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Data visualisation: alive visual words

Hosted by the Department of Statistics

In-person and online public event (Auditorium, Centre Building)

Speakers

Dr Federica Fragapane

Dr Federica Fragapane

Joining remotely

Dr Marta Foresti

Dr Marta Foresti

Discussant

Dr Francesca Panero

Dr Francesca Panero

Discussant

Chair

Professor Irini Moustaki

Professor Irini Moustaki

The talk will explore the design process and motivations behind data visualization projects, characterized by different usage contexts, responding to various needs, and with differing levels of experimentation. It will focus on the visual languages used to shape information and stories and delve into how visual words in data visualizations can be alive and sometimes political.

Designing data visualizations will be likened to writing, reflecting on the usage of visual alphabets to convey information. As in writing, the choice of words is essential, this principle will be applied to the language of data visualization, exploring the process behind decisions to use organic visual languages to reflect the living presence behind the data and, in some cases, the fragility of the data itself. The talk will explore how different visual words have been used to visualize information and stories covering various topics such as migration, the climate crisis and its solutions, and inequalities.

Meet our speakers and chair

Federica Fragapane (@fedfragapane) is an independent information designer. Over the years, she has designed data visualisations for Google, UN, the Publications Office of the EU, BBC Science Focus, Atmos. Many of her projects take an experimental approach, carefully selecting visual languages to encourage readers to engage with the narratives conveyed by the data. In 2023, three of her data visualisations were acquired by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, becoming part of its Permanent Collection.

Marta Foresti (@martaforesti) is the founder and CEO of LAGO – a research and creative collective on migration, culture and the arts. She is a senior adviser at the Moleskine Foundation and Senior Visiting Fellow at ODI where she was Managing Director and founding Executive Director for Europe. Marta holds an MA in philosophy of science and logic from La Statale of Milan and an MSc in research methods and theory of probability from LSE.

Francesca Panero (@TheFrappies) is an assistant professor in Statistics at Sapienza University (Italy) and is affiliated to the LSE Data Science Institute and the LSE Grantham Institute. Previously, she was an assistant professor in the Department of Statistics at LSE and obtained her PhD at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on the proposal of statistical models for various applications, including complex networks, fairness, privacy and food insecurity using Bayesian methods.

Irini Moustaki is a professor of Social Statistics at LSE. Her research interests include latent variable models and structural equation models. She has co-authored two books on latent variable models, published extensively in reputable journals, and received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Uppsala University in 2014.

More about this event

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The Department of Statistics (@LSEStatistics) is home to internationally respected expert in statistics and data science, whose top priority is maintaining and advancing a leading reputation for teaching and research. It has a distinguished history. Its roots can be traced back to the appointment of Sir Arthur Lyon Bowley, an alumnus of the University of Cambridge, at LSE in 1895. He was appointed Chair in Statistics in 1919, probably the first appointment of its kind in Britain.

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A podcast of this event is available to download from Data visualisation: alive visual words.

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Featured image (used in source code with watermark added): Photo by Luke Chesser via Unsplash.

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