The process of creating this infographic was very interesting. Deciding on the topic that I wanted to focus on was hard enough. I really had to digest the information and figure out which information was the most important to put on the infograph, and I finally decided that it was important to understand why segregation occurs in Milawukee. First, I made a list of the reasons segregation occurs in Milwaukee. After I made my list, I realized that there was no way that I could put all of the information on one infographic; it just wasn’t concise enough and there was no way I would have enough room. Then, I had to select what I beleived was the “top” reasons for segregation. This was really hard because all of the reasons are so intertwined. Having to select the “top” reasons really made me digest the information and disect the connections between them.
Selecting the “top” reasons for segregation was one thing, but then describing them was another. I found that I really had to understand the reasons behind each reason for segregation, because I had to summarize them effectively. I found myself asking myself, “Is this giving them all of the information they need to know? Which piece of information is more crucial to the understanding of this topic?” I definitely feel like doing this deepened my understanding of the content because I had to organize the information in a different way than I did when I simply read the information.
Next, adding graphics was a whole different realm for me. I am not “Artistic” in any way, so I wanted to get creative and semi-abstract. When talking about the city vs suburbs and Milwaukee being the #1 most segregated city in the world, I decided to add a picture of the United States. I thought that doing this signaled that the problem was not just local, it was something that is researched by people everywhere; it also ties to the thinking that we are “#1 in the nation”. For the household earnings section, I could have done the obvious “$” but I didn’t want to be that basic. I decided on a picture that had obvious steps. This signals that things are not equal; there are some that earn higher than others, and it is not proportionate. Then, I felt like it was appropriate to add a chart that shows the distribution of races across Milwaukee. I feel like it gives readers a clear look at how segregated the city is.
Overall, I feel like creating this infographic really deepened my understanding of the subject. This says a lot considering that I did my thesis on this subject! I had to disect the information in a way that I never had before. I had to piece apart the connections between the reasons for segregation in Milwaukee in order to determine which was was “most important” or “more influential”. In the past I merely had to explain the connections between the reasons, and then argued that these reasons fed off of each other. Now, I feel like maybe if we, as a community, work on one of these problems at a time, progress could be made. I always thought that this was one big machine, but now I am realizing that maybe it’s not one big machine, but rather many disjointed parts that happen to cohabitate. Creating this infographic gave me a totally different view on segregation in Milwaukee, and it will definitely influence the way I teach it, as well as the way I continue to research the topic.
The Urban Classroom Expedition 