Tag: Data Literacy

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Bhavin Lathia

Make the Invisible Tangible: Turning Time Gaps into Distance

Turn an abstract quantity into a physical distance and draw it to scale, and a number nobody can feel becomes one anybody can see. At..
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Kemi Elizabeth Ojogbede

The Plot Hole Only a Graph Could Find

I mapped The Odyssey and its two newest adaptations as a graph, and learned that some data errors are invisible until you stop reading and..
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Eva Sibinga

Critically Evaluating LLMs: What Data Visualization Can Teach Us

These thoughts are gathered from the before, during, and after of a workshop I led as part of a data visualization conference. Big thanks to..
A chart of 32 labeled geometric sign types found in Paleolithic cave art—including circles, crosshatches, spirals, hand stencils, and zigzagsO
Alexey Pomigalov

Old Data Processing That Changed History

The article was written by Alexey Pomigalov, PhD in history and curator of the DataArt IT Museum, in April 2026. It draws on material prepared..
Illustration of scales weighing "fact" versus "fake" against a graph backdrop.W
Debasmita Basu

We Taught Students to Read Graphs, but We Forgot to Teach Them to Question Themselves

“Who made this? Yes, I’m asking the source. I have to know, I have to know.” This was the first thing Luke said after he..
A fifteenth-century Italian fresco depicting the funeral of Saint Stephen. Mourners in long robes gather around the saint's body, laid out on a bier. The scene unfolds inside a classical architectural setting with columns and arches.A
Nastassia Shaveika

AI, Orientalism, and “Calm” Art

How GPT-4 labeled over half of the world’s art with a single feeling This painting is unmistakably a funeral. Death, in different cultures and to..
Three transparent glasses showing different water levels, low, medium, and full — illustrating varying degrees of access.H
Inumimo Idowu

How a Simple Glass of Water Makes Global Inequality Impossible to Ignore

A minimal, metaphor-driven approach to visualizing global access to safe drinking water — and why simplicity may be the most powerful storytelling tool in data..
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Ruishan Wu, Zezhong Wang, Haidan Liu, Krithika Balasubramanyam, Kanak Gautam, Aham Gupta, Shannon McAllister & Sheelagh Carpendale

Exploring Data Detective Practices as a Class Activity

We reflect on our experiences arising from a recent computer science graduate class about data feminism, during which we explored the idea of being data..
an image of google search images with a crack across itT
Jason Forrest

The “Dashboard” is Broken

The value of dashboards has eroded. When executives hear the word “dashboard” today, they envision standard charts in BI platforms—obligatory elements for meetings rather than..
A diagram illustrating the different phases of a project's lifecycle, represented in a diamond shape divided into four segments. Each segment is labeled with a different phase of the project: "Expand/Ideate" - This first segment, colored in purple, represents the beginning phase where ideas are generated and the project scope is expanded. It is marked with the note "Max risk of overwhelm," indicating that this is the stage where one might feel overwhelmed by the possibilities. "Focus/Consolidate" - The second segment, also in purple, follows the ideation phase and involves narrowing down ideas and focusing on the most viable ones. "Build/Produce" - The third segment, colored in blue, is where the actual product or project is built or produced. "Deliver/Deploy" - The final segment in blue represents the delivery or deployment phase of the project, marked with the word "Success!" A vertical axis labeled "Size of Project" shows an upward direction indicating growth or expansion. At the bottom of the axis are the words "Question, interest, or idea," and at the top, the phrase "Plan for what to do and how to tackle (at least some of it)" is written, suggesting that as the project progresses, a more concrete plan is formed. A black dot is placed at the intersection of the "Focus/Consolidate" and "Build/Produce" phases with an arrow pointing to it marked with "You are here," suggesting that the viewer is currently at the transition point between these two phases. The arrow also has a note "Max risk of exhaustion," warning of the potential for burnout at this stage. The diagram serves as a conceptual roadmap for project management, indicating that the project is halfway through its lifecycle and cautioning against the common risks associated with each stage.S
Erica Gunn

Step 8 in the Data Exploration Journey: Build

This article is part 9 in a series on data exploration, and the common struggles that we all face when trying to learn something new...
A book cover which reads "The Data Storyteller's Handbook: How to create business impact using data storytelling by Kat Greenbrook" along with diverse illustrations of different people kindly interacting, a kiwi and a penguin.B
Neil Richards

Book Review – “The Data Storyteller’s Handbook”

Learn more about Kat Greenbrook's latest book while diving into her process behind its creation.
An image of a fake newspaper article that says "Mass Panic" and includes a map of red and blue states. Dogs wearing blue suits are on one side of the paper and cats wearing red are on the other.D
Eli Holder

Divisive Dataviz: How Political Data Journalism Divides Our Democracy

Recent dataviz research shows how the most popular tropes in political data journalism can distort the democratic process.
An image of two dashboards. One is partly covered by a sad face emoji, the other partly covered by a happy face emoji.W
Alex Kolokolov

We Cannot Give Up on the Data Viz Renegades!

Data viz renegades are often resistant to learn how to properly visually communicate the data that they work with. Here's how to help them.
The warming stripes of Poland, with colors on a gradient moving from blues to redsC
Monika Fratczak

Can Datavis Make Unpalatable Data More Enjoyable?

I studied emotional reactions to climate-related data visuals. Certain visuals evoked positive feelings—despite the unsettling topic.
AI-generated image of a brown dog wearing a suit with sunglasses. The glasses have lenses that are shaded blue and red.T
Eli Holder

Through a Partisan Lens: How Politics Overrides Information

A political psychology primer for information designers.
The Double Diamond design model has four stages: Ideate, Focus, Build/Produce and Delivery. In the double diamond, there's an arrow pointing to the very center of the two diamonds, which is right between Focus and Build. The callout text explains that this is where you plan for what to do and how to tackle (at least some of) it.S
Erica Gunn

Step 7 in the Data Exploration Journey: Spin-Off Projects

With large projects, it's common to pursue spin-off ideas for the material that doesn't fit into the core project. Here are two examples.