There were many factors in the London Riots which by the media and the people of the world, used to explain/come to a conclusion as to why they happened. There was no one explanation but many. The media speculated and explored the various reasons, here are some of the articles that I found of interest on the subject -
>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15426720 >http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17141883 >http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8765030/Riots-the-statistics.html
As a collective we looked at the various places and different events that the riots played out in. Using thumbtacks and coloured string we connected all these groups up to create a tactile Infographic of the raw data. Each group focused on what they considered the relevant data but this varied.
The subgroups we placed them into were dates and location and connected them using the various coloured strings which each represented a category. The key we used to identify the categories were as follows; Orange = Death, Purple = Looting, Green = Vandalism and Pink = Fire. By doing this we were able to identify, visually, the majority of crime in what area, the area with the highest type of crime and the area with highest amount of riot related activity.
Feedback retained from peers was to explore how to take the physical organisation and now use it to inform a digital response which allowed you to see all the information more clearly than it looked displayed on the wall because of all the crossing lines.
The London Riots (2011) [1/10/2013]
I looked into previous infographics created on the London Riots to see what information other designers used in their graphic and how they organised it. I really liked the Delay Gratification one above because it was interactive and allowed you to explore it and look and various elements which I would like to incorporate in mine.
I looked into current infrastructures that have already been designed and are free to use that allow you create info-graphics and I discovered a website called infor.am. It's really easy to use and allows you insert your own information and data into a prefabricated template.
< I picked a template that was suitable for the purpose I was trying to show. I then added the relevant title (London Riots) so the graphic had an identity.
It then gives you a mini embedded excel spreadsheet to import your information into and create the various elements. It comes with an example table which relates to the example graphic so you can see where the x and y axis correlates to.
I then added all the information based on location, type of event that occurred and then the number of times the vent occurred in each location. I was then able to pick a colour for each place which could then be seen on a key underneath the chart. >
Below is my finished info-graphic. I included a picture from the riots to create a visual like to the events because the riots were heavily publicized so it gives the viewer a connection to the events to add even more context.I also added a brief description so the viewer knows what they are looking at in relation to crime and where the crime occurred. The info-graphic is also interactive so it enables the viewer to select the crime they want to look at and then the colour codded graphic changes depending on your choice to show the relevant information. I think the software works really well from a consumer point of view if you want to display information quickly and make it aesthetically pleasing but from a designer point of view its very constrained to the given framework.
Everyone has someone to blame as far as to the reason of why the riots started.
Wikipedia stated the following, which, to this day is what I believe started it:-
"Disturbances began on 6 August 2011, after a protest in Tottenham following the death of Mark Duggan, a local who was shot dead by police on 4 August 2011.[15] Protesters became angry after police restrained a sixteen-year-old girl who was alleged to have been acting in an aggressive and disorderly manner.[citation needed] Several violent clashes with police, along with the destruction of police vehicles, magistrates' court, a double-decker bus, many civilian homes and businesses, began gaining attention from the media. Overnight, looting took place in Tottenham Hale Retail Park and nearby Wood Green."