The “Information+ Conference 2025” held in Boston. Reporter Koo Sun-a
Data visualization is rapidly establishing itself as a central pillar driving the core narrative of news, moving beyond a simple supplementary tool for text. As readers’ “reading habits” change in the online environment, newsrooms are deepening their consideration not only of “what to say” but also “how to show it.”
At the Information+ Conference 2025, held last November at MIT and Northeastern University in Boston, discussions actively unfolded that viewed data visualization not as a technical output but as a “social language” and a “core medium of journalism.”
Info+ is an international event where researchers in data visualization and information design, graphic reporters from media organizations, and designers gather every two years in a new city.
Research labs of global giants such as Google cluster around Kendall Square, home to the MIT campus. Boston — Reporter Koo Sun-a
Boston, the host city, is one of the cities in the United States where academic and practical work are tightly integrated. Research institutions, journalism schools, and policy research centers are concentrated around Harvard, MIT, and Northeastern University.
Thanks to this, academic discourse naturally transfers to field technology, and practical concerns are fed back into research. As one of the most historically significant cities, the traces of history left throughout Boston proved that the entire city is a massive “data repository.”
“Let’s Play with Data!” workshop led by Jose Duarte, director of Easydataviz, at the MIT Media Lab. Reporter Koo Sun-a
What to Show: ‘Social Language’ Recording Narrative
On the first day of the conference, a workshop titled “Let’s Play with Data!” led by Jose Duarte, director of Easydataviz, was held at MIT Campus Media Lab. Participants stepped outside the classroom and collected data directly by engaging with people.
A large-scale tapestry project woven with banknotes alongside Latin American migrants. Courtesy of MIT Professor Sarah Williams, Info+2025
The data was visualized on the spot using analog tools such as paper, pens, and stickers. Director Duarte emphasized that “what is more important than a polished visual is the process and context.” Data, as a cohesive body of fragmented information and a record containing situations and experiences, conveys a clear message.
This discourse continued in academic presentations held at the Northeastern University campus. MIT Professor Sarah Williams introduced a project addressing the cost of border crossings for Central and South American migrants. By weaving actual banknotes together with migrants to create a large-scale tapestry, the project visually embodied the enormous migration cost of $2.2 billion. The idea was inspired by the lives of migrants who endured by making bags of banknotes amid currency collapse. Professor Williams said, “The data reflecting hardship ultimately created a powerful resonance and made a decisive contribution to the Biden administration’s bill to expand legal migration pathways.”
“Lost in Transliteration: Visualizing Algorithmic Misreadings of Chinese Names” by Liuhuaying Yang, researcher at the Complexity Science Hub Vienna (CSH), Austria
A distribution map visualizing tens of thousands of Chinese characters used in Chinese names by gender preference. Courtesy of researcher Yang
The making of Melinda Sipos’s “Names in Shadow.” Courtesy of Info+
Dozens of Chinese characters hidden behind the romanizations “Man” (left) and “Wei” (right), along with their associated data, reconstructed in a physical space using bamboo. Courtesy of Info+
The case of Liuhuaying Yang, a researcher at the Complexity Science Hub Vienna (CSH) in Austria, also drew attention. Yang collected the names of Chinese American women to illuminate how individual identities have been lost within the vast currents of immigration and assimilation. The visualization was created together with Melinda Sipos, a data artist and installation artist who transforms data into tangible art. Data visualization thus functioned as a multidimensional record and a critical device that communicated the narratives of marginalized groups.
Korean researchers also made their presence felt by demonstrating data-based social practices.
Professor Kim Mi-hyun of Texas State University raised the issues of salary inequality among university faculty and structural wage imbalances faced by specific classes in the “Critical Data Visualization” session. The project drew attention for bringing about substantial institutional changes such as actual salary increases. In particular, by combining numerical data with the personal narratives of campus members, it demonstrated that data can be a powerful tool for eliciting empathy and realizing social justice, beyond being a simple indicator. As educators from various university institutions were in attendance, the response was enthusiastic, and Professor Kim requested, “Please raise your voices together for change.”
Professor Ahn Chae-won of the National University of Singapore, who presented in the latter half, addressed the Sewoon Sangga redevelopment issue in Seoul under the theme of “data resistance.” Using a data visualization approach, she recorded traces of places being erased during the development process. She demonstrated that multifaceted data practices, such as “digital twins” that replicate physical spaces in virtual environments, can serve as an alternative to counter government-led uniform redevelopment and present new visions.
“A Small Victory” by Professor Ahn Chae-won’s team at the National University of Singapore, which used data to preserve the sites of 58 factories in Sewoon Sangga. Courtesy of Professor Ahn, Info+2025
How to Show: “Small Is Big”
Impassioned presentations crossing practice and academia continued until the final day of the conference, but the clear highlight was the session by media practitioners. In particular, as graphic reporters from The New York Times (NYT) and the Financial Times (FT) revealed the intense production processes inside newsrooms, participants’ engagement reached its peak. These reporters, for whom time and physical constraints are daily realities, spoke in unison: “Visuals must be the purest interface for helping readers understand.”
Kennedy Elliott, reporter from The New York Times Visual News team, delivers a presentation. Reporter Koo Sun-a
Kennedy Elliott, a reporter on the NYT Visual News team, cited coverage tracking the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) during the Trump administration and the massive reduction of civil servants. “At that time, with executive orders pouring out and government websites and data information extremely insufficient, reporters had no choice but to rely on existing official data for coverage,” she recalled. “In the process of classifying layoff data by type and cross-verifying it with other outlets, we inevitably had to build our own dataset,” she said, sharing the difficulties at the time.
The strategy chosen by the NYT visualization team was not flashy interactives or large-scale graphic production. They judged that small, quickly readable charts, lists, and simple-structured graphics were more appropriate. Elliott emphasized that “sometimes the smallest is the biggest (small is big).” In the chaos of information overload, clear and simple visuals become the most powerful tool. She emphasized once again that data visualization is a core element of journalism that goes beyond the technology of explaining information to serve as a “guide of direction” for readers.
“My 6-year-old daughter doesn’t know the word ‘lion,’ but the moment she sees a picture of a lion in a picture book, she instinctively recognizes what it is.”
Elliott gave an example from an anecdote with her daughter to explain the importance of “intuition.” Her view is that “visual media must be a much faster and more primal language than text.”
Concluding the session, Elliott added, “One well-made graphic is more powerful than 4,000 words,” and, “The small graphics we create come together to form a historical process of building humanity’s ‘visual literacy.'” Data visualization is a sublime endeavor, writing page by page a “historical lexicon of graphics” as one of the ways humanity understands the world.
Elliott explained the essence of primal language using the example of a lion drawing. Courtesy of NYT reporter Elliott
※ This article was written with support from the Korea Press Foundation.