R2 response

As described in “The X, Y and Z of Digital Storytelling: Dramaturgy, Directionality, and Design”, people are constantly flooded with information and skimming it: only gleaning the most easy to consume information. However skimming only gets you so far. Furthermore the current methods of information visualization are geared towards skimming, however skimming easily creates a falsified sense of being informed. People today are lost in information, and having information is important but what then truly matters in a world with an overload of information is knowledge. Knowledge makes information useful. An informed world is not necessarily an intelligent world. Is it possible to merge true knowledge and useful synthesis of information through web design and web interaction? How do we develop visuals and narratives that “trick” or motivate people into traveling deeper into information to a point where they reach knowledge?

“The Under-appreciated Drive for Sense-Making” thoroughly explains the process and methods people use to make sense of their lives and use information to accomplish sense-making. The inevitable human sense-making based on gathered information highlights the importance of the quality of information that people are consuming. A skimming society is not well-equipped to be making well-informed sense.

“Narrative Visualization: Telling Stories With Data” explains the ways humans process information visually and how easily guided people are by visuals. In our skimming society the people that create visual interpretations of data have an immense power over what information people gather, because most people won’t do any of their own research. How do we improve these methods of digital and visual narratives to best inform its audience? Is it possible to discover new, better ways for people to gather and interpret information?