Bubbles, Lines and String: How Visualisation Shapes Society

Data provides the means by which science progresses, legislation changes, and society advances; data is the enemy of witch hunts, bigotry and ignorance (not to mention Creationism). But data is always gathered at a certain time with a certain purpose; and to be useful it must be mined, parsed, and presented. Each step of this process involves decisions about what to omit and what to prioritise. Yet the end result, the visualisation, carries an authority, timelessness, and objectivity that belies its origins. Curiously, this fact is neglected in the otherwise rich discourse around data visualisation and information design.