Making the case for accessible research dissemination

Communicating one’s research is a key step in the research process. Beyond delivering one’s research to an expected audience in a clear and effective manner, researchers have an ethical obligation to share their scholarship outside the academy.

Engaging, appealing, and impactful knowledge mobilization (KMb) activities help fulfill this obligation for audiences who do not have access to scholarly research, due to paywalls or other barriers. When researchers mobilize information in this way, they further work to initiate Knowledge Exchange (Kx). Kx is a “learning process in which academic and non-academic partners exchange their knowledge, expertise and resources to drive effective research impact” (Knowledge Exchange Unit, 4). UBC’s 2019-2022 Knowledge Exchange Strategy centers this process and prioritizes the translation of research to initiate, and foster, connections of varying kinds. Establishing these connections may assist researchers in creating greater impact through the work they do within the university.

Using ordinary, clear language and attractive visuals to present one’s research is not always simple. It requires the skillful translation of specialized language and ideas into widely accessible ways of speaking and understanding. It may involve time and effort, but it is rewarding, especially for those actively engaged in public humanities. Making research widely accessible can increase overall participation in the research process and may even increase one’s ability to contribute to society in a meaningful, productive way.

Cognition and comprehension: why are infographics effective?

Barlow et al. suggest that infographics are effective because of their multimodal nature and reliance on visual elements. A 2020 study supports this claim, finding that visual aids are effective because the human brain has a heightened ability to process visual information. We can recall almost 6.5 times more information when it is presented through images in combination with text, rather than text alone!

Infographics are also successful because of the text, or lack of, that is featured. Many infographics are sparse when it comes to text, as those that are based on quantitative data often feature data visualizations (i.e., charts, graphs). Qualitative research, on the other hand, relies on text, which means that infographics that are based on qualitative research must take language into consideration. If someone cannot understand the text, they are unable to fully understand and engage with the content. If an infographic features concepts and terms that are used by those in a specific area of study, it will likely be hard to understand for those outside of said area of study. Infographics that are intentional in their language, and prioritize clear and plain language, support one’s ability to fully engage with, and learn from, an infographic.

Overall, infographics can help to support cognition and one’s ability to comprehend information that might be inaccessible in its original, written form, due to specialized language or field-specific jargon. The visual nature, and complimentary text, featured within an infographic play a major role in their success as a genre.

Visualizing data as a mode of inquiry

Infographics are just one type of data visualization that can be used to reveal patterns across large data sets, convey information more quickly and concisely, and allow researchers to analyze data more fully and/or creatively. Like other forms of scholarly research, infographics (and data visualization) are about informed analysis and interpretation. Data visualization in the humanities, according to Richard White, is

a means of doing research; it generates questions that might otherwise go unasked, it reveals historical relations that might otherwise go unnoticed, and it undermines, or substantiates, stories upon which we build our own versions of the past. ("What is Spatial History?")

Data visualization can also help researchers in any field make qualitative assessments using large sets of embedded quantitative data. Infographics can help deliver some or all of those assessments and analyses in an accessible, visual format.

While "data viz" and "infographic" are terms often associated with new technologies, they are hardly a new form of communicating or interpreting information (see Joesph Priestley's 1769 "A New Chart of History," Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's and Friedrich Schiller's 1798 "Temperamentenrose," or W.E.B. DuBois's turn-of-the-century infographics [produced by his university students], for example).