Ecological Model of Visualization

Visualization interpretation and trust does not just depend on the chart itself, but layers of context surrounding it - from personal experience to rhetorical framing to social context. We translate Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (EST) to informaton visualization to create an organizing scaffold that both synthesizes prior visualization research and offers a systematic way to connect with adjacent disciplines, such as media studies and journalism.

• Core layer (Visual Encoding): What patterns, trends, or relationships can be read and understood from the visual encodings?
• Microsystem layer: Does this visualization feel relevant to me? How do my personal experiences, relationships, beliefs, and emotions shape how I engage with and interpret it?
• Exosystem layer: How is this visualization framed or contextualized? Who produced, circulated, or annotated it? What social, institutional, or media influences shape its presentation?
• Macrosystem layer: What cultural, linguistic, or epistemic assumptions does this visualization rely on? - Whose ways of knowing are prioritized or marginalized in how evidence is represented?
• Chronosystem layer (Temporal Layer): How do time, experience, and historical context shape interpretation? How might re- peated exposure, evolving conventions, or major events influence how this visualization is understood?