Applying Racial Equity Awareness in Data Visualization

A data visualization style guide does for graphs what the Chicago Manual of Style does for English grammar: it defines the components of a graph and their proper, consistent use. At the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research institution based in Washington, DC, our data visualization style guide defines these styles for our research and communications staff. In the process of revising and expanding the style guide, we are taking a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive (DEI) perspective to our research, data, and visualizations. To date, our approach has been to create a set of recommendations and issues to consider, rather than a set of rules that researchers must follow. In this paper, we discuss eight techniques that data visualization producers should consider when creating visuals with this DEI approach. As with our existing style guide, we consider this a first step in our thought process of creating graphs and producing content through a DEI lens.

Book Reviews

Sandy Baum of The Urban Institute reviews “The Impoverishment of the American College Student,” by James V. Koch. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Explores the reasons for increasing higher education costs, focusing on four-year public colleges and universities in the United States.”

Equity and the Urban University: Introduction to the Chicago Conference Issue

his 2018 CUMU Annual Conference issue of Metropolitan Universities journal (MUJ) highlights efforts by universities and scholars seeking to engage directly with issues of equity in cities. Reflecting on the conference theme, Partnering for Equity, the City of Chicago offered arguably one of the most sobering and rich contexts for discussing the role of higher education in promoting equity. A 2017 study found the cost of lost income to Chicago’s regional economy due to racial segregation exceeded $4 billion (Urban Institute, 2017, pg. IX). This same study noted an estimated 83,000 college degrees never attained because of racial segregation (Urban Institute, 2017, pg. 40). Chicago, like many urban areas, present the most pressing opportunities and challenges for uncovering and addressing issues of equity. As reflected in the conference presentations and speeches, one of the most important changes in higher education is the growing recognition that social change begins on and around the campus. Paulo Freire posited this view nearly 40 years ago in Pedagogy of the Oppressed, naming education a political act. To fully realize this transformative power of higher education, universities must partner across institutions and sectors to reveal and address critical issues of equity. This is the focus of the work shared at the 2018 CUMU Annual Conference.