Towards a Semiotics of Data Visualization – an Inventory of Graphic Resources

This paper outlines a framework for the analysis of data visualizations. Investigating the semiotic potentials of data visualizations means that we first have to inventorize what is within them. Using a social semiotic approach, the paper collates the graphic resources and modes deployed in data visualizations, their affordances and communicative tasks. The framework combines theoretical considerations and empirical research. It is based on both a thorough literature review of relevant publications in the field of data visualization and visual communication and an analysis of a corpus of data visualizations taken from journalism. The aim of the paper is to link the aesthetic form to its social meaning in a specific context. The framework advances understanding of how semiotic resources shape the meaning of a data visualization.