I have really enjoyed the “Beyond the Hashtags” reading this week:

• Freelon, Deen, Charlton D. McIlwain, and Meredith D. Clark. 2016. “Beyond the Hashtags: #Ferguson, #Blacklivesmatter, and the Online Struggle for Offline Justice.” Center for Media and Social Impact. February 29, 2016. 

While I have enjoyed many readings this semester, I do find a lot of them written in the “academic style”. It is refreshing to find readings that express a similar amount of information and critical analysis but in a way more reader-friendly format. I took some time to think about what made this reading so much more digestible and engaging than other readings (in terms of format, not content-wise) and want to share my observations below:

1. The chapter outline gave me an overview of what I should expect, as opposed to much academic writing, I have re-read the writings a few times and “do the work” to figure them out.

2. The information hierarchy is extremely clear with the use of font size and font color

3. I find the visualization very easy to interpret and done “just right” (in terms of size, color, design, information density, etc.). All charts are clearly titled, annotated, and explained. Note: I have very familiar with these chart types, to begin with, so I already know how to “read/ interpret” them.

4. Tables are utilized to express the right amount of information, sorted logically and stylized in a way that’s easy for the eyes.

5. Chapters on Social diagrams leveraged a consistent form, making it easy to follow without doing a lot of brainwork to digest.