RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 0036 Using infographics to make data more engaging
JF Injury Prevention
JO Inj Prev
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP A10
OP A10
DO 10.1136/injuryprev-2015-041602.25
VO 21
IS Suppl 1
A1 Rebecca Willmer
YR 2015
UL http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/21/Suppl_1/A10.2.abstract
AB Statement of purpose The public health model of injury and violence prevention rests on the collection, analysis, and presentation of data and data trends. However, raising awareness with statistics alone is challenging. Data heavy reports are often tedious and do not engage the average reader. The Children’s Safety Network (CSN) set out to design data-driven resources that provide information about emerging injury issues in a user-friendly and visually appealing format. Methods/Approach CSN produced a series of infographics to successfully communicate injury prevention information to our audience of public health professionals. Infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge intended to present complex information quickly and clearly on key issues that resonate with an audience. Using free software tools, we created more than 10 infographics on a wide variety of injury topics, including child passenger safety, playground safety, and the prevention of firearm-related injuries, and distributed these infographics using social media. Results By tracking and evaluating user engagement across our social media platforms and comparing infographics to plain text announcements and articles, CSN found that infographics average a significantly higher number of views than other types of publications on our website. Along with a higher number of views comes increased knowledge of injury data, facts, and prevention strategies. Conclusions Using infographics, injury prevention practitioners can make data engaging and highly shareable across social media platforms to reach a wider audience at a relatively low cost. Infographics can increase traffic to websites and engagement in social media. They can serve as a catalyst for informed discussion of important injury issues and help to create a culture of safety in which everyone participates. Significance and contribution to the field This presentation will teach injury prevention professionals to translate data into compelling infographics; help them learn the process of creating, focus grouping, and disseminating infographics and other visuals; and show them how to disseminate infographics through multiple social media channels. In this presentation, CSN will share examples of recent work and give participants the opportunity to develop their own infographics and social media strategies.