PhD student Courtney Richardson will be the keynote speaker for "Storytelling with Data," a webinar hosted by LACONI (Library Administrators Conference of Northern Illinois) on April 10. The webinar will teach participants how they can interpret and communicate library information to community stakeholders using persuasive storytelling and data visualization.
In her talk, "Telling a Story with Data from an Artist's Perspective," Richardson will discuss how she creates visualization projects in order to present archival material to the public.
"My presentation will highlight some key aspects to consider when telling a story with data (e.g., audience, structure, visual tools/principles, etc.). I will also discuss case studies from my own presentations in art research to demonstrate various ways of visually relaying a message to connect with various audiences," she said.
Her talk will be followed by brief overview of how librarian KatieRose McEneely (MS '12) uses dashboards to communicate library data to Rosalind Franklin University's administration, faculty, and staff.
Richardson's research interests relate to spaces of art, design and historical information and involve the exploration of how their intersections can increase and enhance public access to knowledge. She is currently working on a textile/fabric art project in order to research and re-present historical data of an eighteenth-century manuscript concerning the migration of Black Americans from America to Nova Scotia. Richardson received her MFA in art from Wayne State University, where she also taught as a graphic design lecturer.