New research on data visualisation

“Visual representations based on statistics and big data can display an incredible amount of data in an instant. But they can also be completely incomprehensible or mislead the viewer. They thus have many of the same qualities as a language that must be learned in order to be understood and utilised in the best possible way.”

This is stated by Professor Martin Engebretsen at the Department of Nordic and Media Studies at the University of Agder. For three and a half years he has led an international research group – INDVIL–  that has explored data visualisation as an aesthetic, semiotic and discursive resource in society. In other words, what data visualisations look like, how they are understood and how they affect people and society.

Open lectures 14 November

On Thursday 14 November, the group presents its findings at an open day at Litteraturhuset in Oslo, in dialogue with professionals from press, design, schools and academia.

RESEARCH MANAGER: Professor Martin Engebretsen at UiA has led the international research group which now presents its findings.

Questions highlighted include:

• What are the trends in the use of data visualisations in the press and in public information materials?
• How can data visualisation be used for communication and learning?
• How can data visualisations be linked to manipulation and social inequality?

The findings from the Norwegian-led research group are among the most extensive to date in the field where big data, visualisation, language and social development meet. The open day on 14 November includes four parallel sessions that further highlight this:

• Communication and presentations using data visualisations
• Design and aesthetics in data visualisation
• Data visualisation in school and learning
• Data visualisation, power and democracy

There will also be talks by Andy Kirk, data visualisation specialist and editor of the English website Visualising Data.

Regular feature of public and working life

“In a time marked by big data, graphical representations of numbers play an increasingly important role in public and working life. Numeric graphics, or data visualisations in the form of colourful graphs, charts and maps, are used to inform, convince and tell stories. This happens in the news media as well as in advertising and public information communication”, says Martin Engebretsen.

“But whose stories are actually told, how are they produced and read, and how do they influence politics and social life? These are questions we have been asking ourselves for the past three and a half years and for which we now have some answers”, he says.

Also see this: Are News Graphics Really Telling You What You Need to Know?

Reveals patterns in large sequences of numbers

Graphs, charts, and interactive maps have the ability to reveal patterns in large quantities of numbers in a way that neither the numbers themselves nor words can do quite as quickly and efficiently. Their informative potential is therefore huge, and new digital tools to produce such representations make more people able to create them.

Reading requires knowledge and skills

“But they are not always easy to interpret nor to criticise”, says Engebretsen, who says that the research group has conducted a number of studies that highlight both the possibilities and limitations of this particular form of visual communication.

NEW BOOK: The cover of the book Data Visualization in Society which will be released in the coming year.

Since the process of collecting, analysing and selecting the visualised data is often hidden from the public, it is a kind of ‘black box’, the possibility of assessing and discussing the validity of the representation is often limited.

A risk of being manipulated is also present since data visualisations carry an aura of objectivity, while in reality they are the result of subjective choices and interests.

“Graphic representations act as a visual language that, although often intuitive, must be learned in order to be read correctly. That is why it is important that young people receive good training in reading graphs and charts in school so they can benefit from them in their own lives, while also exercising critical reading skills when it comes to these types of texts”, says Engebretsen.

Nine researchers from four countries

The research group, which consists of nine researchers from Norway, England, Switzerland and Austria, has been funded by the Research Council of Norway since autumn 2016, and is now finalising the project. During the open day at Litteraturhuset, the book Data Visualization in Society, which contains 26 articles written partly by the group's members and partly by other international researchers in the field will be launched. The book will be released by the publisher Amsterdam University Press in the coming year.

The nine researchers who participated in the research project are:

• Professor Martin Engebretsen (Head), Department of Nordic and Media Studies, University of Agder
• Associate Professor Sara Brinch, Department of Art and Media Studies, NTNU
• Professor Helen Kennedy, Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, England
• PhD Research Fellow Verena Lechner, Department of Nordic and Media Studies, University of Agder
• Senior Researcher Torgeir Uberg Nærland, NORCE, Bergen
• Professor Jill Walker Rettberg, Department of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies, University of Bergen
• Associate Professor Mikael Snaprud, CEO, Tingtun AS
• Professor Elise Seip Tønnessen, Department of Nordic and Media Studies, University of Agder
• Professor Wibke Weber, School of Applied Linguistics, ZHAW University, Zurich

Visual text skills

“The reality we live in is complex, and we have good use for visual types of text that can show patterns and connections in this reality. At the same time, it is essential that such textual competence is not something that is managed only by a small group of experts, but which is shared by as many people as possible. The more advanced the graphic literacy is among most people, the more benefit you get from this type of text and the more the numerical graphics are also subject to factual discussion and criticism”, says Martin Engebretsen.