Information visualization and graphic literacy: issues for research

Abstract

The interaction of information visualization technologies and Brazilian people literacies is the theme of this paper. Based on a brief literature review (not an exhaustive one) about infographics and visualization, it is to be considered the existence of a gap, initially undesirable, between the efforts in the infographics production (and other forms of information visualization) and the expansion of the reader’s literacy. The impact of this discrepancy has grown due to the increasing social circulation of the visualization techniques, especially through the news production. A counterpoint between the discourse that projects a positive view of information visualization and the official data on reading skills in Brazil is made. Once found the gap between them, comes the conclusion that researches to integrate the two aspects of meaning production are necessary.