Ethics in information graphics

(I apologize beforehand for the indentation in this entry. I'm not sure how to fix it.)

Compare the two graphs below. What is the ethical problem here?

Information graphics or infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics present complex information quickly and clearly (Newsom and Haynes, 2004). It is a form of visual communication that aims to present large amount of information with the minimum amount of effort(ink). The infographics shown here is a type of information graphics called the presentation graphics, usually used to show statistical tabulations and appear mostly in the form of graphs (Petterson, 1993). The ethical problem is in how the information graphic is structured. 

Firstly, the x-axis of the graph shows “the % of respondents” in a survey where multiple responses are allowed. The scales are not equal in the two infograph. This will confuse the reader because it does not accurately represent the correct respondents visually. This made both the chart look similar. It would be better presented this way, with a correct scale:

(A rough sketch of the Linux Concern graph, highlighting only the importance of the scale)

(A rough sketch of the Windows Worries graph, highlighting only the importance of the scale)

By doing so, the infographic shows the real length of the bar charts accurately.

Second, the survey questions are not entirely shown/used in the making of the infographic. The author of the infograph only picks a few questions to be shown. This is a deliberate attempt to mislead the audience. By doing so, it creates a different view on the companies. The author could attempt to compile only data that gives a positive impression of the company and omit the negative-inducing ones, or attempt to tarnish a company. Without showing the same type of concerns, audiences are made to compare the two companies. It again is an attempt to mislead audiences by trying to make an illusion that they are roughly similar.

Although there are debates how far entertaining the audience should go, it is agreed that the graphs should at least accurately reflect the numbers that they portray (Lester, 1995). According to Lester, the scales should be proportional when more than one chart is used in the same frame. Touching on the size space of the x-axis, he also states that they should be consistently spaced. This was not the case in the two infographics produced by Informationweek.

In conclusion, it does not present a visually accurate representation of the data, and is therefore deceptive.

References:

Lester, P. M. (1995). Informational graphics. Visual communication: Images with messages (pp. 187-211). California: Wadsworth Publishing.

Petterson, R. (1993). Visual information (2^nd ed.) (pp. 169-175). New Jersey: Educational Technology Publications.

Newsom, D. and Haynes, J. (2004). Public Relations Writing: Form and Style. Wadsworth: Cengage Learning.