Diagrams

Diagrams are essentially "highlighters" of complex physical and/or abstract systems such that people can understand important relationships. Just as students use highlighters in their textbooks to emphasize the important points in the book, people use diagrams to highlight features of a system that are critical to the way in which it is structured.

media type="custom" key="10361208" This is a diagram created by NASA of the carbon cycle on earth. When you go outdoors, there are so many things to see and experience that it is hard to pick out the features that are salient to the carbon cycle. The diagram simplifies the experience of being outdoors and highlights the elements that are significant just to the carbon cycle.

media type="custom" key="10361214" This is a diagram of events over time. Sequences of events can be difficult to grasp because they tend to be abstract and they require memory--they are not randomly accessible. This diagram shows what happens in a computer program from start to finish. The diagram makes the events somewhat more concrete and also makes them randomly accessible.

media type="custom" key="10361228" This diagram compares the size of buildings around the world. It would be impossible to gather these buildings into one place for comparison purposes and along with that, it is very difficult for a person standing on the ground to estimate height of a large structure. This diagram provides information about something in the physical world from a perspective that people would not be able to take. It eliminates features that distract from the idea of height comparison (such as the materials each building is made of).

[] This is a website that has information on and examples of various types of websites. Along with providing a huge bank of images and files that can be used without copyright issues, Wikimedia also is responsible for Wikipedia. The section on Diagrams has many examples, organized by type of diagram. This website would be worth a visit when thinking about what type of diagram might be best suited to a particular set of information.

There are many ways of producing diagrams. Here are some:

Chart paper Markers http://www.libreoffice.org/ “Drawing” program which is part of this productivity suite http://www.diagram.ly/ No registration required http://www.lucidchart.com/ Free educational account