Abstract
During the XXth century information design and data visualization underwent a process of rationalization, involving both the theoretical assumptions and the representation techniques employed. The aura of scientificity permeating data visualizations in the last twenty years has begun to falter following the enormous diffusion of these artifacts and their use in everyday contexts. The overproduction – and overexposure – of pie charts, histograms, flowcharts, tables, thematic and conceptual maps undermined the reputation of infographic languages as a scientific instrument of investigation and representation. Faced with this situation, some authors and designers have begun to rethink their methodological approach through critical (Hall 2011), humanistic (Drucker 2011) or conflictual perspectives (DiSalvo 2012). These perspectives follow two directions: on one hand they try to question or propose a critical review of the assumptions and rules that normally guide the design process; on the other they try to produce representations where the embedded knowledge is perceived and understood as a constructed, negotiated and situated form of knowledge. In this paper I'll go through some research approaches and projects where processes of data visualization are oriented towards the production of critical forms of knowledge and the construction of contested terrains. Following this new orientation the value of a critical project will be recognised as the “examination of the assumptions of a field of knowledge” (Crampton e Krygier 2006), and the process of re-framing and modifying those assumptions and conditions.