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SNA TIG Week: Going beyond the graph – Tools to increase interest in the results of SNA by Sophia Guevara

My name is Sophia Guevara, MLIS, MPA. This post will focus on how to present the results of SNA in a way that goes beyond the report.  Oftentimes, evaluation professionals are asked to study a program and/or a network with the results of the study often ending up in a large report.  After an initial presentation, the client may store the report on a shelf somewhere and it may be rarely accessed again due to the fact that those in the client organization may not know about its existence or are uninterested due to the inability to understand the terminology and methods associated with it.  With that being said, here are a couple of tools to think about presenting the information in a way that goes beyond the written word.

Rad Resource: PowToon.  PowToon is a presentation and video software that provides users with an opportunity to get a message across visually to those who may not be experts in evaluation or SNA.  By presenting the main points of the work within a short video or two that can be accessed using NFC technology or augmented reality, evaluation professionals can increase the likelihood that the impact of the knowledge gathered in the report will be accessed and impact the success of future work going forward.

Rad Resource: HP Reveal.  HP Reveal offers an augmented reality design experience for both desktops and mobile apps.  When designing an augmented reality experience, referred to as an aura, you can choose to provide additional resources or information.  One option is to provide additional information with a screenshot as an image overlay that can be interacted with as a tap in their mobile app,

Rad Resource: Near Field Communication (NFC).  Near Field Communication tags can be programmed and used to make a final report smart.  The programmed tags can be attached to a final report by the evaluator to provide access to additional resources, much like QR codes.

The American Evaluation Association is celebrating Social Network Analysis TIG Week with our colleagues in the Social Network Analysis Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to aea365 come from our SNA TIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org. aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators.

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