The impact of technology on information design in journalism

Isabel Meirelles
OCAD University

News organizations have traditionally used infographics to inform readers about complex phenomena such as making visible the non-visible, and depicting spatially events and processes that unfold over time. Technological innovation has expanded the possibilities of this tradition, as can be seen in interactive infographics or explanatory animations, for example. Data-driven news stories are also not new, and we find examples dating back to the first half of the 19th century when most European countries established the collection, organization and dissemination of official government statistics. It is well-known that efforts to develop standards for statistical graphics begun in 1853 at the First International Statistical Congress in Belgium.

If in the past, technologies of production were the main determining factor, now technologies of readership also affect how we present and interact with information. For example, the medium, the device, and even the reader’s location will affect what one experiences. In this talk, I will examine how interactivity has been used in journalism both to structure the presentation of information as well as for data exploration, something that until recently was constrained to visualization experts.

Presentation (PDF File)

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