Data Visualization, Accessibility and Graphicacy: A Qualitative Study of Communicative Artifacts through SUS Questionnaire

The study presented examines the accessibility of information conveyed through the language of infographics, analyzing the usability by users in the fruition of information content of five Data Visualization artifacts, selected according to the degree of iconicity of representation by Anceschi. Specifically, the study compared the SUS evaluation by two groups [F=100-M=100] homogeneous in educational grade and age but distinguished in owning proven Visual Design competence or not. It is therefore investigated, whether basic soft skill, is sufficient to achieve an optimal level of accessibility or rather, whether Graphicacy competence is discriminated. Therefore, understanding whether infographic language could be considered ad a universal language or no. A three-variable correlation design was therefore constructed: two independent variables, the System Usability Scale (SUS) along with the degree of iconicity of the representation, and one dependent variable, namely the amount of information extracted from the infographic. The results show that in both Group A and B is evident a general difficulty in accessibility of information correlated to the degree of iconicity of the infographic representation. Specifically, in "non designer" group, no infographics achieved the minimum usability rating, which, on the other hand, in "designer" group, is achieved by the only two artifacts with a medium/low degree of iconicity. From the analysis of the data, Graphicacy-acquired within the educational curriculum of Designers-would appear to be a determinate element in the correct decoding of communicative artifacts. The contribution, through existing data and literature, leads, on the one hand, to confirm that Graphicacy has been found to be neglected in comparison to Literacy, Numeracy, and Articulacy and that the complexity and sophistication of infoaesthetic may be incomprehensible without timely data visualization literacy.