Survey results - using graphics to communicate environmental information
As part of the process of developing workshops to improve the visual communication skills of environmental and sustainable development professionals, we felt it would be useful to gain an overview of their current usage of graphics and illustrations, and their related capacity-development needs.
In the spring of 2010, we posted a short survey on the Internet to assess the way that environmental and sustainable development professionals use graphics for the visual communication of information related to their work. We received 357 responses from a wide range of professionals, students and communicators from all over the world.
An analysis of the responses reveals:
- Most respondents use graphics for communication (91%).
- Most participants prepare the graphics themselves (82%), but a quarter have staff to assist them in this task.
- When assessing their own abilities, half of the respondents indicated that their skills were sufficient and half indicated that they were insufficient.
- Many areas were mentioned when participants noted the areas in which they wanted to build capacity: analysis and data management, software tools, and design principles.
For download and viewing of the full report, see the bar to the right.
We, the authors, would like to extend our thanks to the following networks, which published the call for survey participation:
- IISD UNCSD-L (International Institute for Sustainable Development UN Conference on Sustainable Development list)
- PCST (International Network on Public Communication of Science and Technology)
- LinkedIn groups addressing environment and sustainable development issues
- Eldis, a knowledge service focusing on development, policy, practice and research
- SCGIS (Society for Conservation GIS)
- WiserEarth, a social network for sustainability
- Zunia, a portal on sustainable development
Read more about our custom training workshops on environment and sustainable development information
The full analysis report is available for download and online viewing (18 pages). The report also includes the full survey text.
- View directly, using Scribd.com
- PDF download for print and online reading [2 MB]
- EPUB for e-readers, tablets and phones [0.2 MB]
- MOBI for e-readers, tablets and phones [0.3 MB]
- Online view, using Scribd.com