Abstract: Amy Stornaiuolo and Matthew Hall

Tracing Impact through Data Visualizations of Networked Writing

Abstract: This presentation focuses on an online social network connecting 120 high school students across three school sites. The research project investigates and supports youth’s use of networked writing—which includes multiple languages, multiple modes, and socially networked ways of collaborating—and examines how students use data about themselves as writers. The presentation will explore how students used four visualization tools created as part of the Impact Studio across one 12-week design cycle. In visualizing complex network data generated by activity in the collaborative authoring and media-sharing environment, the Impact Studio allowed students to “see” the impact of their writing as it resonated across a global network, opening opportunities for instructors and students to put these data insights to use when determining the efficacy and impact of their ideas and when engaging in increasingly diverse collaborations.