Say you’re a scientist who studies the origins and history of food, and you want to communicate to the world your findings that the all-American hamburger – including the side of fries – doesn’t contain a single ingredient that originally came from the United States.
Say you’re a scientist who studies the origins and history of food, and you want to communicate to the world your findings that the all-American hamburger – including the side of fries – doesn’t contain a single ingredient that originally came from the United States. You could publish an article in a top-notch journal, ask a communications officer to write a press release about the paper, or take to Twitter and tell your hundreds of devoted followers all about your discovery. All of these create some impact.
But you could also join forces with a professional graphic designer and map out the ingredients’ origins in an attractive infographic display, and by publishing it, potentially reach a much wider audience.
This is exactly what Colin Khoury of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) did. And the end result communicates his findings perhaps just as well – or perhaps even better than – the common communications channels that scientists use. Now Khoury – who also took the pizza to task for not being all that Italian and pad thai for being less than wholly Thai – and his collaborators at leading universities are encouraging their scientific colleagues to embrace graphic design as a serious asset in science communication efforts, as well as a useful process for the advance of science itself.
Read more at International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
Image: Hamburgers are an American favorite, but the origins of this meal's common ingredients are as diverse as the US population. The meat patties were first served in Hamburg, Germany, and appeared on menus in New York City as early as the 1870s thanks to German immigrants. (Credit: Graphic: Álvaro Valiño, Kelsey Nowakowski and Colin Khoury)
