After a rough semester, I have been given the past two weeks to think about the future of EdMatics and upcoming projects.  While the focus remains the same, I have decided that I want to begin pursuing actual infographics and visualizations.  Along with building the portfolio, I will continue to do research in the area of educational informatics.  Two main research projects are coming up this coming semester which I will discuss as we go along.  The University of Kentucky has provided me with such great leadership and opportunity to pursue my goals, and I will forever be indebted to them (financially too).  So, for some of the upcoming projects…

• I have come across a large database of educational information in the state of Kentucky and I plan to not only help reformat how the data is presented on the original website, but to also draw up an interactive visualization around the progression of the data over the past 4-5 years.
• After developing a large database with members of CASTLE, we will write-up a paper to hopefully get published in a scholarly journal, present the database at a conference, and a very detailed interactive visualization will come from this.  I anticipate this project to be large, time-consuming, and very rewarding.
• I want to look at smart phone and tablet apps that school administrators are using most often and the benefit of these apps.  This will most likely be a static infographic of some sort.
• I have some ideas related to comparing school violence with school success.  More to come on this later.
• My big research endeavors will be focused around what makes a visualization good (or bad).  I will attempt to break down various aspects of visualizations, conduct Delphi studies, classrooms research, etc. in hopes to draw some very general conclusions about what we should and shouldn’t be doing with visualizations.  (I know this is a touchy subject, but I will be careful and work with other professionals to collect the most reliable data possible)
• Continue to contribute the overall knowledge of data visualization and informatics through (more frequent) blog posts and tweeting.

So far, that is my list.  I know some of the things listed are vague, but in the world of scholarly research, that’s the way it has to be until the study is finished up.  I am very excited to get this next semester underway.  I’ll be taking 18 hours of class, working, and having a blast.  If there are any other project ideas, please let me know how I can either help or lead!