Ambassador Handbook

All rights reserved © 2015 by SIA InfogramThis handbook or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission

of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review

infogr.am

Introduction

About Infogr.am

How did it all start? And the winner is…. Structure.Culture.Vision Brand Jifo

Infogr.am Ambassador: Why? What? How?

Why Ambassadors? What is the Infogr.am Ambassador Program? How does Infogr.am's Ambassador Program work? What Infogr.am expects from Ambassadors? How do you get started?

Infogr.am Data Storytelling workshop

About the workshop For whom? The format Why to become an organiser?

Table of content

Thanks for joining Infogr.am's mission to enhancing global data literacy. There is a 85% global literacy rate and we want to reach the same percentage for the data literacy. We believe it will help people devel-op critical thinking and will help making more rational decisions. We also believe in the power of data visualization as effective means to communicate information and knowledge locked in data sets. We envision a data driven world where education, journalism, businesses and governments are driven by data and transparent rationality

This is a comprehensive summary of everything you need to know as an Infogr.am Ambassador; from the Infogr.am story about how we were founded to a detailed description of how the Infogr.am Ambassador program will work.

Nika AleksejevaHead of Infogram.org

Introduction

Dear Ambassador

There is an exciting journey ahead of us.Let's make it count!

About?

How did it all start?

At the time, the pair was working at a major local online media outlet. Uldis drew infographics and Raimonds made them interactive online. One time, a journalist asked them to visualize some data. 'Ok', the guys said, 'we'll have it ready by tomorrow'. 'Oh, no!' the journalist objected, 'I need it in three hours'.

Three hours later the journalist returned to receive a simple but pretty terrible infographic. 'That's the best you can get in three hours,' the guys had to explain and off went the disappointed journalist.

All the journalist needed was to make data human-readable. He didn't have the skills to be able to make a visualization and it took too much time to ask someone else to do it from scratch. So, Uldis and Raimonds thought:

And that's what they did.

With a background in journalism, design and development, the co-founders had a good mix of knowledge and sense of know-how. Infogr.am was launched in February 2012 at TechCrunch Baltics. The same day guys got seed investment from Hamburg-based venture capital firm HackFwd. Soon enough, in April the two were joined by Alise Semjonova, a young and ambitious designer.

Backed by HackFwd and Startup Sauna accelerators, the team briefly moved to Helsinki to develop the new-born app.

Now, Infogr.am is headquartered

In August 2012, 7 months after its launch, Infogr.am celebrated its 100,000th infographic. It took just 3 more months to double this number to 200,000. Being the first-of-a-kind automated infographic creator, Infogr.am continues to pioneer user-friendly data visualization solutions.

Quick facts

- Headquartered in Riga, Latvia

Winner of Hy! Berlin, February 2013

Best Start-up Overall - The Next Web Amsterdam 2013

The company has enjoyed industry recognition by winning a number of tech awards. It was named ‘’The Best Start-up Overall’’ at The Next Web Amsterdam 2013, ‘’Top Innovator: Consumer Data Tools’’ at DeveloperWeek 2013 San Francisco, is a winner of Hy! Berlin, TechCrunch Baltics and was named ‘’Best new Start-up 2012’’ at the Arctic15. In 2013, Infogr.am was also named the most beautiful data visualization tool by Information is Beautiful, the prestigious data visualization blog.

- Gold award in tool category - Information is Beautiful, October 2013 - Best Start-up Overall - The Next Web Amsterdam 2013 - Winner of Hy! Berlin, February 2013 - Top Innovator: consumer data tools - DeveloperWeek 2013, San Francisco - Best New Start-up 2012 - Arctic15, October 2012, Helsinki

Infogr.am

And The Winner is...

Infogr.am is a startup - a young and rapidly grow-ing enterprise. We work in an open plan office and have flexible working hours. Everyone can take a day off or work from home as long as we meet our quarterly goals which are set by the team itself.

Our CEO and executives just set a direction for the company to aim for. Then, each team member notes five objectives and key results to measure how these goals are achieved. The only condition is - personal goals have to be aligned with compa-ny goals.

The quarterly objectives and key results are evalu-ated at our team building events. We usually take two days off, rent a guest house in the country-side, hang out and do a few team building activi-ties. It helps us get to know each other as people rather than just colleagues.

StructureCulturePhilosophyVision

Every Thursday we have 'Share time' - a time to share our hobbies, achievements, news and some homemade cakes or beer. If it's someone's birthday or name day, they bring a cake or refreshments.

The Infogr.am team is quite international - we have staff from the USA, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and Japan, but the majority comes from Latvia.

Our vision is to become the world's leading data visualization company that empowers large data-driven communities and enhances overall data literacy - the ability to “read” and “write” data

Brand

Easy, beautiful, data-driven!That's what best describes Infogr.am

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Jifo is a small furry creature from a planet far far away. Hehas endless curiosity and a passion for data. He left hishome planet to explore and collect data from the vastendless universe. On his journey, Jifo stumbled upon adata-signal that led him to an unknown solar system wherehe landed on a planet full of corrupted and ugly data. NowJifo roams the surface of this planet fighting the ugly dataand searching the data wastelands to cure the planet.

Jifo

Who is Jifo?

What is your Jifo?

Jifo loves to dress-up, so every team member has their own Jifo to represent their unique personality. As an Ambassador, you can also earn your own personal Jifo!

You've probably also seen Jifo - our dear alien friend with a magical ability to turn bad, corrupted data into data that is beautiful and easy to understand.

Why?What?How?

Infogr.am may be a small team now but that doesn't stop us from dreaming big. In a couple of years we have enabled over 1.5 million storytellers around the globe with an easy, beautiful and effective data visualization solution.

Why Ambassadors?

With power comes responsibility over the quality of data-driven stories that people create with Infogr.am every day. That's why we've defined our mission:

“We have to enhance data literacy while bringing data visualization to local communities around the globe.”

By now we've understood that Infogr.am does, in most cases, enable those lucky ones who discover it online. However, what about the people who would love to share a data-driven story on something impor-tant to them, but are discouraged from searching for a data visualization solution due to a lack of appro-priate skills?

Here, Ambassador, we need your help!We believe in a data-driven world, and want to inspire people to share data-driven stories, arguments, discoveries and calls for action. Infogr.am may serve as a first step towards the endless possibilities of data visualization and an Infogr.am Data Storytelling workshop is the best way to reach it.

Feedback gained from workshops, webi-nars and demos helps us respond to user needs and keep empowering people with easy and beautiful data visualization solutions.

There are three ways you can think about the Infogr.am Ambassador program.

What is the Ambassador program?

It's a community, a network that shares practical knowl-edge and skills, informs on data visualization news from around the globe and connects individuals to help them achieve their personal goals.

It's about Infogr.am. As an Ambassador, you will get to know the tool from A to Z and test our new features and prod-ucts before they are announced to the public. We highly value your feedback. It helps us respond to our users' needs and build the best possible automat-ed data visualization solutions.

The program is about visibility. As an Ambassador, you are part of quite an elite community and we are proud to count you as one of us. We’re quite happy to share your deeds and achieve-ments with our users and fans as long as they tie in with our aim to enhance data literacy, the power of data visualization, freedom of information and effective communication. Just keep us posted on what’s new.

Infogr.am Ambassadors are leaders of the Infogr.am user community. As a leader we encourage you to take action, and this can be more than giving something. You will get a lot out of being involved in Infogr.am Ambassador program activities both online and offline, in private, in groups and in public.

How does Infogr.am's Ambassador program work?

You will be a member of the Infogr.am Ambassador Facebook and e-mail groups. Think of them as a resource for sharing and reaching out. The Facebook group is good for sharing minor news stories and following every last update. It's also the best way to learn about the culture of Infogr.am. The e-mail group is the best way to mobilise other ambassadors in case you’re looking for a partner or

important news related to Infogr.am are shared via the e-mail group, so don't ignore e-mails from us!

We will connect you with other ambassadors both online and offline. There will be Skype meetings and skill-share sessions with other ambassadors who share similar interests. We will also connect you with other ambassadors based in your city, so you can meet in the real world and potentially even start a local data-driven community.

-ty is hosting an Infogr.am Data Storytelling workshop in your city. Event organizers are the most connected and well respected people. So do you. You don't have to do it right away, but we strongly encourage you to host one at some point. We will help you.

You are bound to have valuable skills that Infogr.am

a webinar! Don't worry, it's only if we both agree on it. Though we'd appreciate if you’d keep us posted on your personal projects that are aimed at enhancing data literacy and showing the power of data visualiza-tion, especially (but not only) with Infogr.am. We will be happy to showcase them on our blog and social networks.

You are not obliged to do anything as an Infogr.am Ambassador, but we do expect you to:

What do Infogr.amexpect from Ambassadors?

Use the full power of the Infogr.am Ambassador Facebook and e-mail groups.

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and grants.

Participate in Skill-sharing sessions.

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Respond to e-mails from Infogr.am related to the Ambassador program.

us.

Attend Infogr.am pre-launch product presenta-tions online.

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Give feedback on new products or features after try-out.

Keep us in the know about your projects.

Share the power of automated data visualization with others.

How do you get started?Just few simple steps to get you going

Workshop?

The Infogr.am Data Storytelling workshop is aimed to share the best practices of powerful data storytell-ing with Infogr.am and enhances data literacy - an ability to “read” and “write” data. The workshop is free of charge for participants, also we do not pay the organisers; we provide the format & full support to make it happen as well as goodies for participants.

Mastering the skills of turning data into visual stories is a great thing to learn for everyone: students, journalists, marketers, educators, busi-ness people and many more. The participants don’t need any previous knowledge about data visualization and there are no age-limitations. All that participants need is a laptop and curiosity. The workshop can be organized as an open event without specific topic, as a topical event for a specific target audience or say as a training for your colleagues

About the workshop

For whom?The Infogr.am Data Storytelling workshop lasts around five hours. It consists of three parts – the presentation, team work and a storytelling com-petition. Firstly, participants are introduced with the essentials of effective data storytelling with Infogr.am. Then they form teams of 3 and experi-ence an infographic creation with Infogr.am from A to Z, learning basic data analysis and data literacy practices. Finally, each group will present and publish their stories and compete for the most viral, effective and data literate story. The best story told at the workshop and authors of the story which gets the most social engagements will get a special prize. NB: The format allows for a certain degree of customization, depending on the target audience, time-limitations and overall theme of the workshop.

The format

Introduce the concept of automated data visualizationShare essentials of effective data storytellingIntroduce Infogr.am - the easy-to-use data visualization toolEnhance data literacy - ability to “read” and “write” dataInspire for more complex data visualisation projects in the future

Here are the objectives of the workshop:

If you have got to read so far, perhaps you already know why you are interested in organising an Infogr.am Data Storytelling workshop. Nevertheless let us outline few more reasons:

Why to become an organiser?

Event organisers are the most connected people. Here's your chanceto establish a local community of curious data-storytellers

It's also your chance to get a word out about your organisation and/or matters relevant to your local community

As an organiser you will get a free one-year Infogr.am Pro account (worth $180), an Ambassador t-shirt, and full support from us

It's also your straight way of becoming Infogr.am Ambassador - a member of a global data-driven community

Find a venue for ~ 30 people with decent internet connection and a projectorSet a time and date for the workshop;Announce the workshop & attract participants;Moderate the event on-siteMake sure to make some photos at the workshopWrite a post-event blog post on how did it go (at least in your language);

As an organiser you will need to:

Provide you with step-by-step organizers guide, including ready made materials for announcements and promotionProvide you with all needed information and materials for you to run the workshopSend you over some swag and prizes for participantsSend you promo-codes to distribute to participants to get pro-accounts for the eventsTrain, advise and guide you through the process of making the workshop happen :)

Infogr.am will:

Then check out the step-by-step workshop organizer’s manual oninfogram.org/data-storytelling-workshop

Are you ready to make it happen?

“Data Storytelling Workshop with Infogr.am”Stanbul, July 2014

"Workshop: Let's Visualize Some Data Using Infogr.am”Johannesburg, October 2014

“Infogr.am Data Storytelling Workshop”Tokyo, September 2014

"Data Visualization Workshop With Infogr.am”San Francisco, October, 2014

Welcome Ambassador!

SIA Infogram

infogr.am