Shakespeare, god, and lonely hearts: Transforming data access with many eyes

Abstract

Data visualization has historically been accessible only to the elite in academia, business, and government. It is "serious" technology done by experts for experts. But in recent years web-based visualizations-ranging from political art projects to news stories-have reached audiences of millions. Unfortunately, while lay users can view many sophisticated visualizations, they have few ways to create them. In order to "democratize" visualization and data analysis, we have built Many Eyes, a web site where people may upload their own data, create interactive visualizations, and carry on conversations. By making these tools available to anyone on the web, the site fosters a social style of data analysis that empowers users to engage with public data through discussion and collaboration. Political discussions, citizen activism, religious conversations, game playing, and educational exchanges are all happening on Many Eyes. As we will discuss in this talk, the public nature of these visualizations provide users with a transformative path to information literacy.