Approaching data visualizations as interfaces : An empirical demonstration of how data are imag(in)ed

Abstract

This chapter points out data visualization’s double role as explorative and communicative means in humanities research. We draw from science and technology studies looking at the mediation process at stake: the interaction between visualization tool and researcher. To emphasize this mediation process and expose the various decisions at its heart we introduce the term ‘data interface’. We highlight how visualizations function as data interfaces and visualization practices allow for interfacing with data biographing a network graph’s ‘life’. Using the lens of the ‘data interface’ underscores that a particular (network) visualization provides just one perspective on the data. Moreover, we examine if and how the used data interfaces encourage scholars to critically position their investigative work, during research processes and communication.

Sounding out the System: Multidisciplinary Web Science Platforms for Creative Sonification

“…This gestures towards considerations expressed in critical visualization. In identifying the differences between the representation and the underlying network object as presented through the tool, Daniela van Geenen and Maranke Wieringa [8] explore the role of algorithms in creating visual layouts of networks. This can be reframed to raises a fundamental question about is being heard and how it is understood as an epistemic object.…”

Staying with the trouble of networks

“…The empirical starting point was a data sample of more than 7.6 million tweets containing a 2 week "snapshot" of the Dutch-speaking day-to-day communication, collected between 4th and 18th September 2016. Network analysis was used to identify different communities based on their political and professional interests and various ways of using the platform (van Geenen et al, 2016;Wieringa et al, 2018a).…”

“…We examine challenges that can occur when network outputs are separated from their making, or the preceding exploratory and analytical work (cf. van Geenen and Wieringa, 2020 ). In 2016, researchers from the Datafied Society research platform embarked on an exploratory study of Twitter as a medium for everyday communication and information exchange and herein the role of users' geographical location and local engagement.…”

“…Such approaches may encourage network practitioners to attend to how their practices are mediated through critical encounters with relational data and the digital technologies and infrastructures that facilitate and frame their creation, analysis, and visual representation (cf. Gray et al, 2016 ; van Geenen and Wieringa, 2020 ).…”

Curtin Open Knowledge Initiative

“…The project develops interactive and visual dashboards in order to present multidimensional data narratives and analysis of research output performance by institution, country and region. The interfaces include graphs, charts and numerical data as key communicative tools with which to present analysis (van Geenen & Wieringa, 2020). User-centred design represents data about research output in non-intimidating ways that enable researchers, administrators and executives to fill gaps in their knowledge of institutional research publishing practices and outcomes.…”