ONA2014 - Alberto Cairo
Transcript of ONA2014 - Alberto Cairo
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The Ethics of Data Visualization
The Journalist, the Artistand the Engineer
alberto cairo • university of miami • @albertocairo
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a meandering journey begins…
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9-year old boy
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“How do you build a Hobbit hole in Minecraft?”
9-year old boy
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3-year old girl
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“Daddy, do you have a baby in your tummy?”
3-year old girl
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7-year old girl
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“Why don’t planets stop spinning?”
7-year old girl
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wtf?
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“Google it, kiddo!”
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a visualization is a display of evidence
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information shaped as a graphic
functions as a cognitive aid
a visualization is a display of evidence
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“OK, now I get it!”
7-year old girl
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“But then, if planets spin so fast,why aren’t we thrown off the Earth?”
7-year old girl
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Good answers lead to more good questionsand visualization (both “data visualization” and
“infographics”) can help ignite this process
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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
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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
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humanunderstanding
learning
forces thatimpede learning
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The modern jungle
of spin, dishonesty,
punditry,and the resulting
widespread mistrust
Th i f i t i li ti
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The promise of mainstream visualization…
…leads to the challenge of widespread bad habits
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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
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http://blog.visual.ly/creating-infographic-start-finish/
Unfortunately, some of us are offering really bad advice
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Unfortunately, some of us are offering really bad advice
http://blog.visual.ly/creating-infographic-start-finish/
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What are the
features that define agreat infographic or
data visualization?
September 2012
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September 2012
Beginning of 2016September 2012
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alberto cairoinsightful
the
artcommunicationwith data, charts, maps,and infographics
Beginning of 2016September 2012
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1. Truthful
2. Functional
3. Beautiful4. Insightful
5. Enlightening
All f h h
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1. Truthful
2. Functional
3. Beautiful4. Insightful
5. Enlightening
All of them have
ethical correlates
All f th h
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1. Truthful
2. Functional
3. Beautiful4. Insightful
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
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All f th h
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1. Truthful
2. Functional
3. Beautiful4. Insightful
5. Enlightening
Be honest, and don’t lie to yourself
All of them have
ethical correlates
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Can we humans really be truthful or objective?
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“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
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‘Who Rules in Science?’ James Robert Brown
Truthful component 1: Don’t lie in purpose
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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
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Side note: Always mistrustdesigners thatconsciously hideimportant data
Side note 2: Always(1) Make your dataavailable,and (2) explain your
methodology
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But this is truer and more accurateThis may be true
https://www.ncta.com/platform/public-policy/setting-the-record-straight-on-broadband-investment/
ORIGINAL BY: NCTA
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But this is truer and more accurate
!""# !" !# "$ #% #& #' #$ !### %#!(
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<3=,+ *+,+>252.1<.150/+? @?.4+-42.1319 <./8+4242.1 6-4:8=(:-'%/7;+<;
ORIGINAL BY: NCTA
This may be true
ORIGINAL BY: NCTA
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So, SO fishy…
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Can we humans really be truthful or objective?
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!
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(there are multiple ways of beingmore or less objective)
Now, let’s suppose that each of these dots represents a
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!
, pp pdesigner, or a graphic done by that designer
Th t thf l ti
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The truthfulness continuum
!
Th t thf l ti
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The same chart,plus minimumand medianspeed
!
The truthfulness continuum
The truthfulness continuum
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Everything mentioned before, plus % ofpeople who haveaccess to each speed
!
The truthfulness continuum
The same chart,plus minimumand medianspeed
A habit of skeptical thinking can bef d i h bi f i li i d i
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!"#$%&#$%$
transformed into a habit of visualization design
A habit of skeptical thinking can bef d i h bi f i li i d i
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!"#$%&#$%$
transformed into a habit of visualization design
Increasing depth
NYT’s The Upshot
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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’?
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Spending per recipient times number of recipients ?
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We need BOTH charts.
That’d increase depth.
Either of them is true.
Both of them togetherare truer
But depth may not be enough
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This is great and clear
design, and also a very
deep presentationabout a topic.
But it’s also a bad
infographic
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A habit of skeptical thinking can betransformed into a habit of visualization design
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!"#$%&#$%$
transformed into a habit of visualization design
Increasing depth
A habit of skeptical thinking can betransformed into a habit of visualization design
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!"#$%&#$%$
transformed 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
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Kiev, Ukraine
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Patternicity Finding meaningful patterns even if they aren’t really there
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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
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All Texty s visualization pojects: http://texty.org.ua/pg/blog/infoviz
http://www bbc co uk/news/world europe 25182823
BBC
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25182823
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The Washington Post
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It’s more complicated than that…
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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…
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!"#$%&#$%$
Other variables
Other variables
Besides giving my daughter information,was I also teaching them a deeper lesson?
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was I also teaching them a deeper lesson?
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“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’
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thank you
www.thefunctionalart.com