Before the project started, I knew a lot of people immigrated to the US but when I actually saw the numbers, I was very surprised. I never realized exactly how many people came to the US and all the different places they came from. Another thing I was unaware of is how Congress used to restrict the number of immigrants from certain places and how they forced different  laws upon them once they arrived, depending on their origin. Other bits of information didn't strike me quite as much like what had caused some of the low points in immigration. It makes a lot of sense that no one would want to come to the US during the Great Depression. 

Looking at the overall trend and incorporating what you know about the US presently, predict and defend the immigration trend for the next two decades.

There are many different ways to predict the rise or fall of immigration through the next twenty years. If history were to repeat itself then one could assume that the rates would continue to rise, but some things are going on in our country that may negatively affect the amount of immigration. Right now, the United States is in a recession and if it were to worsen then I would predict a significant drop in immigration rates. On the same spectrum, many countries in Europe are in a similar situation and if we held our ground, that might encourage immigration. There are many different ways that immigration could go and it is certainly difficult to predict how it will go. 

Describe how you made a decision on how to visually represent the information.

We chose to do a color coded timeline because we felt it was a good balance between information and vibrance. It is very organized and easily understood. 

What parts of group work were challenging?

Overall, the group worked well together though one thing that could have been improved was the division of work. Though we all provided and filled in our own information, when it came to color coding it was difficult to separate it equally. We tried to divide it but it just became complicated. 

What would you do differently if you had this project to do over?

Honestly, I am very pleased with the outcome of the project. The only reason I would change anything is if we had more and more technical skill. Even though I am very pleased with our current project. 

• What surprised you most about this information?  What seemed quite obvious about explaining this data set?
  Among the things that surprised me the most were the dramatic decreases that the data showed in certain decades of US History. However, once I considered the decades with the decreases and the different events happening in America at the time, they made perfect sense.
  
  Also, one thing that really intrigued me was how the overall American population had a nearly linear, steady increase, where as the immigration arrivals often changed.
  
  
  
• Looking at the overall trend and incorporating what you know about the US presently, predict and defend the immigration trend for the next two decades.
  I believe that the immigration trend in the US will suffer a slight decrease, due to the dissolution of the American economy. I believe that these problems in the federal government will not attract people from foreign countries to inhabit the US.
  
  
  
• Describe how you made a decision on how to visually represent the information.
  We decided to place emphasis on the push/pull factors that encouraged immigration.  We decided that each decade had multiple perspectives, and so we wanted to display that in our visual piece.
  
  
  
• What parts of group work were challenging?
  I think everyone in the group had a massive amount of ideas, and it was very hard to compress those ideas into a singular image.
  
  
  
• What would you do differently if you had this project to do over?
  If we had more time, I would include photos in the decades as well. I feel that this would have really solidified the multiple perspectives that we were trying to convey.

• What surprised you most about this information?  What seemed quite obvious about explaining this data set?
  The thing that surprised me most about the data was the general numbers of immigrants. The great depression was literally one of the most depressing times in America and all though there was a severe decrease in immigrants there were still a large amount. It was obvious that in times of war, over seas especially, there would be an increase in people trying to escape from the war zone. 
  
  
• Looking at the overall trend and incorporating what you know about the US presently, predict and defend the immigration trend for the next two decades.
  I think the immigration numbers would continue to rise and may have some points from 2000-to present where it decreases because of the economic inflation. I do not think that it would cause a severe drop but it would be a noticeable one. 
  
  
• Describe how you made a decision on how to visually represent the information.
  Originally my group created a very boring slide show, which we soon fixed to a single image. I had originally wanted to do something basic and even elementary because with things like history sometimes it doesn't hurt to simplify the information so that all people , really uninformed to experts, would understand. I liked the idea of child like smiley faces because if I was the audience it would appeal to me.
  
  
• What parts of group work were challenging?
  I think as a group we could've did a better job splitting up the work because with both versions of the presentation someone was left doing 90% of the work. I do think, however, that it was more efficient to work like that in this instance because doing separate things and trying to incorporate it all into one simple photo would have been difficult in the amount of time we had. Although, we did all have a say in what the image should include and how we could represent it. Original ideas were shared by everyone equally. 
  
   
• What would you do differently if you had this project to do over?
  I would probably want to make the presentation something a little bit more animate and interactive and somehow portray why the numbers dropped a bit better. 

• What surprised you most about this information?  What seemed quite obvious about explaining this data set?

• Looking at the overall trend and incorporating what you know about the US presently, predict and defend the immigration trend for the next two decades.

• Describe how you made a decision on how to visually represent the information.

• What parts of group work were challenging?

• What would you do differently if you had this project to do over?