Information may be beautiful, but our decisions about the data we choose to represent and how we represent it are never neutral. Peter A. Hall and Patricio Davila's insightful history traces how data visualization accompanied modern technologies of war, colonialism and the management of social issues of poverty, health and crime. Their discussion is based around seventy examples of visualization, from Florence Nightingale's diagrams of causes of mortality in the Crimean War to contemporary projects that show the true cost of coal and the fate of our rubbish, taking a participatory approach to visualizing cities. This analysis places visualization in its theoretical and cultural contexts, providing a critical framework for understanding the history of information design with new directions for contemporary practice.
Critical Visualization
Peter A. Hall and Patricio Davila
A new critical history of data visualization, from the late 18th century to the present day.Rights Sold
All rights availableBook Details
Imprint: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Publication Date: 29-12-2022
Format: Paperback
256 pagesAbout the Authors
Peter A. Hall is Course Leader, BA (Hons) Graphic Communication Design at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, UK. His publications include Else/Where: Mapping - New Cartographies of Networks and Territories, edited with Janet Abrams (2005), Tibor Kalman: Perverse Optimist (2002) and Sagmeister: Made You Look (2009).
Patricio Dávila is a designer, artist, researcher and educator. He is Associate Professor in the Department of Cinema and Media Arts in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design, at York University, Canada.
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