Hi Everyone,
Last year, Guardian Australia published a striking work called, "The Killing Times", which mapped frontier massacres in Australia between 1788 and 1930.
Here is the link: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2019/mar/04/massacre-map-australia-the-killing-times-frontier-wars
The project was collaborative, using data from the University of Newcastle's Colonial Frontier Massacres Project team, while working with the Center for 21st Century Humanities and the Melbourne University Centre for Advancing Journalism
The subject matter is important because Australia is the only country not to have signed a treaty with its Indigenous people (see: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-10/fact-check3a-is-australia-the-only-first-world-nation-with-a-c/11583706 ).
The work is important because it contributes to truth-telling about Australian history, which did not begin with the "discovery" of our island continent by Europeans a few centuries ago.
It rates well on most of the criteria suggested in the "Deconstructing Data Viz" article.
The main map (https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/map.php ) shows that deaths of Indigenous people overwhelmed the number of pioneers settlers, that massacres were spread widely across Australia and they occurred until well into the 20th century.
The data was pieced together from numerous sources, with contemporary newspaper reports often being denied or downplayed (see: https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/sources.php )
Furthermore, the data has been interrogated.
The visualization is clear and readable, producing a powerful message.
However, the controversial subject matter means the team who worked on this project have also done much explaining the methodology (see the Introduction: https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/introduction.php )
The map has features that show chronological order and geographic distribution and allows the viewer to click on individual massacres.
I think this is useful because a viewer can see what happened in their local area. For example, there are many places across Australia that are named Skull Creek, indicating a past massacre (see: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/mar/17/so-many-australian-place-names-honour-murderous-white-men-and-their-violent-acts ).
The design makes good use of colour and historical depictions without using images of individuals.
Importantly, the authors stress it an ongoing project and the information is subject to change as more research is conducted and new collaborations are made.
But I found the timeline to be somewhat clunky, with the sources annotation on the right hand margin written from the top down.
Overall, the map communicates a clear message, uncomfortable as it may be to many white Australians.
Mark Skulley