Multimodal communication of data
Más que números investigates how numerical data information is conveyed through speech, gesture and images. Research on data communication has so far focused on identifying strategies based on perception and visualization. However, these types of visualisations are not often used in a vacuum, particularly in the media. They are often accompanied with combinations of speech and gesture. This project aims to study the multimodal strategies in data communication by identifying how how speech, gesture and visualisations are integrated when conveying numerical information.
The way we talk, gesture and visualise data also has a big impact in the decisions we make. Economy, politics, healthcare, and climate crisis, to name a few, often rely on data to inform and often persuade the general public. This project will also experimentally asses the influence of the multimodal strategies in data communication on how data is interpret. It will examine how variations in linguistic, gestural or visual input can have an impact on data-based decision making.
The project is being developed by Daniel Alcaraz Carrión (University of Murcia) in collaboration with Javier Valenzuela (University of Murcia) and Martha W. Alibali (University of Wisconsin-Madison), and it is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science under the Beatriz Galindo international excellence program awarded to Daniel Alcaraz. If you have any further questions or would like to contribute to the project email us at daniel.alcaraz@um.es.
Selected publications
Alcaraz-Carrión, D., Valenzuela, J. & Alibali, M.W. Numbers skyrocket in English but increase in Spanish: Metaphoric conceptualization and manner expression in translations. Forthcoming.
Alcaraz-Carrión, D. Lexical variation in numerical motion. Forthcoming.