Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines how advancements in visual modeling over the past century define and foster the emerging discipline of geometric morphometrics. It shows how military strategists struggled to visualize troop movements along a bloody war front. The book explores how data displays embody socially constructed genres that discourse communities shape and modify. It addresses the issues from a social constructionist perspective: that is, displays are socially mediated forms of communication that are profoundly influenced by the collective forces of things like conventions, genres, and disciplines. The book explores the impact of data design on historical events; examines its role in solving social and health problems; assess its political and cultural dimensions, rhetorically analyzing conventions and genres, and compares the contemporary and past design techniques and technologies.