Our experiences with Many Eyes suggest three principles for how visualization can help with open government.
First, statistical graphics ground debate in reality. For readers, they are effective at communicating basic aspects of an issue. But just as important is the fact that graphs and charts impose a kind of discipline on authors. To create an illuminating visualization, a writer must gather a complete data set, which usually means finding and checking original sources. As we saw with the example of crime in Keene, this process may cause an author to rethink his original point and a healthy debate to ensue.
Second, text is data. People have become used to showing numbers in bar charts or line graphs, but the ability to create diagrams of text is new. New visualizations aimed at words rather than numbers hold out the hope of providing unfiltered insight into the minds of politicians and citizens alike.
Finally, readers today are becoming visually literate. We’ve seen broad uptake and popularity of visualizations that are complex, sophisticated, and often unfamiliar. As far as we can tell, readers are good at understanding the message of complex visualizations, and an unusual diagram is often an active draw for audiences rather than a turnoff.