Talk given at Culture and politics of data visualisation in Sheffield.

Abstract Understanding information visualisation as a reasoning and communication tool doesn’t only require a systematic understanding of its intended functioning (i.e. correct reasoning and reliable communication), but also a better insight in its potential failures. The latter aspect can help us to recognise how information-visualisations can be used to mislead (the critical perspective also present in argumentation theory), but it can also lead to a deeper understanding of the trade-offs that have to be negotiated when designing a visualisation (the design perspective).

The upshot of this talk is to take a closer look at the latter aspect by developing an account of fallacies in information-visualisation, focus on the following common techniques in visualisation:

• Informational shortcuts (information-hiding, fudging distinction, exploiting imprecision) as a means to jump to conclusions,
• Data-transformations like re-ordering, clustering or compressing information as a means to discover or reveal patterns in the data,
• And ask how we can distinguish epistemically beneficial from epistemically detrimental uses of these techniques.

To conclude, the issue of visual fallacies will be reconsidered against the background of contemporary visual analytics and its emphasis on obtaining actionable insight.