Digital political infographics: A rhetorical palette of an emergent genre

Abstract

Information visualizations (“infographics”) have long been part of the production of knowledge, although the rise of digital media brought about a significant expansion in both their volume and their use for political purposes. This article provides a first overview and typology of the emergent genre we term “digital political infographics.” Informed by literature and theory about visualizations, political persuasion, interfaces, and digital sharing, we aimed to reveal the “data-politics” unique to this expression form. A grounded analysis of 200 politically oriented infographics on Twitter yielded a two-dimensional typology relating to the narrative strategies and the interfaces underpinning users’ engagement with data in this discursive format. An integrative evaluation revealed that digital political infographics are hybrid communicative forms, characterized by three influence trajectories between political persuasion, infographic conventions, and digital environments: “politicizing” infographic traits, “infographing” political tactics, and creating a new common ground, featuring a rhetoric of “tactile data experience.”