The political potential of numbers: data visualisation in the abortion debate

Data visualisation has been argued to have the power to ‘change the world’, implicitly for the better, but when it comes to abortion, both sides make moral claims to ‘good’. Visualisation conventions of clean lines and shapes simplify data, lending them a rhetoric of neutrality, as if the data is t...

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Autor principal:	Rosemary Lucy Hill
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	DA EN NB SV
Publicado:	The Royal Danish Library 2017
Materias:	Abortion data activism data visualisation feminism pro-choice Social Sciences H
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/ddaac870c97d4a7189cd1eadd64bec58
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:ddaac870c97d4a7189cd1eadd64bec582021-12-01T00:06:00ZThe political potential of numbers: data visualisation in the abortion debate10.7146/kkf.v26i1.1097892245-6937https://doaj.org/article/ddaac870c97d4a7189cd1eadd64bec582017-09-01T00:00:00Zhttps://tidsskrift.dk/KKF/article/view/109789https://doaj.org/toc/2245-6937 Data visualisation has been argued to have the power to ‘change the world’, implicitly for the better, but when it comes to abortion, both sides make moral claims to ‘good’. Visualisation conventions of clean lines and shapes simplify data, lending them a rhetoric of neutrality, as if the data is the whole story. It is imperative, therefore, to examine how data visualisations are used to shape women’s lives. This article draws on the findings of the Persuasive Data project . Google Image Scraper was used to locate abortion-related visualisations circulating online. The images, their web locations, and data use were social semiotically analysed to understand their visual rhetoric and political use. Anti-abortion groups are more likely to use data visualisation than pro-choice groups, thereby simplifying the issue and mobilising the rhetoric of neutrality. I argue that data visualisations are being used as a hindrance to women’s access to abortion, and that the critique of such visualisations needs to come from feminists. This article extends discussions of how data is often reified as objective, by showing how the rhetoric of objectivity within data visualisation conventions is harnessed to do work in the world that is potentially very damaging to women’s rights. Rosemary Lucy HillThe Royal Danish LibraryarticleAbortiondata activismdata visualisationfeminismpro-choiceSocial SciencesHDAENNBSVKvinder, Køn & Forskning, Vol 26, Iss 1 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	DA EN NB SV
topic	Abortion data activism data visualisation feminism pro-choice Social Sciences H
spellingShingle	Abortion data activism data visualisation feminism pro-choice Social Sciences H Rosemary Lucy Hill The political potential of numbers: data visualisation in the abortion debate
description	Data visualisation has been argued to have the power to ‘change the world’, implicitly for the better, but when it comes to abortion, both sides make moral claims to ‘good’. Visualisation conventions of clean lines and shapes simplify data, lending them a rhetoric of neutrality, as if the data is the whole story. It is imperative, therefore, to examine how data visualisations are used to shape women’s lives. This article draws on the findings of the Persuasive Data project . Google Image Scraper was used to locate abortion-related visualisations circulating online. The images, their web locations, and data use were social semiotically analysed to understand their visual rhetoric and political use. Anti-abortion groups are more likely to use data visualisation than pro-choice groups, thereby simplifying the issue and mobilising the rhetoric of neutrality. I argue that data visualisations are being used as a hindrance to women’s access to abortion, and that the critique of such visualisations needs to come from feminists. This article extends discussions of how data is often reified as objective, by showing how the rhetoric of objectivity within data visualisation conventions is harnessed to do work in the world that is potentially very damaging to women’s rights.
format	article
author	Rosemary Lucy Hill
author_facet	Rosemary Lucy Hill
author_sort	Rosemary Lucy Hill
title	The political potential of numbers: data visualisation in the abortion debate
title_short	The political potential of numbers: data visualisation in the abortion debate
title_full	The political potential of numbers: data visualisation in the abortion debate
title_fullStr	The political potential of numbers: data visualisation in the abortion debate
title_full_unstemmed	The political potential of numbers: data visualisation in the abortion debate
title_sort	political potential of numbers: data visualisation in the abortion debate
publisher	The Royal Danish Library
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/ddaac870c97d4a7189cd1eadd64bec58
work_keys_str_mv	AT rosemarylucyhill thepoliticalpotentialofnumbersdatavisualisationintheabortiondebate AT rosemarylucyhill politicalpotentialofnumbersdatavisualisationintheabortiondebate
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The political potential of numbers: data visualisation in the abortion debate

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