Visualization as infrastructure: China’s data visualization politics during COVID-19 and their implications for public health emergencies

Author:

Zhao Luming1ORCID,Ye WeiMing1ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Peking University, Shenzhen, China

Abstract

In this article, we analyze the rise of data visualization in social and political contexts. Against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic, we consider a case in Shenzhen, China, and demonstrate the impact of visualization as intermediation for data on policies and society. We propose an epistemology of visualization as infrastructure. In China, visualization has been developed as a technological system to support information dissemination and collective action in public crises. Three characteristics are proposed to describe China’s data visualization politics during the pandemic, in particular, to summarize the power relationships between visual brokers, policymakers, and public users in data visualization. Further, based on the conceptualization of the links between visualization, infrastructure, and data politics, visualization serves as an important component of information infrastructure, and is an easily overlooked technical process. The creation and use of data may seem like normalized actions, but data visualization in fact supports the perception, participation, proposal, and critique of data politics issues. Via a focus group discussion with members of the Shenzhen public health sector and in-depth interviews with Shenzhen residents, we developed a qualitative effectiveness measurement framework highlighting the potential for the involvement of visualization in politics and activism.

Funder

National Social Science Fundation of China

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Subject

Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous),Communication

Cited by 4 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

1. Understanding and Improving Drilled-Down Information Extraction from Online Data Visualizations for Screen-Reader Users;20th International Web for All Conference;2023-04-30

2. Next slide please: the politics of visualization during COVID-19 press briefings;Journal of European Public Policy;2023-01-10

3. The politics of data visualisation and policy making;Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies;2022-02

4. Visualization Design Practices in a Crisis: Behind the Scenes With COVID-19 Dashboard Creators;IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics;2022

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