Ethical Visualization

A method for ethically visualizing data

Contents

Ethical Visualization for Impact

Details

Version: 3.1
Date: April 2020

About

Updated version of the method, as presented in the final version of the paper Make Me Care paper, presented at HCII DUXU 2020 and published in the HCII Conference Proceedings.

Related writing

Make Me Care: Visualization Ethics in the Sciences and Data Sciences by Katherine Hepworth. HCII DUXU2020 Conference Proceedings

Ethical Design Recommendations for COVID-19 Visualizations by Katherine Hepworth and Amanda Makulec. Nightingale. PDF

 

This version does not have an associated poster. The most recent poster is available here.

Contents

The steps

A. DISCOVERY | Discover the data

  • Investigate through analysis
    What can you find in the data using reason-led investigation?

  • Explore through play
    What can you find in the data using intuition-led exploration?

B. IMPACT | Scope the Impact

  • Assess stakes
    What is at stake in this visualization effort?

  • Establish purpose
    What is your motivation for sharing what you discovered in this data?

  • Identify intended and unintended audiences
    Who do you want your visualization to reach the most?

  • Determine impact type
    Which impact type will be most effective for your audiences?

C. FRAME | Develop the frame

  • Empathize with audiences
    What are your audiences’ greatest needs?

  • Formulate goal
    What is the goal for the visualization?

  • Create frame
    What kind of frame best achieves this goal?

  • Review frame literature
    What does the literature say about this frame?

D. DATASET | Prepare the dataset

  • Combine sources
    What sources will you draw from?

  • Improve veracity
    Will the data hold up under scrutiny?

  • Structure data
    Is the dataset intelligible and navigable?

  • Refine frame
    How does the frame need to be adjusted?

E. VISUALIZE | Visualize the frame

  • Review visualization ethics literature
    What are the latest ethical recommendations?

  • Determine context
    What is the most appropriate media context for your frame?

  • Design visualization
    What design decisions will visualize the frame effectively?

  • Test frame
    Does your visualization communicate the frame?

F. PUBLISH | Publish the visualization

  • Release visualization
    Will publishing base data do harm to any intended or unintended audience?

  • Show process & affiliations
    How can your ethical process be best demonstrated?

  • Measure impact
    What is the felt impact of your published visualization?

  • Feedback results
    How do the visualization’s intended impact and felt impact compare?

 

Poster

The poster for this version is currently under development.

The most recent poster available (for version 2.1) is available here.

 

Roles

Ethically visualizing data is a team effort, requiring multiple roles that have traditionally been associated with vastly different disciplinary traditions and siloes of knowledge. Four recommended roles outlined below. Some of these skill areas may be found in more than one person. One or more people may fill each role. The more recipients are involved in the process, the better.

  • Audience
    A person or people who from, or are as close as possible to, the intended audience(s). Co-creation is key to impact.
    Includes: readers, participants, users and/or viewers
  • Data wrangler
    A person with skill at cleaning, processing, and structuring data for visual display.
    Includes: computer scientist, data analyst, digital humanist, and/or statistician
  • Subject expert
    A person with in-depth subject expertise.
    Includes: academic, community organizer, public official and/or scientist
  • Visual storyteller
    A person with skill at ethically simplifying information and communicating it using visual means.
    Includes: communication designer, game designer, graphic recorder, illustrator, and/or journalist

A. DISCOVERY
Lead by: Subject expert
For: Subject expert

B. IMPACT
Lead by: Visual storyteller
For: Audience

C. FRAME
Lead by: Audience
For: Data wrangler

D. DATASET
Lead by: Data wrangler
For: Visual storyteller

E. VISUALIZE
Lead by: Visual storyteller
For: Subject expert

F. PUBLISH
Lead by: Subject expert
For: Audience

 

Participate

Follow

You can follow development of this work by subscribing to Dr Katherine Hepworth’s newsletter at https://broaderimpacts.substack.com.

Contribute

If you’d like to contribute to the development of this work, please reach out at khepworth at unr dot edu. Referrals to other projects, literature, and methods that may be relevant are welcome, as well as suggestions for improvement or other modes of implmentation.

Project help

Have a high-stakes visualization you need to make an impact? There are a limited number of spots available for client work under the auspices of the Mick Hitchcock Ph.D. Project for Visualizing Science. To express your interest, reach out at khepworth at unr dot edu.

 

Credits

Citation

Hepworth, K. (2020). Ethical Visualization for Impact. DOI

From Hepworth, K. 2020. (forthcoming) “Make Me Care: Ethical Visualization for Impact in the Sciences and Data Sciences”, HCII Conference 2020 Proceedings.

Funding

The following institutions have supported development of this method.

  • Nevada NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Space Grant Consortium, Award No. NNX15AI02H
  • National Endowment of the Humanities Office of Digital Humanities, Award No. HAA-266490-19
  • University of Nevada, Reno, various internal grants
  • Mick Hitchcock Ph.D. Project for Visualizing Science

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgement of previous versions can be found in the documentation for each one, listed below. In addition to previous contributions, I am grateful for the contributions, discussion, and feedback on this version from Sage Cheng at Access Now, Sonia Jalfin at Sociopublico, Max Frischknecht of Bern University of the Applied Arts, and Georgia Bullen of Simply Secure.

 

Development

Updates

This method is under regularly updated. It is a key activity of Katherine Hepworth’s interdisciplinary research.

 

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Acknowledgements

Contributors

The following people assisted with the work of developing this method. Their perspectives have led to the improvements outlined in the current version.

  • Georgina Rogers
    Specific contribution: Discussion of ethical visualization; feedback on 3.0 and poster.

Supporting organizations

The following institutions have supported work on this version.

Citation

Hepworth, Katherine. Ethical Visualization for Impact, Version 3.1. (2020). From paper Hepworth, K. 2020(forthcoming). 'Make Me Care: Visualization Ethics in the Sciences and Data Sciences.' HCII DUXU2020 Conference Proceedings. Hepworth, K. & Makulec, A. 2020. 'Ethical Design Recommendations for COVID-19 Visualizations.' Nightingale. May 15, 2020. https://medium.com/p/cb4a2677ae40

License

Creative Commons License
Ethical Visualization by Katherine Hepworth is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://kathep.github.io/ethics.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from personal correspondence with the author.