Ethical Dimensions of Visualization Research

Abstract: Visualizations have a potentially enormous influence on how data are used to make decisions across all areas of human endeavor. However, it is not clear how this power connects to ethical duties: what obligations do we have when it comes to visualizations and visual analytics systems, beyond our duties as scientists and engineers? Drawing on historical and contemporary examples, I address the moral components of the design and use of visualizations, identify some ongoing areas of visualization research with ethical dilemmas, and propose a set of additional moral obligations that we have as designers, builders, and researchers of visualizations.