Briefing

Mon 27th Sep 2021 (week 1)

Outcome

A static piece of information design including data visualisations based on official, reliable data sources.

Deadline / Crit

Mon 18th Oct 2021 (week 4)

Mode

Working in groups

During the first phase you will learn to approach data as a material to design with. As you would with any other design material, you will evaluate its quality and reliability, test its limits and eventually design with it. You will be introduced to technical tools and methods to handle and manipulate data. You will also be reintroduced to information design principles building on your existing knowledge from year 1 (Information Visualisation and Typography) but with a greater emphasis of data visualisation.

Guided by Mozilla and your own research the challenge of phase 1 is to decide on a sub-theme and to create a visual summary using data found from reliable sources. It must be more specific than one of the 5 categories of the IHR: decentralisation, privacy and security, openness, web literacy, and digital inclusion.

You will source datasets from official, reliable sources (governmental open data portals, scientific publications, etc.) and from those they will design your visualisations to provide an overall view of the chosen issue.

The group outcome will be a static piece of information design containing at least one data visualisation. The outcome should contain any necessary written context for the theme, including insights or highlights drawn from the data as well as other graphically elements or imagery that help audience comprehension. Your audience for this phase are those with little to no knowledge of theme you have chosen.

You should include the names of those in your group and reference the data sources you used in the piece.

References

Below are some selected references for this phase. The Internet Health references are starting points for your individual and group research. Treat them as seeds to start growing your awareness of the broad topic of internet health. Try to narrow down your research into an area that speaks to you or that you feel is particularly relevant and important today.

Internet Health

Mozila (2020) | Internet Health Report 2020

Mozilla (2019) | Internet Health Report 2019

Tactical Tech (2020) | Annual Report 2020

Applebaum, A. & Pomerantsev, P. (2021) | How to Put Out Democracy's Dumpster Fire

Share Foundation (2017) | SHARE LAB – Research & Data Investigation Lab

Robinson, D. & Pressnam, A. (2019) | Reenvisioning the Internet: Decentralize the Web to Sidestep Corporate Control

Ren, B. | Reenvisioning the Internet: Inject a Sense of Wonder Back into the Tech Industry

Catlow, R. (2019) | Reenvisioning the Internet: Do It With Others

Onuoha, M. (2019) | Reenvisioning the Internet: Embrace Its Multiplicity

Zhang, G.Z. | Reenvisioning the Internet: Create Tools that Reveal its Ideological Infrastructures

Data Visualisation

Tufte, E. (1983) | The Visual Display of Quantitative Information

Kirk, A. (2019) | Data Visualisation : A Handbook for Data Driven Design (Second edition)

Kennedy, H. & Rosemary, W.A. & Hill, L. & Engebretsen, M. & Kirk, A. & Weber, W. (2020) | Data Visualisations: Newsroom Trends and Everyday Engagements

Chalabi, M. & Gray, J. (2020) | Sketching With Data