Present Beyond Measure

26Create Ethical Data Visualizations

“In God we trust. All others bring data.”

—W. Edwards Deming

By now, you're seeing how incredibly powerful data is as a vehicle of persuasion and that it can unintentionally mislead the audience. But what about intentionally misleading the audience, or, at least, manipulating the narrative to fulfill an agenda?

Of course, we as bright-eyed data professionals have a strong moral compass and always want to find and tell the truth in the data. But that doesn't always mean that what we present is free from external—or internal—influences.

I used to jump into judgment on any misshaping of a data story, but softened my view that the line is not always so clearly drawn. Once again, I'll quote Scott Berinato from Good Charts when he describes a scenario of a data designer asked by a superior to manipulate a data view to support a specific position on a decision.

What I love about Scott's perspective here is that rather than jumping to judgment of either the designer or the superior, he shows the nuance of the situation and how common it is to fall into.

• “Would that a clear line existed between visual persuasion and visual dishonesty. Even if it were a fine line, at least we could see it and stay on the ethical side of it. But in fact, and of course, no such line exists. Instead we have to negotiate a blurred and shifting borderland between truthfulness and unfair manipulation.”

Berinato goes on to explain the two sides of this coin: aspects ...