ona2014 - alberto cairo

8/10/2019 ONA2014 - Alberto Cairo

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The Ethics of Data Visualization

The Journalist, the Artistand the Engineer

alberto cairo • university of miami • @albertocairo



a meandering journey begins…



9-year old boy



“How do you build a Hobbit hole in Minecraft?”

9-year old boy



3-year old girl



“Daddy, do you have a baby in your tummy?”

3-year old girl



7-year old girl



“Why don’t planets stop spinning?”

7-year old girl



wtf?



“Google it, kiddo!”



a visualization is a display of evidence



information shaped as a graphic

functions as a cognitive aid

a visualization is a display of evidence



“OK, now I get it!”

7-year old girl



“But then, if planets spin so fast,why aren’t we thrown off the Earth?”

7-year old girl



Good answers lead to more good questionsand visualization (both “data visualization” and

“infographics”) can help ignite this process



The ethics of journalism depends on one core goal:

Improving the understanding that the public has of issues

that are relevant for their conducting good lives, while trying

to minimize the potential harm that this activity may cause



The ethics of journalism depends on one core goal:

Improving the understanding that the public has of issues

that are relevant for conducting good lives, while trying to

minimize the potential harm that this activity may cause

(And, by the way, it’s an utilitarian goal)

I believe that this shouldn’t be just a journalistic goal anymore.

We should strive to make it a civic goal



humanunderstanding

learning

forces thatimpede learning



The modern jungle

of spin, dishonesty,

punditry,and the resulting

widespread mistrust

Th i f i t i li ti



The promise of mainstream visualization…

…leads to the challenge of widespread bad habits



How do we teach good and ethical

visualization habits to the general public?

How to avoid being mislead by bad visualizations

How to contribute to the betterment of society

by designing good visualizations

How to use good visualizations to be well informed



http://blog.visual.ly/creating-infographic-start-finish/

Unfortunately, some of us are offering really bad advice




Unfortunately, some of us are offering really bad advice





What are the

features that define agreat infographic or

data visualization?

September 2012



September 2012

Beginning of 2016September 2012



alberto cairoinsightful

the

artcommunicationwith data, charts, maps,and infographics

Beginning of 2016September 2012



1. Truthful

2. Functional

3. Beautiful4. Insightful

5. Enlightening

All f h h



1. Truthful

2. Functional


5. Enlightening

All of them have

ethical correlates

All f th h



1. Truthful

2. Functional


5. Enlightening

All of them have

ethical correlates

Be honest, and don’t lie to yourself

Be clear, and encode the information with appropriate graphic forms

Bring attention to relevant information

Reveal hidden truths

Don’t forget that our primary goal isto contribute as much as possible togeneral understanding



All f th h



1. Truthful

2. Functional


5. Enlightening

Be honest, and don’t lie to yourself

All of them have

ethical correlates



Can we humans really be truthful or objective?



“I avoid the word ‘objective,’ whichsuggests a mythical perfect state of truth.”

Bill Keller

“Human beings are not objectivity-drivenmachines. We all intrinsically perceive and

process the world through subjective prisms. What is the value in pretending otherwise?”

Glenn Greenwald

“Is Glenn Greenwald the Future of News?”http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/opinion/a-

conversation-in-lieu-of-a-column.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/opinion/a-conversation-in-lieu-of-a-column.html



‘Who Rules in Science?’ James Robert Brown

Truthful component 1: Don’t lie in purpose



But this is truer and more accurate

https://www.ncta.com/platform/public-policy/setting-the-record-straight-on-broadband-investment/

ORIGINAL BY: NCTA

Truthful, component 1: Don t lie in purpose




Side note: Always mistrustdesigners thatconsciously hideimportant data

Side note 2: Always(1) Make your dataavailable,and (2) explain your

methodology



But this is truer and more accurateThis may be true


ORIGINAL BY: NCTA




But this is truer and more accurate

!""# !" !# "$ #% #& #' #$ !### %#!(

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$%&'( *+,-./01 *+20%./0-3/-0( 456(+,7/-0(. !" $%&&%'"(

*+,+-.//012-342.15 6-4 25 8355+9:89(0(:-'%/7;+<;

<3=,+ *+,+>252.1<.150/+? @?.4+-42.1319 <./8+4242.1 6-4:8=(:-'%/7;+<;

ORIGINAL BY: NCTA

This may be true

ORIGINAL BY: NCTA



So, SO fishy…



Can we humans really be truthful or objective?



!



(there are multiple ways of beingmore or less objective)

Now, let’s suppose that each of these dots represents a



!

, pp pdesigner, or a graphic done by that designer

Th t thf l ti



The truthfulness continuum

!

Th t thf l ti



The same chart,plus minimumand medianspeed

!





Everything mentioned before, plus % ofpeople who haveaccess to each speed

!


The same chart,plus minimumand medianspeed

A habit of skeptical thinking can bef d i h bi f i li i d i



!"#$%&#$%$

transformed into a habit of visualization design

A habit of skeptical thinking can bef d i h bi f i li i d i



!"#$%&#$%$


Increasing depth

NYT’s The Upshot



http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/28/upshot/medicare-not-such-a-budget-buster-anymore.html?abt=0002&abg=1&_r=0

What about adding a second chart that shows

‘Spending per recipient’ times ‘number of recipients’?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/28/upshot/medicare-not-such-a-budget-buster-anymore.html?abt=0002&abg=1&_r=0



Spending per recipient times number of recipients ?



We need BOTH charts.

That’d increase depth.

Either of them is true.

Both of them togetherare truer

But depth may not be enough



This is great and clear

design, and also a very

deep presentationabout a topic.

But it’s also a bad

infographic



A habit of skeptical thinking can betransformed into a habit of visualization design



!"#$%&#$%$


Increasing depth

A habit of skeptical thinking can betransformed into a habit of visualization design



!"#$%&#$%$


Increasing depth AND breadth

(or: How to explainscientific strategies to people

without scaring them withterms like “regression”)

Other variables

Other variables



Kiev, Ukraine



Patternicity Finding meaningful patterns even if they aren’t really there



The color of each circle represents what party wonmore votes in the 2012 Parliamentary elections

I’m about to show you a proportional symbol map

Party of Regions

(pro-Russian party)

Fatherland Party

(pro-Western)

All Texty’s visualization pojects: http://texty org ua/pg/blog/infoviz

texty.org.ua

http://texty.org.ua/

http://texty.org.ua/pg/blog/infoviz



All Texty s visualization pojects: http://texty.org.ua/pg/blog/infoviz

http://www bbc co uk/news/world europe 25182823

BBC

http://texty.org.ua/pg/blog/infoviz

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25182823



The Washington Post



It’s more complicated than that…



If you were to publish themaps in a Western publication(whose audiences don’t knowmuch about Ukraine,) you’dneed to show at least theresults of the poll, too

It’s more complicated than that…



!"#$%&#$%$

Other variables

Other variables

Besides giving my daughter information,was I also teaching them a deeper lesson?



was I also teaching them a deeper lesson?



“Our minds are all we have.

They are all we have ever had. And they are all we can offer others.”- Sam Harris, ‘Waking Up’



thank you

www.thefunctionalart.com

http://www.thefunctionalart.com/

ona2014 - alberto cairo

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