{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,6]],"date-time":"2026-08-06T00:02:22Z","timestamp":1785974542433,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2015,8,6]],"date-time":"2015-08-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1438819200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Information Visualization"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2016,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>In the information age, a person\u2019s ability to read and make data visualizations is nearly as important as being able to read and write text. This article reports the results of a multi-phase study conducted in informal learning environments in three US science museums. The goal of the study was to determine the familiarity of youth and adult museum visitors with different visualization types. To address this, a total of 273 visitors were shown 5 out of 20 different visualizations that included two charts, five maps, eight graphs, and five network layouts. They were asked to judge the familiarity of the visualization, provide information on how to read it, and provide a name and identify typical locations where they would encounter the data display and possible data sources that might be visualized in this way. The results show that while most participants have a strong interest in science, math, and art, many have a hard time naming and interpreting visualizations. Participants in this study commonly encounter visualizations in school, in books, at work, on the Internet, and in the news. Overall, they were more familiar with basic charts, maps, and graphs, but very few are familiar with network layouts and most have no ability in reading network visualizations. When asked how they would interpret the visualizations, most participants pointed to superficial features such as color, lines, or text as important to developing understanding. Overall, we found that participants were interested in the visualizations we presented to them, but had significant limitations in identifying and understanding them. The results substantiate intuitions shared by many regarding the rather low level of data visualization literacy of general audiences. We hope they will help catalyze novel research on the development of easy-to-use yet effective visualizations with standardized names and guaranteed properties that can be readily used by those interested to understand and solve real-world problems. The results also have implications for how information visualizations are taught and used in formal and informal education, the media, or in different professions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/1473871615594652","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2015,8,6]],"date-time":"2015-08-06T21:21:14Z","timestamp":1438896074000},"page":"198-213","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":159,"title":["Investigating aspects of data visualization literacy using 20 information visualizations and 273 science museum visitors"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Katy","family":"B\u00f6rner","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Adam","family":"Maltese","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Russell Nelson","family":"Balliet","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Joe","family":"Heimlich","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"COSI, Columbus, OH, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2015,8,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-1473871615594652","volume-title":"Taking science to school: learning and teaching science in grades K-8","author":"National Research Council","year":"2007"},{"key":"bibr2-1473871615594652","volume-title":"Ready, set, science! Putting research to work in K-8 classrooms","author":"Michaels S","year":"2008"},{"key":"bibr3-1473871615594652","volume-title":"Next generation science standards: for states, by states","author":"NGSS Lead States","year":"2013"},{"issue":"4","key":"bibr4-1473871615594652","first-page":"44","volume":"21","author":"Eckhaus A","year":"1997","journal-title":"Sci Scope"},{"issue":"3","key":"bibr5-1473871615594652","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9","DOI":"10.1080\/00368120209601088","volume":"39","author":"Espinoza F","year":"2002","journal-title":"Sci Activit"},{"key":"bibr6-1473871615594652","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/09500690701506945"},{"key":"bibr7-1473871615594652","first-page":"233","volume-title":"Thinking with data: proceedings of the 33rd Carnegie symposium on cognition","author":"McNeill KL","year":"2007"},{"key":"bibr8-1473871615594652","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/15326900701399897"},{"key":"bibr9-1473871615594652","author":"Maltese AV","journal-title":"J Coll Sci Teach"},{"key":"bibr10-1473871615594652","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/749672"},{"key":"bibr11-1473871615594652","volume-title":"Big data: the next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity","author":"Manyika J","year":"2011"},{"key":"bibr12-1473871615594652","volume-title":"Creativity: flow and the psychology of discovery and invention","author":"Csikszenymihalyi M","year":"1996"},{"key":"bibr13-1473871615594652","first-page":"3","volume-title":"Handbook of creativity","author":"Sternberg RJ","year":"1999"},{"issue":"2","key":"bibr14-1473871615594652","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.52041\/serj.v3i2.546","volume":"3","author":"Hammerman JK","year":"2004","journal-title":"Stat Educ Res J"},{"key":"bibr15-1473871615594652","volume-title":"Proceedings of the seventh international conference on teaching statistics","author":"Konold C"},{"key":"bibr16-1473871615594652","volume-title":"The national museum of natural history\u2019s global links\u2014forces of change: summative exhibition evaluation","author":"Storksdieck MK","year":"2003"},{"key":"bibr17-1473871615594652","volume-title":"Paper presented at the visitor studies association conference","author":"Grack N"},{"key":"bibr18-1473871615594652","first-page":"453","volume-title":"Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI)","author":"Kittur A"},{"key":"bibr19-1473871615594652","first-page":"203","volume-title":"Proceedings of ACM human factors in computing systems (CHI)","author":"Heer J"},{"key":"bibr20-1473871615594652","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TVCG.2010.164"},{"key":"bibr21-1473871615594652","first-page":"4:1","volume-title":"Proceedings of the 2008 workshop on beyond time and errors: novel evaluation methods for information visualization","author":"Yi JS"},{"key":"bibr22-1473871615594652","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TVCG.2013.234"},{"key":"bibr23-1473871615594652","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0058779"},{"key":"bibr24-1473871615594652","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TVCG.2014.2346422"},{"key":"bibr25-1473871615594652","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TVCG.2011.279"},{"key":"bibr26-1473871615594652","unstructured":"OECD. PISA 2012 Assessment and Analytical Framework (Technical report). OECD, 2012, http:\/\/www.oecd.org\/pisa\/pisaproducts\/PISA%202012%20framework%20e-book_final.pdf"},{"key":"bibr27-1473871615594652","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TVCG.2014.2346984"},{"key":"bibr28-1473871615594652","volume-title":"Visual insights: a practical guide to making sense of data","author":"B\u00f6rner K","year":"2014"},{"key":"bibr29-1473871615594652","volume-title":"Atlas of knowledge: anyone can map","author":"B\u00f6rner K","year":"2015"},{"key":"bibr30-1473871615594652","first-page":"92","volume-title":"Proceedings of the IEEE symposium on information visualization","author":"Card SK"},{"key":"bibr31-1473871615594652","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/INFVIS.2000.885092"},{"key":"bibr32-1473871615594652","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/381641.381656"},{"key":"bibr33-1473871615594652","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/acp.2350030302"},{"key":"bibr34-1473871615594652","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/22949.22950"},{"key":"bibr35-1473871615594652","volume-title":"Information visualization: principles, techniques, and practice","author":"Munzner T","year":"2014"},{"key":"bibr36-1473871615594652","first-page":"57","volume-title":"Proceedings of the Asia-Pacific symposium on information visualisation","volume":"24","author":"Pfitzner D","year":"2003"},{"key":"bibr37-1473871615594652","first-page":"336","volume-title":"Proceedings of the IEEE symposium on visual languages","author":"Shneiderman B"},{"key":"bibr38-1473871615594652","volume-title":"The grammar of graphics","author":"Wilkinson L","year":"2005"},{"key":"bibr39-1473871615594652","volume-title":"Semiology of graphics","author":"Bertin J","year":"1983"},{"key":"bibr40-1473871615594652","volume-title":"The language of graphics: a framework for the analysis of syntax and meaning in maps, charts, and diagrams","author":"Engelhardt Y","year":"2002"},{"key":"bibr41-1473871615594652","volume-title":"Information graphics: a comprehensive illustrated reference","author":"Harris RL","year":"1990"},{"key":"bibr42-1473871615594652","unstructured":"Sci2 Team. Science of science (Sci2) tool. Indiana University and SciTech Strategies, 2009, https:\/\/sci2.cns.iu.edu"},{"key":"bibr43-1473871615594652","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/798843"},{"key":"bibr44-1473871615594652","unstructured":"AAPOR Big Data Task Force. AAPOR report on Big Data, 2015, http:\/\/www.aapor.org\/AAPORKentico\/AAPOR_Main\/media\/Task-Force-Reports\/BigDataTaskForceReport_FINAL_2_12_15.pdf"},{"key":"bibr45-1473871615594652","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/00336297.2000.10491701"},{"key":"bibr46-1473871615594652","volume-title":"Common core state standards","author":"National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers","year":"2010"}],"container-title":["Information Visualization"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/1473871615594652","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/1473871615594652","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/1473871615594652","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T19:18:42Z","timestamp":1777490322000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/1473871615594652"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2015,8,6]]},"references-count":46,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2016,7]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/1473871615594652"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/1473871615594652","relation":{},"ISSN":["1473-8716","1473-8724"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1473-8716","type":"print"},{"value":"1473-8724","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2015,8,6]]}}}