By Regina Lisinker, Laura Allen
Information
Data visualization is a common tool for conveying information across fields. Thus, it is imperative that consumption of visual data is consistent with the author’s intended narrative. Creation and consumption of visual information have been addressed across a number of disciplines; however, the two are not often addressed in tandem and are rarely grounded in empirical evidence on information processing. This poster highlights research in cognitive science, specifically perception and discourse comprehension, to propose a framework for the consumption of data visualization. By positioning data visualization as a form of communication, we argue that successful creation of data visualization cannot be done without considering consumption. Thus, in order to teach students how to create visualizations, they need to pull apart the ways in which they consume visual information. In this poster, we will describe a future test of the framework, which will take place in an undergraduate introductory data visualization course at a large Midwestern university. Specifically, we will describe in-class activities that will highlight the component processes of visualization consumption, such as visualization recreation, think aloud procedures for explicit noticings during visualization consumption, and the use of open-ended research questions to facilitate intentional visualization creation.