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Information graphics are visual representations of information, data or knowledge often used to support information, strengthen it and present it within a sensitive context. They are specific, context-sensitive and often times hand-crafted. Data visualizations are visual displays of measured quantities by means of the combined use of a coordination system, points, lines, shapes, digits, letters quantified by visual attributes. They are general, context-free and often times created automatically. Both can be static, animated or interactive. So, I think the difference is more about the objective. Information graphics are used to tell a story or answer a question. Data visualizations are used to let the user find his own story or answer.

This is an important point for us as educators. It is not about teaching our students how to use a particular application. The application is just the vehicle for the learning. We are providing them with the skills to evaluate the tools available and to use the one most appropriate for the job. We are teaching our students how to think independently, how to research cleverly, where to locate salient and reliable information, how to decode the information and then to present it in such as way that it reinterprets those elements that are the focus of our inquiry.