20. What a line can say : Investigating the semiotic potential of the connecting line in data visualizations

Abstract

The line is a graphical element widely used in data visualizations, its purpose often being to signal a connection between other visual elements. Based on social semiotic theory, this article investigates what semiotic functions connecting lines can have and how these functions can be related to variations in form. The results show that, in addition to the basic function of connecting elements, such lines can also indicate the level of certainty, direct the viewer to read the information either as a narrative or a conceptual claim, indicate patterns of cohesion, and regulate the viewer's position. These findings allow for further empirical research on the formation of visual conventions.

Rethinking multimodal corpora from the perspective of Peircean semiotics

“…Previous research has shown that diagrams regularly use arrows and lines for diverse communicative functions: they can, for example, represent processes and relationships that hold between diagram elements (see e.g. Alikhani and Stone, 2018;Lechner, 2020b). Lechner (2020a, p. 118), who explores how data visualizations use connecting lines to express uncertainty, observes that the iconic qualities of arrows and lines can determine or complement their communicative functions.…”

“…Previous research has shown that cut-out diagrams are characterized by relatively stable layout patterns in which the depicted object is placed in the center of the layout, whereas the parts of the object are picked out using lines and written labels (Hiippala and Bateman, 2022b;Hiippala, 2023). Given that cutout diagrams use lines to represent part-whole structures, it may be assumed that they would prefer to use thinner arrows and lines than cycles, which use these elements to represent processes and other phenomena (Lechner, 2020b). However, conducting a hybrid search for arrows among cut-out diagrams by using the same element as in Figure 6 returns mixed results, which are shown in Figure 8.…”

“…If the annotator recognizes the arrow (sign-vehicle 2 ) as a diagrammatic element (object 2 ) that stands for a process (interpretant 2 ), then this requires treating the arrow as a replica of an iconic legisign that governs the conventionalised use of arrows and lines for representing processes and relations in diagrams (see e.g. Alikhani and Stone, 2018;Lechner, 2020b). As noted above by Jappy (2013, p. 33), legisigns are replicated using sinsigns: they stand in a relationship of instantiation that Peirce described using the terms type and token (Bateman, 2018, p. 11).…”