{"id":22018,"date":"2021-02-03T21:01:11","date_gmt":"2021-02-04T02:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/?p=22018"},"modified":"2021-02-03T21:01:14","modified_gmt":"2021-02-04T02:01:14","slug":"evolution-of-visualization-instruction-in-the-early-20th-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/visualization\/evolution-of-visualization-instruction-in-the-early-20th-century\/","title":{"rendered":"Evolution of Visualization Instruction in the Early 20th Century"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Introduction<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In taking in and reflecting upon readings and visualizations provided on the history of visualization, my attention was repeated drawn back to discussions of W. E. B. Du Bois\u2019 \u201cArresting Modernist Visualizations\u201d that he presented at World\u2019s Fair of 1900. I had studied these visualizations as an undergraduate in college as part of my sociology-history double major, since, as Popova points out, the work put into aggregating and digesting nearly a decade of data about the lives of Black Americans went into \u201cshaping\u201d The Souls of Black Folks <\/em>(1903) (and I daresay even Darkwater: Voices from within the Veil<\/em> [1920]).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borrowing from Popova:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Du Bois] enlisted some of his best students in rendering his statistics on four key dimensions of the black experience \u2014 \u201cthe history of the American Negro,\u201d \u201chis present condition,\u201d \u201chis education,\u201d and \u201chis literature\u201d \u2014 into a series of hand-painted ink and watercolor charts, diagrams, and figures\u2026conceived of and created entirely by African Americans:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have [made] an honest, straightforward exhibit of a small nation of people, picturing their life and development without apology or gloss, and above all made by themselves.\u201d This they accomplished in very little time and with no funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though I\u2019d always admired Du Bois\u2019 work for his visualizations ability to communicate solemnly and honestly about the social condition of Black Americans, approaching these works through the lens of the history of visualization demonstrated another aspect of the impressiveness of Du Bois\u2019 work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This timeline underscores how instruction in visualization and graphical design unfolded in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In doing so, the innovative nature of DuBois\u2019 work comes into much sharper focus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Materials<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I used Timeline JS, KnightLab\u2019s open source visualization tool that work with Google Sheets to create interactive, media-rich experiences for users, to create the following visualization<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Methods, Steps<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I primarily use Friendly & Denis\u2019 behemoth of a timeline, \u201cMilestones in the history of thematic cartography, statistical graphics, and data visualization\u201d (2001), to identify milestones for this timeline. The milestone entries provided by the creators provided jumping-off points for understanding trends in the development and dissemination of knowledge surrounding visualization techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another critical step taken in searching for information about individuals or imprints was teasing out nuance around each milestone. I was interested in both the subject of certain landmark publications and graphical designs as well as the cultural and social identities ascribed to and attained by those who created these works. In drawing attention to these qualities of instruction, my goal is to shed light on the philosophies and fields of study that undergird the history of visualization.  Giving name to the buttressing qualities of these developments demonstrates, if nothing else, that uniformity of identity and experience present in the history of visualization. My motivation to organize a timeline this is the hope that this visualization may inspire understanding of the embedded influence of white patriarchal philosophies the broader field of data analysis and visualization. Identifying this influence is an essential step to establishing a data feminist, intersectional field of data analysis and visualization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Struck by Du Bois as well as several other scholars and graphical designers who allow their data to guide their visualizations in innovative direction, I included visualizations produced by these scholars wherever possible. Like Bowley\u2019 rolling average, I found viewing these visualizations chronologically gently but clearly highlights changes in graphical practices over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Results<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here to view timeline<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflection<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curating this timeline was an invisible rollercoaster, a project where every hole in the information could be a rabbit hole. When trying to track down information about statisticians, their publications, etc., I found that marshalling essentially \u201cequal\u201d amounts of information about each milestone (for example, I could find graphs from one scholar\u2019s publication but not another, I could find a biography of one scholar but not another, etc.). The inability to get \u201cequal\u201d amounts of information for each milestone is the main difference between the timeline I imagined and the timeline I was able to build, from the milestones themselves to the design choices I made. If I\u2019d had enough timeline milestones, I could have accommodated for unequal access to information by grouping related milestones together, adding more era slides instead of title slides to highlight the (i.e., textbook publication, the introduction of graphical standards\/rules, the development of statistical\/graphical curriculum). If I were to approach this assignment again, I would be interested in seeing, understanding what a history of visualization separating out or otherwise excluding advances in visualization made by those who subscribed to oppressive or harmful politics, like E. P. Cubberley. I\u2019d love to re-attempt this assignment specifically focusing on chronologically presenting the contributions of Black and other scholars of color, not just because awareness of their stories and contributions is underrepresented across the history of visualization, but also to observe the impact of their identities, experiences, on their visualization<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sources<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

American Economic Association (1918), New Books<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

American Railway Engineering Association (1921), Proceedings of the 22nd<\/sup> Annual Convention of the American Railway held at the Congress Hotel, Chicago, Illinois, March 15, 16, 17, 1921, Volume 22<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ballantyne (2002), Chapter 3: American Schooling, Administrative Reform, And Individual Ability Testing: Assimilation and sorting before World War I.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day (1920), Reviewed Work: Graphic Methods for Presenting Facts by Willard C. Brinton<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fontaine (1926), French Industry During the War<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funkhouser (1937), Historical Development of the Graphical Representation of Statistical Data<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

International Statistical Institute (1903), <\/strong>Bulletin de L’Institut International de Statistique<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iowa State University (1917), General Catalog: Announcements and Faculty List<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maldonado (2020), Eugenics on the Farm: Ellwood Cubberley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

National Portrait Gallery (n.d.), Walery (active 1884-1898), Photographer<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Providence Public Library (1919), Quarterly Bulletin of the Providence Public Library, Volumes 17-18<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sanger (1901), Reviews: Elements of Statistics<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warne (1919), Chartography in ten lessons<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weisz (1976), EMILE DURKHEIM ON THE FRENCH UNIVERSITIES<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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