Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Critical Visualization
Peter Hall's "Critical Visualization" outlines 3 approaches to information graphics. The first is tehnological, which looks at effectiveness, the second is scientific, which looks at reducing complexity, and aesthetic, which looks at style. This perspective of breaking up information graphics into three different approaches and also cautioning towards the subjective narrative that data inevitably conveys is in line with our current discussions on postmodernism. The fact that charts and graphs still boils down to being able to convey a narrative and that it is ultimately biased worries me a little -- is there any way we can regain an idealistic view of what we consider true, or are we forever going to be questioning and doubting everything that is human-related?
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I think the challenge of our time is to become comfortable and productive with ambiguity. It requires resilience as well.
ReplyDeleteYour response to this issue of post-modern places you in a post-postmodern perspective I think!
To further define and explore this critical stance would be very interesting!
I really enjoyed this article and thought it was pretty fascinating especially the part on the cholera map. It really puts into visualization the problem with regarding such diagrams and record as applicable but deserved of an objective stance. Objectivity itself is a well disputed topic in terms of visualization whether, art, design, architecture especially in postmodern, post-structuralist discourse.
ReplyDeleteFor me the concern isn't necessarily doubting the truth because of bias. I think you can use data to argue a plenitude of objectives. I found myself thinking of my sister's research into the effects of tar sand development on freshwater... She is being funded by SinCrude and they have no idea what her objective is and she has been keeping her findings somewhat quiet until recently. In this situation you have SinCrude's bias -Tar sands are good and we should develop them, and you have my sister's bias - freshwater ecosystems are important and need to be preserved so that life can continue. These biases are pretty obvious from the outset. What is really interesting is how the information will be used to create legislation and regulations to appease both parties.
ReplyDeleteWhat is done with the information is really what I am concerned by. In the case of the cholera map, there was positive action taken to rectify the problem... will the same happen in the million dollar blocks?