On ‘How Charts Lie’ and Increasing Graphicacy

Alberto Cairo is an associate professor and the Knight Chair in Visual Journalism at the University of Miami’s School of Communication. The former director for infographics and multimedia at Editora Globo, the magazine division of the biggest media group in Brazil, he has been described by Microsoft as having “spent his entire career in the vanguard of visual journalism.”

In September, Alberto visited Notre Dame’s online master’s program in data science and delivered a public lecture as part of the College of Science’s John A. Lynch Lecture Series.  He is the author of three books, including How Charts Lie, which is being published by W.W. Norton & Company literally next week. Well, next week from when we’re releasing this episode. So, just to be safe: The book comes out—or if you’re listening to this in the future, came out—Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019.

And here, Alberto and host Ted Fox talk all about it, from the five different categories of lies charts can tell us to why calling the book How Charts Lie is a provocation, an invitation to think about how we read and misread them—not a rejection of their usefulness and importance.

Because one thing becomes clear when talking to Alberto: He likes charts. So much so that he’s devoted an entire book to helping us get better at how we use them.

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With a Side of Knowledge is a podcast produced at the University of Notre Dame. It features interviews with fascinating people from both Notre Dame and elsewhere that take place over brunch—or if we’re really in a pinch, coffee.

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