or change "blocks" of information. A wide assortment of icons, or you can upload pictures. You can publish online, download, or embed. There are a lot of tutorial guides and videos on the website to help. Auto-saves periodically.

Cons
Requires email or facebook to sign up. Seems a little glitchy and is a little bit difficult to master at first, but patience and diligence is rewarded. There's a Piktochart stamp in the lower right-hand corner of charts created with the free version.

Info.gr
@http://infogr.am/

Ideas and Samples
Newsletters/Reports Sample: https://infogr.am/-Shack-Stats--1st-Six-weeks

Pros
Easy to use (lots of widgets) Add charts, pictures, maps, video. Easy to share via social media sites Easy to embed Lots of chart options to embed.

Cons
Requires email to sign up.

=Venngage= @https://venngage.com/

=Ideas and Samples= Student Reports Library Reports and Statistics @https://infograph.venngage.com/infograph/publish/bb2e1ee4-21cd-4acd-88d8-03780ca6303e

**Pros** Free version is adequate for educational use and quite professional looking. Many free themes/templates Easily drag and drop charts, pictograms, and shapes. The user can change the background color of infographic and can upload pictures or put in web address.

=Cons= Requires and email account to register Adds the Venngage brand to your infographic if you don't pay. Limited to only a few fonts. There is no Undo button. Takes a little time to figure out the chart tool. Can be hard to match font colors throughout chart. (Look at the second number in the rgba sequence to see number and then duplicate.) Can be hard to match colors on objects which they call widgets. (You can get the CSS color code and apply it to other objects). You can export it (as a PDF or PNG file) only if you pay for it. You can't embed it either.

=Infographic Tools= http://www.tableausoftware.com/ - Download their free software and easily upload your data and drag and drop into charts to embed into your infographics.

=Websites Your Students Can Use to Find Data= @http://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/ - Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development @http://www.worldbank.org/ - World Bank offers stats on more than 100 developing countries. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ - The CIA factbook has a large amount of data on countries around the world. @http://www.google.com/publicdata/directory - Google's Public Data Explorer has links to many sites with a variety of datasets. @http://www.census.gov/ - The U.S Census Bureau


 * Databases: Consider having students use databases such as Facts on File's World Geography database to find data. **

=A great article about the 8 types of infographics educators should know about:= []