RT info:eu-repo/semantics/bookPart
T1 Infographics: Absent Without Leave
A1 Mitchell, Ian
K1 Infographics
K1 political graphics
K1 propaganda
AB Abstract. It is widely regarded by cultural commentators that we are in a peri-od of unprecedented political uncertainty, in which there is a desire for simpleexplanations to the complex sociopolitical challenges of 21st Century. It mightbe argued that in this climate a mode of communication such as infographicswould have considerable currency – especially within the context of interpret-ing and understanding the competing and contradictory political views that of-ten reference complex data and statistics. Infographics have always attemptedto make the visualisation of information easy and accessible to ordinary peo-ple whilst maintaining an objectivity and factual accuracy, articulated in thework of the Isotope Movement and the celebrated examples by William Play-fair, Florence Nightingale and Thomas Clarkson. Other examples such as TheDaily Express newspaper’s Expressographs of the mid 1950s promoted the po-litical bias of its owner and were little more than news propaganda masquer-ading as informative graphics. Whether it’s objective explanation, communi-cating a sociopolitical cause or belief, or outright deception and propaganda,infographics have been a central communication tool for many years. Howeverthis research finds an almost complete absence of infographics used duringthe 2017 UK General Election across a variety of communication media chan-nels. This paper questions whether infographics have a place anymore incommunicating political ideas and beliefs and whether this represents anemerging irrelevance (or death) of one of graphic design’s most significant vis-ual languages. Are we entering a post-truth, post-facts, post-infographics era?This research will focus on an analysis of communication content publishedduring the 2017 UK General Election, ranging from traditional printed newspa-pers and official political party publications to unofficial online and social me-dia output. The results presented will determine the extent of infographicsdiminishing value and relevance and offer some possible reasons for this phe-nomenon.
PB Vicerrectorado de Docencia. Universidad de La Laguna. Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de La Laguna
SN 978-84-09-10171-9
YR 2020
FD 2020
LK http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/18473
UL http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/18473
LA en
DS Repositorio institucional de la Universidad de La Laguna
RD 17-nov-2024