Visualizing Impact: A civic commitment to making information readable

It all began with an observation: information and knowledge are essential to development. A number of organisations, especially non-governmental ones, publish dozens of reports a year. However, these reports and the data they contain are most often ignored. In 2014, the World Bank indicated that more than 31% of these assessments are never downloaded, and approximately 87% are never even cited. 

In 2012, the Beirut based organisation, Visualizing Impact (VI), responded to this predicament by giving itself a challenge: to make this data readable, accessible and attractive. The task was motivated by a civic engagement to work on issues regarding the Middle East. 

To meet this challenge, VI used the data to developed infographics, a narrative vector that is efficient, succinct and aesthetically pleasing. "We want to propose something different," says Matthew Stender, content producer for VI. "We combine data with narrative in order to find the most appropriate design to transmit information," explains the young man from Texas.  

The work of VI, which counts 4 employees in Beirut and 6 in the rest of the world, revolves around the idea that visual communication is an essential tool in making data more concrete. "Visuals allow people to remember information," emphasises Jessica Anderson, Project Manager. "With the help of design, we highlight the strongest elements and give a more exact angle to the story we tell," says the young woman from Ohio.

For its first undertaking in 2012, made possible by crowd funding, Visualizing Impact tackled a heavy case, that of Palestine. Within this frame, the organisation made elaborate infographics illustrating the limitations of water use in Palestine, the violations of ceasefires by both the Israelis and Palestinians, and the displacement of the population in Palestine. With this project, VI primarily tried to draw attention to the human rights violations instigated by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, serving a double objective: to fill the gaps in the media coverage and to mobilise public opinion.

"With the advent of the internet, a large quantity of information was made available, though there is little data regarding questions of social justice, especially on the Middle East," notes Jessica Anderson.

In order to collect facts and figures, the multidisciplinary VI team collaborates with 20 organisations, such as OXFAM, the United Nations and the International Labour Organisation. "Our work also helps support civil society," remarks Jessica Anderson. 
The content developed by VI is under a Creative Commons license, meaning it can be shared after being downloaded from the organisation's online platform (www.visualizingimpact.org). This is one way of promoting citizen journalism. "People feel more concerned and better suited to explore the data we propose," explains Matthew Stender. "Making data accessible to everyone allows us to generate a community around an initiative. Numerous media outlets (like The Guardian and Huffington Post) publish our infographics, speakers use them in presentations, and activist share our content on social media," he continues.

If VI, an organization with both a non-profit and profit-making branch, makes visuals for a target audience, their work is used well outside of this intended circle. According to VI, last year its tools were used in 35 events, in 16 countries, reaching over 2.5 million people. 

Today, VI is working on a new campaign, Visualizing Egypt, financed by MadaMasr, an independent Egyptian media outlet. This campaign aims to make visible the abusive censorship practiced by the Egyptian authorities.

For more information: 
http://www.visualizingimpact.org/
https://www.facebook.com/Visualizingimpact
https://twitter.com/ImpactVI

(Visuals are available here :http://visualizingpalestine.org/#visuals)
Video, here : http://visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/indiegogo-visual-stories-for-social-justice)

The writer is a journalist of L'Orient-Le Jour, Libanand can be contacted at marie.tihon@student.ihecs.be.