Data Visualization’s Code of Ethics

What is data visualization? As our discussion a few weeks ago with the World Bank revealed, governments and organizations rely on data visualization in the form of charts and graphs to convey relatively complex information in a limited visual space. Other people, such as roving journalist turned designer David McCandless, attempt to forgo text in favor of elegant visuals that conceptualize complex topics like politics or the per capita ratio of soldiers to citizenry in countries around the globe.

As we have stated before, data visualization is incredibly important in this particular era because the amount of time any one of us will spend looking for information has shrunk to a very tiny window due to the ubiquitous nature of search engines. In combination with the nature of mobile devices, which encourage the use of emoticons and other symbol-based language, we are collectively shaping a new era of language, where text is minimized and graphics take on an even greater weight.

Conveying information in such an rapid era, where a well-designed chart can carry more influence than a thoughtfully researched tome, requires a greater emphasis on accurate and vetted sources. With the fourth estate of journalism in a state of weary disrepair, bloggers, designers and data artists must uphold an older code of ethics and become their own fact-checkers. If information does not possess some tangible link to reality, our world will become entirely virtual, leading to the complete collapse of the so-called ‘real’ one.

We have already seen the effects of shoddy information on the actual world. Entire governments have given up decades of international good will based on fudged statistics pushed by formerly trustworthy aides, a la Colin Powell’s 2003 speech to the United Nations.

With data visualization, it would be beneficial to present ‘facts’ to the best of our ability, without using the power of the medium to suit our own interests. However, as David McCandless admits, creating a fully representative chart of the political spectrum was not a particularly comfortable experience, as it revealed how his own deeply held beliefs had been influenced by outside factors. But it was still possible.