Wall of Shame (WS) is a living, continuously updated knowledge base around journalists who have been targeted over the years by the governments within their nations. The knowledge is communicated through personal stories — each entry in the database includes an editorial piece explaining the background of an individual’s case and information such as full name, ethnicity, identification with a religious group and occupation. Entries also describe the context of a person’s involvement with human rights abuse, describing charges, court sentence, trial status, investigating institution and entry’s last updated date. This proposal is aimed at promoting WS to general audiences, as well as more specifically to international advocacy groups and policymakers, via improving the visibility of the knowledge through the representation of actionable trends.
At the moment, WS is displayed as a grid of portraits with a series of checkboxes at the top that allow filtering results by occupation, trial status and a few other attributes. Two general trajectories of improvement can be pointed out at this moment, being aware that further study will be required to construct a more thorough proposition:
Extending on already existing functionality. The WS knowledge, as the data in any other archive or information system, is only as good as it is accessible. Thus, one requirement for its improvement is making all of its attributes reachable through a well-functioning interface. In the same vein, as the existing filtering of WS allows to tick the boxes to limit results per selected categories, a more extended filter block is desirable. For example, the Search function, which now searches by first name exclusively, needs in the first instance to extend to search by both first and last name. Ideally, the search would also have a dropdown to allow the users to choose which attribute to search in, as well as provide an array of UI tools offering access to the whole range of attributes that the knowledge base provides (Figure 2 is an example of how a UI wireframe looks like and does not constitute a design proposition). Please see a demonstration of a similar interface in a chart produced by FT (https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=eur&areas=usa&areas=gbr&areas=cze&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usca&areasRegional=usfl&areasRegional=ustx&areasRegional=usnd&areasRegional=ussd&byDate=1&cumulative=0&logScale=0&per100K=1&values=cases).
2. Pulling trends as independent narratives. A more thorough heuristic engagement with the knowledge base — both through research and information design — will make it possible to apply the data as a tool to communicate the projects’ mission: reporting the abuse and revealing the truth that journalists and various kinds of creative workers are regularly jailed for simply doing their job. Data visualisation is an appropriate tool because it helps trace the general pattern of repressions by showing the falsity of accusations and the incommensurability or inappropriateness of judgements.
For example, a chart could show the total number of years in prison versus the number of songs composed or blog posts written, or there could be a chart that arranges the sentences by gravity or several years that allows one to hover over to see what were the reasons for raising the charges.
Pie charts, regularly updated as the knowledge base grows, could also show the education levels of professionals facing the charges, their competencies, and compare the numbers of individuals detained either as a timeline or as a comparison per occupation, display the most and least often used charges or how often sentences are carried through to imprisonment or released on bail.
A geographical map can be used to trace people’s movements before and after the detainment — particularly for cases when individuals worked abroad and were arrested upon their return home. It would also be useful to create comparative charts per category between the three historical phases of the project, before the 1979 revolution, after it, and the live data on arrests after the 2009 disputed presidential election.
Please find some examples of effective information design and description of main chart types in the References below.
The work on the WS needs to be approached in three steps: storytelling, design and development. Indeed, before starting on the design phase, it is important to gain a firm grasp on what kind of knowledge is available and what trends are most appropriate to visually contribute to the project’s overall mission. Wireframes similar to Figures 1 and 2 will serve to facilitate the dialogue between editorial, design and development staff, and will allow estimating technical work before going too far into the design stage. Wireframes are also an appropriate place to understand how mobile and desktop versions are going to work. Once the wireframes are confirmed, design mock-ups are produced to document the agreement on the aesthetics and layout of new features. In the next stage, web development, the feature is implemented on the website. For this, a set of pixel-perfect designs for target devices might be required by the developer to serve as documentary proof that they have done the work as requested
The roadmap for delivery of the new feature is essentially an estimation of how long it will take to produce the new feature, based either on the set list of requirements or the wireframes. As was discussed in the initial meeting, the new feature needs to be delivered in one month, which might mean that some sort of negotiation might be required between the ideal scenario and what is practically achievable, according to development. Project versioning can be successfully carried out using a user story mapping method that could be discussed separately.
The project would require the involvement of a designer and a developer. The designer would preferably use an online tool, such as Figma, that allows to share the visuals with the teams throughout the process. A developer will be versed in Python, Angular and Django, — technologies used by WS. Collaboration with the broader organisational headquarters, editorial and marketing teams would also be beneficial, as they will provide further insights into the project’s further growth and distribution.
Overall, the initiative of promoting and improving the WS knowledge base seems timely, as the project already has enough information to be extended functionally and allows us to draw some informative observations. By following appropriate production processes, it will be possible to achieve better visibility and to promote the findings in the timeframe required.
Calvert Journal 2020 Annual Digital Production Report. Zhenia’s more detailed explanation of his approach to digital production is being lived through at Calvert Journal, a media outlet that faces challenges similar to the WS creators.
Flowing Data. A useful overview of different chart types, from the acclaimed information designer and author, Nathan Yau.
Battling Infectious Diseases in the 20th Century: The Impact of Vaccines. An example of a heat map that presents a significant amount of data in a small space, while communicating the main idea (vaccines eradicate the disease)
Gay rights in the US, state by state. Visualising rich context through the imaginative use of hover states.
Public spending by UK government department: an interactive guide. Explores data with sized bubbles.
Coronavirus tracked: see how your country compares. Interactive line chart featuring the UI similar to discussed in the WS use case.
Information is Beautiful’s Billion Dollar-o-Gram. A now-widely discussed treemap application that uses both colour and area to allow for visual comparison.
Datawrapper. An interactive tool that allows to create minimalist charts with a degree of interactivity, with examples.