Paper short abstract:

How do visualizations inform sense-making of sustainable futures? In this presentation, we give examples from a focus group study of lay sense-making of societal transformations towards sustainability and asks in what ways visualization may support or hinder dialogues on sustainable futures.

Paper long abstract:

The climate change communication (CCC) research literature has for long suggested that it is time to think differently about the way climate change is communicated. Traditionally, climate change has often been viewed and communicated as an abstract environmental global phenomena. Recommendations from research literature include: pinpoint the concrete; emphasize the local, and use visualizations to make climate change and all its aspects tangible and visible.

But what happens when climate change communication takes on new forms? What new communication challenges might arise then? How do lay and stakeholder audiences make sense of new framings and new tools for visualizing climate change impacts and responses?

This presentation explores how visualizations inform audience sense-making of climate and environmental change. It takes its departure from Norrköping Decision Arena - an arena with the ability to show data, graphics and simulation results simultaneously and in direct comparison. We give examples from a focus group study of lay sense-making of societal transformations towards sustainability and asks in what ways visualization may support or hinder dialogues on sustainable futures.