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The purpose of project was to analyze several Army publications to determine

how they utilize and integrate information graphics. The study will help to
improve how the Army communicates with internal and external audiences by
utilizing some basic principles of information graphics.












Paul Hayes
PR 691

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Currently there are hundreds of Army publications. To narrow the analysis, I
focused on weekly newspapers for Army units deployed to either
Afghanistan or Iraq. A complete list of these publications is available at :

http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=pubs/pubs_main.php

The four publications finally selected were
1) The Desert Mesh which serves all soldiers stationed in Kuwait.
2) The GWOT Reconstruction Report which covers all Army Corps of
Engineers projects in Iraq and Afghanistan
3) The Anaconda Times which services Logistics Support Area Anaconda
(20,000 persons) near Balad, Iraq.
4) The Iraq Reconstruction Report which covers all reconstruction within Iraq.

All these papers contained either information graphics or data (stories) that
could be rendered as an information graphic. In all four cases, the
audiences of these papers are soldiers and civilians serving overseas.
However, due to online availability, a secondary audience might also be
family members and friends of those stationed at the particular base.
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The staff of these papers consist of 3 to 5 Army soldiers or civilians. These
small teams generate all content to include all information graphics.
The content of these publications typically covers special events that occur
on the base, special visitors to the base, safety messages, and feature stories
on individual units. The content best suited to information graphics are the
weekly police blotters, safety articles, and messages from the commander.
These publications are generally created using commercially available
programs such as Microsoft Publisher, Photo Shop, and Adobe. These
publications are created and published (including printing) at remote locations.
Major publications such as the New York Times or National Geographic can
call upon journalists, researchers, graphic artists, and other specialists to
create information graphics. For the Army, however, the team writing and
creating weekly publications is much less robust. For example, the editor of
the Anaconda Times (Major Chris West) must rely on 2-3 personnel to help
write, lay-out, and publish each paper. Their expertise is limited to basic
software training (PowerPoint, Adobe, Word) and any artistic development
theyve done on their own. To expect these teams to routinely produce
graphics comparable to National Geographic is not realistic.
The audiences of these papers are soldiers and civilians serving overseas.
However, due to online availability, a secondary audience might also be family
members and friends of those stationed at the particular base. Due to the
audiences, there is an opportunity for editors to utilize their papers to educate
personnel on important safety, personal, health, and welfare issues.
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Based on the publication staff and audiences, I felt it important to limit the
expectations for information graphics used in the papers. The question that
came up the most when thinking of how to apply the information graphics
principles was,
Given the publications staff, resources, and purpose what are the most
important principles that must be followed?

Based on that question, I selected including a prcis, telling the truth, interpret
implications, stimulate learning, and amplify content as the most important.
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The first graphic analyzed was from the Iraq Reconstruction Report. This table
provides data on the current and projected progress of Iraq reconstruction
projects.
The graphic does not include a prcis. The reader is left wondering whether
the progress is ahead of schedule, behind schedule, or right on track. A
simple statement on the top of the page could highlight the overall purpose of
the data table. Iraq Reconstruction Ahead of Schedule, would be an
example.
The graphic does tell the truth. The Army must be straightforward in its
dealings with all audiences and from experience, this graphic does provide
factual information.
The graphic does a poor job of interpreting, contextualizing, and explaining
implications for the data. For example, the oil category could be further
explained. How is this progress compared to other countries or other
industries? How will this oil infrastructure improvements effect the world oil
supply? By not contextualizing and explaining the implications, skeptical
media can fill the void with their own context.
This graphic misses an opportunity to educate and stimulate learning in its
audiences. Taking graphical examples from National Geographic might help
here. Educational publications tend to use maps, pictures, and other eye-
catching images to help stimulate understanding of mundane data.
Finally, this graphic does not amplify other content. In this publication, this
graphic was used by itself without any text. As a result, the text used within
the graphic needs to amply content not simply restate it.
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The next graphic analyzed was from The Anaconda Times. The table
provides data on POV (privately owned vehicle) accidents during the year
Once again, the graphic does not include a prcis. Was this a bad year for
Army accidents? What should soldiers know about accidents this past year?
The data in the table proposes that the year saw a significant increase in both
accidents and fatalities. A simple prcis should state this fact.
The graphic tells the truth. Unfortunately, the truth needs to be highlighted in
the prcis otherwise it looks like the data is being hidden.
The graphic does a poor job of interpreting, contextualizing, and explaining
implications for the data. For example, the creator needs to explain what a
Class A accident is. If the reader does not know they might be skeptical
that the accident rate matches the fatality rate. Additionally, civilian accident
rates could also be shown to place the accident rates into context. How does
the Armys rates compare to the Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard? Once
again, by not contextualizing and explaining the implications, a skeptical
reader might draw their own conclusions.
This graphic was placed in the paper to educate soldiers on the dangers of
reckless driving. As a result, it has an educational purpose. The creator
needs to develop the graphic keeping in mind the reader may only read the
first paragraph and glance at the graphic. How can the graphic be designed to
hold the readers interest long enough to educate them on this important safety
issue? Pursuing educational periodicals might provide ideas on sample
graphics that could help in this task.
Finally, this graphic does not amplify other content. In this publication, this
graphic was used next to an article about POV safety. Neither the text nor he
table complemented each other. The table was probably added as an
afterthought.
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The next graphic analyzed was from The Desert Mesh. This map graphic charts the
locations of units, reconstruction projects, and geographical regions.
Once again, the graphic does not include a prcis. The lead sentence of the article
was, Electricity, medical, water projects enrich Diyala Province. Despite this
important lead, the graphic does not highlight the progress in Diyala, but the overall
status of projects throughout the country. If the success in Diyala was the prcis, the
graphic failed to represent that.
The Army again uses graphics to tell the truth. Unfortunately, the truth in this
graphic is difficult to ascertain. How many projects are on-going? The reader must
physically count each flag to come up with the number of projects on-going.
The graphic does a poor job of interpreting, contextualizing, and explaining
implications for the data. For example, the author talked extensively about water
projects in Diyala. How are these projects contextualized on the graphic? How many
wells existed last year? The map also lacks a key. What does each flag represent?
The reader must come up with these key points of context on their own.
This graphic was placed in the paper to educate soldiers and external audiences of
the great progress being made in Diyala. As a result, it retains an educational as well
as informational purpose. How will the reader know about all the great things going?
Additionally, what does a sample project look like? How many people will a well
service? All these seemingly small items would help a reader with little reconstruction
background understand better the improvements being made. Overall, however, the
use of a map and unit symbols do help to educate readers as to the locations and
organization of the reconstruction effort.
Finally, this graphic does not amplify other content. It does a poor job highlighting
Diyala province as well helping the reader understand projects mentioned in the
article.
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