Data visualizations for perspective shifts and communal cohesion

Abstract

How can we use data visualizations to facilitate discussions about community challenges and priorities? I hypothesize that data visualizations that convey emotions, embodiment, and arise from a participatory design process grounded in design justice and data feminist principles, can inspire the collective discussions and perspective shifts required for communal cohesion. This thesis highlights projects in which communities, teams, and collaborators have done this well: The Exhibit of American Negroes, Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, and Data Zetu. Finally, I propose a project, Crowns of the South, to put these ideas into practice in an African American community data visualization project, concerned with Black education and employment rates in the United States South.