Conservative by design: epistemic limits in Digital Humanities visualisation practices
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.60923/issn.2532-8816/22921Keywords:
Information Visualisation, Digital Humanities, Data Storytelling, Cultural Heritage Data, Quantitative AnalysisAbstract
Information visualisation is widely employed in the Digital Humanities (DH), supporting dissemination, research, and access to digital cultural collections. However, few studies survey DH visualisation practices offering in-depth discussion and qualitative insights into specific design choices, while quantitative findings are typically limited to aggregated scales (article-, project-, or interface-level analysis). This contribution builds on a previous survey of 186 DH web projects to advance the field by introducing a finer-grained perspective centred on 587 visualisation-interaction units. By analysing the interplay of visualisation and interaction techniques across narrative and non-narrative contexts, we identify conservative patterns in design. Our findings suggest that DH visualisation practices prioritise simple, familiar, and convenient visualisation and interaction choices, thereby limiting diversification, interpretive richness, and effective multi-perspective disclosures. Similarly, narrative settings remain underexploited, frequently built on ready-made solutions, and rarely operate in symbiosis with more explorative, non-narrative views. We conclude that infrastructural constraints shape DH visualisations more than interpretive aims, advocating for future research targeting interpretive depth and visualisation designs that foreground epistemic value.
References
Andrienko, Natalia, and Gennady Andrienko. 2006. Exploratory Analysis of Spatial and Temporal Data: A Systematic Approach. Springer.
Bach, Benjamin, Moritz Stefaner, Jeremy Boy, et al. 2018. ‘Narrative Design Patterns for Data-Driven Storytelling’. In Data-Driven Storytelling, 1st edn, edited by Nathalie Henry Riche, Christophe Hurter, Nicholas Diakopoulos, and Sheelagh Carpendale. A K Peters/CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781315281575-5.
Battisti, Tommaso. 2024. ‘Classification of Web-Based Digital Humanities Projects Leveraging Information Visualisation Techniques’. Preprint, Zenodo, November 20. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.14192758.
Battisti, Tommaso. 2025a. Data-Driven Insights into Web-Based Digital Humanities Projects Leveraging Information Visualization Techniques: An Analysis of the ‘Classification of Web-Based Digital Humanities Projects Leveraging Information Visualisation Techniques’ Dataset. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.15422719.
Battisti, Tommaso. 2025b. ‘A Fine-Grained Dataset of Visualisation and Interaction Practices in Web-Based Digital Humanities Projects’. Preprint, Zenodo, September 19. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.17158329.
Battisti, Tommaso. 2025c. Beyond the Project Level: Fine-Grained Analysis of Visualisation-interaction Practices in Web-Based Digital Humanities Projects. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.17160188.
Battisti, Tommaso, and Marilena Daquino. 2025. ‘Uncertainty, Narrativity, and Critical Approaches in Digital Humanities Information Visualisation Projects’. Proceedings of the 21st Conference on Information and Research Science Connecting to Digital and Library Science, 1–10.
Branston, Gill, and Roy Stafford. 2010. The Media Student’s Book. 0 edn. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203850640.
Brehmer, Matthew, and Tamara Munzner. 2013. ‘A Multi-Level Typology of Abstract Visualization Tasks’. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 19 (12): 2376–85. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2013.124.
Brolcháin, Niall Ó, Lukasz Porwol, Adegboyega Ojo, Tilman Wagner, Eva Tamara Lopez, and Eric Karstens. 2017. ‘Extending Open Data Platforms with Storytelling Features’. Proceedings of the 18th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research (New York, NY, USA), dg.o ’17, June 7, 48–53. https://doi.org/10.1145/3085228.3085283.
Brüggemann, Viktoria, Mark-Jan Bludau, and Marian Dörk. 2020. ‘The Fold: Rethinking Interactivity in Data Visualization’. Digital Humanities Quarterly 14 (3). http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/14/3/000487/000487.html.
Card, Stuart K, Jock Mackinlay, and Ben Shneiderman. 1999. Readings in Information Visualization: Using Vision to Think. Morgan Kaufmann.
Dimara, Evanthia, and Charles Perin. 2020. ‘What Is Interaction for Data Visualization?’ IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 26 (1): 119–29. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2019.2934283.
Dörk, Marian, Christopher Pietsch, and Gabriel Credico. 2022. ‘One View Is Not Enough: High-Level Visualizations of a Large Cultural Collection’. Information Design Journal, July 5, 39–47. https://doi.org/10.1075/idj.23.1.06dor.
Drucker, Johanna. 2011. ‘Humanities Approaches to Graphical Display’. Digital Humanities Quarterly 5 (1). https://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/5/1/000091/000091.html.
Drucker, Johanna. 2020. Visualization and Interpretation: Humanistic Approaches to Display. MIT Press.
Figueiras, Ana. 2013. ‘A Typology for Data Visualization on the Web’. 2013 17th International Conference on Information Visualisation, July, 351–58. https://doi.org/10.1109/IV.2013.45.
Figueiras, Ana. 2015. ‘Towards the Understanding of Interaction in Information Visualization’. 2015 19th International Conference on Information Visualisation (Barcelona, Spain), 140–47. https://doi.org/10.1109/iV.2015.34.
Gershon, Nahum, and Ward Page. 2001. ‘What Storytelling Can Do for Information Visualization’. Communications of the ACM 44 (8): 31–37. https://doi.org/10.1145/381641.381653.
Heer, Jeffrey, and Ben Shneiderman. 2012. ‘Interactive Dynamics for Visual Analysis: A Taxonomy of Tools That Support the Fluent and Flexible Use of Visualizations’. Queue 10 (2): 30–55. https://doi.org/10.1145/2133416.2146416.
Hinrichs, Uta, Stefania Forlini, and Bridget Moynihan. 2019. ‘In Defense of Sandcastles: Research Thinking through Visualization in Digital Humanities’. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities 34 (Supplement_1): i80–99. https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqy051.
Hullman, Jessica, and Nick Diakopoulos. 2011. ‘Visualization Rhetoric: Framing Effects in Narrative Visualization’. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 17 (12): 2231–40. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2011.255.
Jänicke, S., G. Franzini, M. F. Cheema, and G. Scheuermann. 2017. ‘Visual Text Analysis in Digital Humanities’. Computer Graphics Forum 36 (6): 226–50. https://doi.org/10.1111/cgf.12873.
Keim, D.A. 2002. ‘Information Visualization and Visual Data Mining’. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 8 (1): 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1109/2945.981847.
Khan, Muzammil, and Sarwar Shah Khan. 2011. ‘Data and Information Visualization Methods, and Interactive Mechanisms: A Survey’. International Journal of Computer Applications 34 (1): 1–14. https://ijcaonline.org/archives/volume34/number1/4061-5722/.
Khulusi, R., J. Kusnick, C. Meinecke, C. Gillmann, J. Focht, and S. Jänicke. 2020. ‘A Survey on Visualizations for Musical Data’. Computer Graphics Forum 39 (6): 82–110. https://doi.org/10.1111/cgf.13905.
Koponen, Juuso, and Jonatan Hildén. 2019. Data Visualization Handbook. First edition. Aalto University Publication Series C 1/2019. Otavan kirjapaino.
Kosara, Robert. 2007. ‘Visualization Criticism - The Missing Link Between Information Visualization and Art’. 2007 11th International Conference Information Visualization (IV ’07), July, 631–36. https://doi.org/10.1109/IV.2007.130.
Kosara, Robert, and Jock Mackinlay. 2013. ‘Storytelling: The Next Step for Visualization’. Computer 46 (5): 44–50. https://doi.org/10.1109/MC.2013.36.
Lam, Heidi. 2008. ‘A Framework of Interaction Costs in Information Visualization’. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 14 (6): 1149–56. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2008.109.
Lee, Bongshin, Nathalie Henry Riche, Petra Isenberg, and Sheelagh Carpendale. 2015. ‘More Than Telling a Story: Transforming Data into Visually Shared Stories’. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications 35 (5): 84–90. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCG.2015.99.
Mayr, Eva, Paolo Federico, Silvia Miksch, Günther Schreder, Michael Smuc, and Florian Windhager. 2016. ‘Visualization of Cultural Heritage Data for Casual Users’. IEEE VIS Workshop on Visualization for the Digital Humanities 1.
McKenna, S., N. Henry Riche, B. Lee, J. Boy, and M. Meyer. 2017. ‘Visual Narrative Flow: Exploring Factors Shaping Data Visualization Story Reading Experiences’. Computer Graphics Forum 36 (3): 377–87. https://doi.org/10.1111/cgf.13195.
Morini, Francesca, Manuela Garretón, Jona Pomerance, et al. 2025. ‘Critical Interactivity: Exploration and Narration in Data Visualization’. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications 45 (3): 58–72. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCG.2025.3544684.
Münster, Sander, and Melissa Terras. 2020. ‘The Visual Side of Digital Humanities: A Survey on Topics, Researchers, and Epistemic Cultures’. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities 35 (2): 366–89. https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqz022.
Munzner, Tamara. 2009. ‘A Nested Model for Visualization Design and Validation’. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 15 (6): 921–28. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2009.111.
Munzner, Tamara, and Eamonn Maguire. 2015. Visualization Analysis & Design. A.K. Peters Visualization Series. CRC Press.
Ojo, Adegboyega, and Bahareh Heravi. 2018. ‘Patterns in Award Winning Data Storytelling: Story Types, Enabling Tools and Competences’. Digital Journalism 6 (6): 693–718. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2017.1403291.
Panagiotidou, Georgia, Houda Lamqaddam, Jeroen Poblome, Koenraad Brosens, Katrien Verbert, and Andrew Vande Moere. 2023. ‘Communicating Uncertainty in Digital Humanities Visualization Research’. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 29 (1): 635–45. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2022.3209436.
Renda, Giulia, Marilena Daquino, and Valentina Presutti. 2023. ‘Melody: A Platform for Linked Open Data Visualisation and Curated Storytelling’. Proceedings of the 34th ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media (Rome, Italy), September 4, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1145/3603163.3609035.
Roth, Robert E. 2021. ‘Cartographic Design as Visual Storytelling: Synthesis and Review of Map-Based Narratives, Genres, and Tropes’. The Cartographic Journal 58 (1): 83–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/00087041.2019.1633103.
Schröder, Kay, Wiebke Eberhardt, Poornima Belavadi, et al. 2023. ‘Telling Stories with Data -- A Systematic Review’. Preprint, arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/ARXIV.2312.01164.
Segel, E, and J Heer. 2010. ‘Narrative Visualization: Telling Stories with Data’. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 16 (6): 1139–48. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2010.179.
Shan, Xurong, Dawei Wang, and Jiaxiang Li. 2022. ‘Research on Data Storytelling Strategies for Cultural Heritage Transmission and Dissemination’. In HCI International 2022 – Late Breaking Posters, edited by Constantine Stephanidis, Margherita Antona, Stavroula Ntoa, and Gavriel Salvendy. Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-19679-9_43.
Shi, Yang, Tian Gao, Xiaohan Jiao, and Nan Cao. 2022. ‘Breaking the Fourth Wall of Data Stories Through Interaction’. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2022.3209409.
Shneiderman, B. 1996. ‘The Eyes Have It: A Task by Data Type Taxonomy for Information Visualizations’. Proceedings 1996 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages (Boulder, CO, USA), 336–43. https://doi.org/10.1109/VL.1996.545307.
Stolper, Charles D, Bongshin Lee, Nathalie Henry Riche, and John Stasko. 2016. ‘Emerging and Recurring Data-Driven Storytelling Techniques: Analysis of a Curated Collection of Recent Stories.(2016)’. Preprint.
Tong, Chao, Richard Roberts, Rita Borgo, et al. 2018. ‘Storytelling and Visualization: An Extended Survey’. Information 9 (3): 65. https://doi.org/10.3390/info9030065.
Van Ham, F., and A. Perer. 2009. ‘“Search, Show Context, Expand on Demand”: Supporting Large Graph Exploration with Degree-of-Interest’. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 15 (6): 953–60. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2009.108.
Ward, M., and J. Yang. 2004. ‘Interaction Spaces in Data and Information Visualization’. Proceedings of the Sixth Joint Eurographics - IEEE TCVG Conference on Visualization (Goslar, DEU), VISSYM’04, 137–46.
Whitelaw, Mitchell. 2015. ‘Generous Interfaces for Digital Cultural Collections’. Digital Humanities Quarterly 9 (1): 1–16.
Windhager, Florian, Paolo Federico, Gunther Schreder, et al. 2019. ‘Visualization of Cultural Heritage Collection Data: State of the Art and Future Challenges’. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 25 (6): 2311–30. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2018.2830759.
Windhager, Florian, Saminu Salisu, and Eva Mayr. 2019. ‘Exhibiting Uncertainty: Visualizing Data Quality Indicators for Cultural Collections’. Informatics 6 (3): 29. https://doi.org/10.3390/informatics6030029.
Yi, Ji Soo, Youn Ah Kang, John Stasko, and J.A. Jacko. 2007. ‘Toward a Deeper Understanding of the Role of Interaction in Information Visualization’. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 13 (6): 1224–31. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2007.70515.
Zhao, Zhenpeng, and Niklas Elmqvist. 2023. ‘The Stories We Tell About Data: Surveying Data-Driven Storytelling Using Visualization’. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications 43 (4): 97–110. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCG.2023.3269850.
Zwaan, Janneke M. van der, Maarten van Meersbergen, Antske Fokkens, et al. 2016. ‘Storyteller: Visualizing Perspectives in Digital Humanities Projects’. In Computational History and Data-Driven Humanities, edited by Bojan Bozic, Gavin Mendel-Gleason, Christophe Debruyne, and Declan O’Sullivan. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46224-0_8.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Tommaso Battisti, Marilena Daquino
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
