Selected lecture / Text - Code- Image: Dialogue Between Design and Science HIT Holon Institute of Technology – Faculty of Design and School of Computer Science / Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art at the University of West Bohemia, Czech Republic. Wednesday, December 7th, 2023
Data Visualization as a Way of Interpretation
A Critical View
Data Visualization can turn data into knowledge in an age where databases reach sizes beyond human comprehension. Data visualization can assist in revealing hidden patterns and present complex realities and processes. Yet, although data visualization has become a legitimate and essential methodology in scientific research, it is important to note that it is the result of the specific qualities of the visual tools that determine how information is presented. Moreover, it is always an interpretive process, and therefore, it is never neutral. Even though it makes often obscure knowledge accessible to many populations, it is used in many cases as an effective manipulative tool to promote different ideological and political agendas. This lecture aims to critically examine the benefits and limitations inherent in information visualization practices while referring to examples based on analogue visualization techniques as well as on algorithmic-based visualization of large-scale databases.