4.5 ~ Introduction to Visualization Project

WHY DO IT? 

Persuasive people are those that know how to present their information in strategic fashion.  Instead of thinking of oneself as a "rhetor," which is a rather clunky and somewhat antiquated term, let's try to think of ourselves as information designers--architects of argument.

A good path for cultivating that perspective is working with images.  This route also makes sense given our current rhetorical climate, where images and icons dominate.  We're a society of screens: our music players show the album cover, the back of our cars' headrests have televisions, and YouTube...well, don't even get me started on the consequences of having a participatory culture based around video.  The point is that knowing how to skillfully combine text with image, claims with evidence, and aesthetics with information is an increasingly important for our age.

WHAT IS IT?

Argument mapping is the process of showing the infrastructure (or, if you'll excuse a bad pun, the "infostructure) of the series of claims that constitute an argument.  It reveals the logic that all-too-often goes unarticulated, illustrating the relationships among the claims, evidence, assumptions, and/or qualifying statements.  For this assignment, definitely feel free to include rebuttals (complete with their own mapped logic).  Weak arguments frequently masquerade as tough-guys; this project can expose them their logic for what it's worth.  It can also be an opportunity for taking a superior argument, but a complex one, and showing how it works so that others will be persuaded through your cogent presentation. 

Data visualization may be thought of as a translation--taking raw quantitative statistics and putting them into a (visual) language that's immediately intelligible.  We know that statistics carry persuasive power, since they're viewed as objective facts, so we use that aspect of the culture of our advantage.  But stats & facts are useless unless they're put into a context and used in the service of making a point.

HOW DO I DO IT?

Well, the first step is always to get interested--which is to say, invested.  Find your personal connection to the project and figure out how to make this work for you.  But for more detailed instructions and suggestions, check out the "step-by-step" guides that are on Carmen and on this site on the projects separate page (the tab is right below the site's banner).

WHEN IS IT DUE?

By Friday, April 23rd.  You'll turn it in to a Carmen dropbox by 5 pm in either .jpeg or .pdf format.  Please plan your time accordingly--this project is not one you can wait until the last minute on.