Data Vis or: Why you don't believe in facts, and how to fix it (en) - a podcast by republica GmbH

Lisa Charlotte Rost


What the heck happened? We vote for Trump, we share articles full of lies, we don't vaccinate our kids, we don't believe in climate change. Back in the days, we didn't act reasonable because we didn't know what's reasonable. Nowadays we know what's reasonable – and we still don't act reasonable.As someone who communicates data on a daily basis, I find that deeply concerning. Am I just preaching to the choir with my data vis? Or is it possible to convince somebody with facts, numbers, science, reason?

In my talk, I'll try to answer these questions. First I'll explain the psychological, social and technological reasons why none of us will ever fully believe all the facts. And how the kind of facts and the context in which we encounter them makes us believe or ignore them. In the second part, I'll look at possible solutions. How can we all believe more true things? And how can we communicate data so that it convinces somebody, e.g. to vaccinate their kids? We'll look at lots of examples from data communication, especially from data visualisation and data journalism. If I'm doing my job right, you'll leave the room with a better understanding of what's going on and a bit of hope for our future.

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