Educational Data Comics: What can Comics do for Education in Visualization?

Abstract

This paper discusses the potential of comics for explaining concepts with and around data visualization. With the increasing spread of visualizations and the democratization of access to visualization tools, we see a growing need for easily approachable resources for learning visualization techniques, applications, design processes, etc. Comics are a promising medium for such explanation as they concisely combine graphical and textual content in a sequential manner and they provide fast visual access to specific parts of the explanations. Based on a first literature review and our extensive experience with the subject, we survey works at the respective intersections of comics, visualization and education: data comics, educational comics, and visualization education. We report on the potentials of comics to create and share educational material, to engage wide and potentially diverse audiences, and to support educational activities. For each potential we list, we describe open questions for future research. Our discussion aims to inform both the application of comics by educators and their extension and study by researchers.

Full text

Educational Data Comics:
What can Comics do for Education in Visualization?
Magdalena Boucher , Benjamin Bach , Christina Stoiber , Zezhong Wang , Wolfgang Aigner
• Magdalena Boucher, Christina Stoiber and Wolfgang Aigner are with St.
Pölten University of Applied Sciences, Austria. E-mail:
firstname.lastname@fhstp.ac.at
• Benjamin Bach is with University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom. E-mail:
bbach@inf.ed.ac.uk
• Zezhong Wang is with Simon Fraser University, Canada. E-mail:
zezhongw@sfu.ca
Fig. 1: Left: The related research areas and their overlaps form the research landscape we scoped in our initial literature research.
Right: An example of a data comic explaining the visual mapping of a spiral chart based on a line graph.
Abstract—This paper discusses the potential of comics for explaining concepts with and around data visualization. With the increasing
spread of visualizations and the democratization of access to visualization tools, we see a growing need for easily approachable
resources for learning visualization techniques, applications, design processes, etc. Comics are a promising medium for such
explanation as they concisely combine graphical and textual content in a sequential manner and they provide fast visual access to
specific parts of the explanations. Based on a first literature review and our extensive experience with the subject, we survey works at
the respective intersections of comics, visualization and education: data comics, educational comics, and visualization education. We
report on five potentials of comics to create and share educational material, to engage wide and potentially diverse audiences, and to
support educational activities. For each potential we list, we describe open questions for future research. Our discussion aims to inform
both the application of comics by educators and their extension and study by researchers.
Index Terms—data comics, educational comics, visualization education, visualization literacy
1 INTRODUCTION
With the increasing spread of visualizations and the democratization
of data visualization tools, we need better ways to teach and learn
about visualization techniques, concepts, and correct applications. For
example, the general public was recently introduced to various data
visualizations presenting medical data such as reproduction numbers,
Covid-19 cases, hospitalization, etc. [41]. However, visualization be-
yond simple bar- and line charts is rarely taught in the course of general
education, which results in a low visualization literacy among the pub-
lic [10]. This can be a problem considering that a lot of data can only
be thoroughly explored through less widely known, possibly even inter-
active visualization techniques, even though the interpretation of such
data is vital to decision-making. While there is a growing literature on
education methods, including workshops [53], evaluation methods [11],
onboarding [45,46], visualization literacy assessment tests [35], and
teaching approaches [9,24], we need to focus on providing efficient
and effective resources to learn visualizations outside traditional class-
room settings and in situations of informal learning that occur away
from a structured, formal classroom environment: self-learning, online
learning, and professional development.
In this paper, we discuss educational data comics, i.e., comics used
in the context of education in data visualizations. Comics combine
graphical and textual content into concise representations, they provide
sequential explanations, they rely on familiar visual languages and
reading conventions, they can appeal to a diverse audience due to a
wide variety of styles, they can be easily shared and read, and they
provide quick access to graphical content across a page, as compared
to, for example, a video which has to be played in order to access
all the content. In the past, comics have been successfully used to
explain and disseminate concepts in science [12] and medicine [1],
have found their way into the classroom [19, 42, 43], and have been
used to explore visualization design through creating data comics [53].
For these reasons, we think it is timely to ask: What can comics do for
education in visualization?
2 METHOD
Work related to our question is found in the overlaps of three large areas:
comics, data visualization, and education (see Figure 1). Since each
of the overlaps is a topic large enough to warrant multiple structured
literature reviews, which is out of scope for this paper, our approach
is based on triangulating scientific literature from these areas. We first
surveyed publications for each overlap in Google Scholar, using the
keywords data comics, teaching with comics, visualization teaching,
and comic visualization. Then, we surveyed the first 10 result pages
of the digital libraries of ACM, SpringerLink, IEEE Xplore, and Sage
Journals with the same keywords. We included or excluded papers
in our starting sets for each overlap based on their titles, and when
in doubt, the abstracts, based on the following criteria: Data comics:
Does the paper use comics to present or reflect on data through vi-

sualizations? Educational comics: Does the paper report on the use
of comics to educate the readers or creators on specific topics? Visu-
alization education: Does the paper report on theories, methods, or
activities for teaching data visualization? Additionally, we preferred
papers published after 2015 for the starting sets. To further identify
important and possibly older work in the respective areas, we used the
reference snowballing method described by Wohlin [58], including and
excluding papers according to the same aforementioned criteria. This
process led us to a total of 50 papers. Our team regularly met over
multiple weeks to discuss methods and open challenges with respect
to comics for education in visualization for each overlap area that we
could identify through the initial literature research and our extensive
experience in these areas.
We discuss five potentials of comics for visualization education
(section 4), such as sequentiality of visual and textual explanations, easy
creation, enhanced engagement, media independence and flexibility for
class activities.
3 SCOPING THE RESEARCH LANDSCAPE
3.1 Education in Visualization (Education+Visualization)
State-of-the-Art—Visualization literacy and teaching visualization
gained special attention in the last few years (see recent formats such
as the 2021 IEEE Special Issue [4], the 2021 IEEE VIS Panel Discus-
sion [2] and the 2022 Dagstuhl Seminar [18] on the topic) and led to
a plethora of methods and techniques. These include textbooks, on-
line tutorials, graph libraries, tool libraries [38], interactive tools [14],
and more. A wide range of materials and activities are good to cover
a wide variety of education scenarios, people, and tasks associated
with learning and education. Textbooks are great for theoretical and
holistic overviews and provide very curated lenses by authorities in
the field, and online tutorials can provide step-by-step illustrations of
visualization programming or explanations of visual mapping. Graph
and tool libraries provide entry points to larger collections of items and
might come with criteria for filtering and browsing. Interactive tools
have been used to help students learn visualizations more effectively
than through slides [13]. Attempts to help users in taking full advan-
tage of complex visualization tools have been made in visualization
onboarding research [46] as well as in user assistance and guidance in
visual analytics contexts [44]. Efforts have also been made to teach
visualization skills early in elementary schools using tablet applications,
e.g., [3,9]. Both papers report on the capability of elementary school
pupils to create meaningful visualizations and the critical engagement
with the visualization process which leads to productive discussions.
Alongside resources for education, a series of recent workshops on
VisActivities [21] is stressing the importance of hands-on activities
over sole instructional learning. At the same time, activities always
either require some sort of material, such as cards [53] or dedicated
instructions, and the incorporation of such activities has only recently
received attention in research [24].
Open Questions—Most of the actual learning in visualization is
still happening in traditional classrooms with an instructor and students.
However, there is a need to address scenarios of informal learning such
as self-learning, online learning, asynchronous learning, professional
development, playful learning, or hands-on activities. There are many
scenarios where practitioners require knowledge in-situ, e.g., while
they engage in visual analysis. This can happen as part of active
visual analysis, the communication of results, a collaboration with
visualization creators, or a specific visualization design exercise. The
added value in learning in such scenarios has been pointed out in
a study by Kwon and Lee [27]. However, we also need to reach
diverse audiences, such as children, disabled people, or people without
access to the internet and media. Specific learning disabilities such as
dyslexia might have to be considered when designing such learning
materials. Future resources (and activities) must provide effective
means to explain visual concepts and strategies such as visualization
techniques, construction and interaction processes, design thinking
and design tradeoffs, user interfaces for tools, visualization algorithms,
illustrating examples of good and bad (deceptive) visualization designs,
and many more. Addressing these questions requires the creation and
employment of novel educational resources and media for education.
In analogy to the Seven Genres in narrative visualization [40], we
think of comics as one possible genre for visualization education with
potentials especially in supporting self-paced reading, easy sharing,
visual accessibility, or suitability for low-literacy readers (see section 4).
3.2 Educational Comics (Comics+Education)
State-of-the-Art—Educational comics have a long history and usually
aim to educate the reader about different non-fictional scientific con-
cepts. Their effectiveness in educational contexts has been examined
in many studies across various disciplines. A result that all these stud-
ies share is that they are very effective for improving the audience’s
motivation and engagement, most notably through their multimodal
nature, accessibility, as well as through using characters that enable
emotional attachment and form a basis for self-reflection [12,52]. A
lot of educational comics have been designed for classroom use with
children (e.g., English [22], Science [30], or Programming [48]), and
efforts have been made to facilitate their integration into class [51].
Moreover, the popularity of non-fiction comics for adults is also seen in
the rise of a book genre called Graphic Guides, which aims to explain
different topics commonly discoursed in textbooks in an easily accessi-
ble format. Such guides have existed for longer (e.g., for statistics [50]),
but the term has especially been coined by the publisher Icon Books,
whose Graphic Guides series contains, as of 2023, almost 100 books1.
Specific tools for the creation of educational comics are also emerging,
e.g., on the topics of programming [49] or privacy concepts [47]).
Comics have also found their way into science communication,
where they are valued for their ability to “humanize data" [1], and to
promote public engagement with scientific topics [34]. For example,
xkcd comics [33] explain various scientific concepts to the general
public in a humorous way. They are frequently shared online, and their
popularity lead to multiple related best-selling books. Another example
of comics in science communication is Graphic Medicine,
2
a commu-
nity dedicated to comics in the healthcare domain, from educational
comics for students and patients to graphic memoirs of illness. Since
2010, there has even been an annual conference on the topic.3
Open Questions—Educational comics cover a wide range of topics
and sometimes use visualizations to support explanations of scientific
phenomena. However, the respective visualizations themselves and the
knowledge required to properly read and apply them are not the focus of
educational comics yet. For example, visual representations of concrete
subjects (e.g., how a machine works) can be designed in a way that does
not require any specific visualization literacy to be read. Often, these
concepts are explained through analogies and metaphors, especially
when the concepts are very theoretical or hard to grasp, such as math
or programming [48,49]. In contrast, data (e.g., statistics of vaccine
effectiveness) needs to be effectively visualized before a comic can
explain visualization types, their forms and shapes, the visual patterns
we can identify and what they mean, etc. Hence, these educational
comics do not face the same challenges as comics communicating data.
3.3 Data Comics (Comics+Visualization)
State-of-the-Art—Data comics communicate insights in data by delib-
erately using aspects of the comic medium (e.g., juxtaposition, captions,
or panel layout) in the presentation or even as a part of a data visual-
ization. Data Comics were first mentioned by Segel and Heer [40] in
2010, highlighting comics’ potential benefits for communicative data
visualization. Zhao et al. [61] were the first to describe the genre in
detail, using characters to guide a reader through panels, presenting
visualizations step-by-step, while Bach et al. [6] describe specific char-
acteristics of data comics as four components: i) layout (ranging from
open to sequential), ii) text and picture (ranging from rather text-heavy
to image-heavy), iii) visualization (ranging from realistic renderings to
1https://www.introducingbooks.com/graphic-guides
(Accessed June 26,
2023)
2https://www.graphicmedicine.org/why-graphic- medicine
(Accessed June
26, 2023)
3https://www.graphicmedicine.org/comics-and- medicine-conferences
(Accessed June 26, 2023)

very abstract sketches), and iv) narration (ranging from fully narrated
comics with characters and stories explaining the respective context
of the data to very factual comics reduced to the visualizations them-
selves). Study results comparing data comics to infographics and
illustrated texts show that data comics are most engaging as well as
effective in helping readers to understand [57], and might lead to a
better memorability of content [60].
Since then, a range of applications and studies followed, investigat-
ing the genre in greater detail. This includes data comics to explain
changes in temporal networks [5] or processes of setup, data collection,
and analysis during controlled user studies [54]. The authors note that
they can aid studies as support material or even act as an alternative to
common reporting approaches. Unlike the character-driven approach by
Zhao et al. [61], these examples use a more abstract style, focusing on
the elements’ visual consistency between individual panels and using
the panels’ innate narrative to convey insights about the visualization.
Considering the fact that a lot of data visualizations require inter-
active ways of exploration due to the density of underlying datasets,
the potential of interactive data comics has also recently been exam-
ined [23,55]. Adding interactivity to data comics allows for new ways
of exploration, such as goal-driven navigation, displaying details on de-
mand, changing story perspectives, incorporating branching storylines,
or adding (personal) data. While studies show promising results, they
also highlight great challenges especially in authoring interactive data
comics, both on the technical and the conceptional side [55].
To support the creation of data comics, Bach et al. propose design
patterns [7] which they successfully used in design workshops [53].
However, in these scenarios, the focus was on creating comics for data-
driven storytelling, rather than teaching visualization. In such cases,
or in the cases of data comics including very complex visualizations
or explaining their underlying data in more detail, sketching them by
hand can be cumbersome, which is why digital creation support in the
form of authoring tools has been proposed as well [25,60].
Open Questions—Similar to educational comics, most of the ex-
isting examples and studies have focused on explaining data through
visualization, rather than explaining visualization techniques and con-
cepts. More research is required about how to integrate words and
visualizations into the narratives and visual styles in the comic layouts
to teach different aspects of visualization, such as visualization literacy,
usage, and creation.
Additionally, multidimensional, live, or very large amounts of data
are likely to raise additional needs in data comic authoring. Mak-
ing data comics for different audiences also raises questions, such as
audiences with various literacy to data and visualizations. Although
interactive data comics enable exploration, finding a balance between
free exploration and guided narrative can be a challenge.
4 WHAT COMICS CAN D O FO R VISUALIZATION EDUCATION
Considering the three topic spaces in our research landscape, we looked
for work that sits at the intersection of education, comics, and visual-
ization, by C1) ...using a comic representation, C2) ...talking about or
using visualizations of data as per our definition, and C3) ...having an
educational purpose for visualization.
To the best of our knowledge, the only work that fulfills all of the
aforementioned criteria is the visualization cheat sheets by Wang et
al. [56] and the data comics workshops by Wang et al. [53]. Visualiza-
tion cheatsheets use comic strips to explain how different visualizations
(parallel coordinates, adjacency matrices, time curves, boxplots, conflu-
ence graphs, and treemaps) are constructed in a way that is understand-
able for novices (see Figure 2). This approach is similar to our example
in Figure 1. Data comic workshops use data comics as a “hands-on”
exercise for students to learn data visualization and storytelling. In a
series of workshop sessions, participants collected data and designed
visualizations to be used in their data comics (see Figure 5).
In an attempt to fill this gap in data comics research, we list poten-
tials we identified through regular discussions among the authors who
have extensive collective experience in teaching several visualization
courses for both students and professionals over several years; running
workshops on data comics (e.g., [53]), visualization, and sketching; as
Fig. 2: A comic in the visualization cheatsheets [56] explaining the
construction of a parallel coordinate plot.
well as our extensive research on data comics [5
–
7,54
–
57] and previ-
ous professional experience in comic illustration. The list is further
informed by the literature review in the previous section and the open
questions we identified. The potentials are mainly based on the specific
characteristics of the comic medium, and each points to a range of
possible scenarios in using comics in visualization education.
P1. Foster learning through sequences of visual and tex-
tual explanations Many traits of comics naturally satisfy the re-
quirements for effective learning. For example, Petterson [36] reports
on how written teaching material is best presented. He notes that the
content should be:
•
parallel in structure (i.e., parts of a sentence parallel in meaning
should also be parallel in structure). Comics employ parallelism
by nature, not only through the connection of text and image, but
also because previous panels are always easily accessible—either
because they are on the same page/screen, or they can quickly be
retrieved interactively.
•
conveyed through repeated words and ideas, and tied to prior
knowledge. This harmonizes well with the aforementioned ability
of comics to refer to earlier panels through “flashbacks” and
compare them to new content.
•
presented as main ideas rather than details. Data comics in
particular have been successful in presenting the main idea along
a narrative, with optional details being available when studying
individual panels [5].
Due to the inherent visual nature of visualization, explanations about
them naturally benefit from descriptions that are also visual. Visual
elements in combination with text can lead to higher learning perfor-
mance [36,62] and most other explanation formats (videos, animated
explanations, or life demonstrations) apply this combination of visuals
and text. Applying visualization rhetoric [20] can also enhance memo-
rability and learning. Another requirement of almost all explanations is
a sequence of steps, especially in the case of complex concepts (e.g.,
the visual mapping of a more complex visualization technique) or a
process (a design rationale). The technique of adapting the visual pre-
sentation of visualizations depending on users’ level of familiarity has
been proven promising [39] and is something that can easily be adopted
by comics (e.g., in sequential panels). Sequentiality also breaks down
the complexity of explanations and follows a specific process or logic.
Our traditional explanation formats do follow this schema of sequence;
however, they can restrict the learner as they take full control of the
pace at which information is presented. This requires the learner to
listen through the whole narration, take notes, and wait until the end
to know whether their questions are answered in the course of the pre-
sentation. Comics have a more open narration instead of a strictly
linear one and can allow the reader to skim the content first, see which
points are addressed, and then proceed with more detailed reading,
quickly jumping between panels whenever the narrative prompts them
to revisit a previous step [7] (see Figure 3), or when they need to clarify
something for themselves.
Comic explanations are also immediately visible and visually ac-
cessible. Readers can quickly access the relevant parts without, for
example, having to manually scrub through a video timeline. Visual
anchors in specific panels can help with this process. Similar to a video
player showing preview images as the user hovers over the timeline,
this can help navigate back and forth, only without having to actually

Fig. 3: Comics can prompt the reader to go back to a previous panel.
rewind. For example, the first panel of a comic could introduce an
explanation (like showing a visualization system before it has been
interacted with), while the last panel naturally shows the result (after
such an interaction), which can help decide whether to read the full
comic or not.
We imagine this potential being leveraged to explain concepts that
require visual representations, including visual patterns and visualiza-
tion techniques, showing and discussing examples of "good" and "bad"
visualization design, and describing fallacies in interpreting visualiza-
tions as well as potential deceptions (as also experimented with in
visualization cheat sheets [56]). Comics could also explain elements in
the interface of an interactive visualization tool and describe interaction
capabilities (see Figure 4), or encourage interaction for exploration
(e.g., view change) [46]. Textual explanations can be provided as part
of captions or annotations in each panel, explaining concepts that are
hard to express with visual content alone.
Fig. 4: A character explaining the highlighting of a line in an interactive
parallel coordinate chart.
Apart from preliminary results [56], we have no recorded empirical
evidence about the effectiveness of comics for visualization education
yet. Future studies can compare educational data comics to e.g., videos
and animated explanations, and should also investigate metaphors for
explaining visualization concepts as well as ways to convey complex
explanations. Eventually, we hope this will inspire explanations inside
scientific papers and posters.
P2. Support creation and prototyping of learning re-
sources Beginners often describe comic creation as effortful and
requiring many diverse skills. While this might be true for profes-
sionally rendered and polished comics, comics are easy to storyboard
by using just a pen and paper, helping to express ideas about visual
explanations. Comics can be effective with even just stick figures (see
xkcd [33]) and simple graphic explanations (see Figure 2). Through
tools and libraries, comics can also be created without drawing at all:
Apps like Comic Life
4
and Pixton
5
, for example, offer comic templates
and assets to mix and match and were designed with classroom use
cases in mind. Other tools tailored specifically to more data-driven
comics also exist [28,61]. Additionally, the rise of text-to-image gener-
ation technology, such as OpenAI’s Dall-E
6
and Midjourney
7
, opens
up possibilities of enhancing the creation of scenes and characters even
more. In any case, creating comics is easier than video production and
4https://apps.apple.com/de/app/comic-life- 3/id891378056
, (Accessed
August 14, 2023)
5https ://www .pixto n.com/ studen t-co mic- build er
, (Accessed August 14,
2023)
6https://openai.com/dall-e- 2/, (Accessed June 26, 2023)
7https://www.midjourney.com/app/, (Accessed June 26, 2023)
can be achieved by every instructor, from researchers providing expla-
nations to their novel techniques [57] or teachers creating materials for
their classes [51], to students drawing comics to explain their ideas to
peers (see Figure 5).
Fig. 5: Comics can be easily created by anyone. Visible in the back-
ground is a student’s comic storyboard from a data comic workshop [7].
P3. Appeal to a variety of different audiences Comics
can employ a variety of visual and narrative styles [29]. For example,
comic characters can lead the way through a narrative, explaining
topics almost on a person-to-person level, which creates room for self-
reflection [12, 52]. Other comics completely refrain from using any
characters. This way, they can be adapted to specific audiences, or hint
towards a target group the comic explanations are intended for. Comics
can be designed in either playful and neutral ways, depending on
the presented topic and the target audience. For example, younger
audiences might find comic characters more appealing, and visual
embellishments on charts can enhance memorability [8] (see Figure 6).
Students with learning disabilities could also benefit from the easy-to-
access format [51]. At the same time, tools such as cheatsheets might
favor a more abstract style akin to assembly instructions.
Comics appeal to a wide range of people, possibly enticing learners
who are less acquainted with traditional instructional techniques or
not attracted to commonly used learning media such as videos and
textbooks. While they have different histories, comics share many traits
with the highly related visual narrative medium of "Zines". Especially
the latter have flourished in marginalized communities as a medium
to voice perspectives because they are easy to create, and at the same
time engaging and memorable for readers. The potentials of zines in
visualization pedagogy have been explored by McNutt [32]. Similarly,
we suggest that comics can not only contribute to learning as a curated
learning material, but that their creation process constitutes a learning
activity in itself, offering an alternative way for learners to engage with
the material on a personal level and stimulate critical thinking.
Comics can also be short, sometimes only a few panels for a single
explanation, which can reduce the barriers to engage in reading. Addi-
tionally, studies have shown that hand-drawn content can lower the
participation barrier to discussions on visualizations, as opposed to
clearly rendered graphics [59]. Different from screenshots of visual-
izations and applications, drawings and abstract illustrations can also
help focus on the most important concepts in an explanation. Other
studies suggest that comics’ engaging way of presenting content along
a narrative can also increase the likelihood of readers memorizing the
content [57,60].
Fig. 6: Different styles of comics can appeal to different target groups:
Left is a neutral style, right a more playful approach.
Some comics, for example popular Korean webtoons, employ un-
usual storytelling mechanics like automatic transitions between certain
panels, or temporarily taking control of the browser’s scroll function to

scroll through a series of cleverly positioned panels with high speed, cre-
ating flipbook-like animations (e.g., Bongcheon-Dong Ghost
8
). Some
digital comics have experimented with adding sound [16], and even
experiments on comic-game hybrids have been made [17]. Depending
on the requirements of a visualization that is to be taught through a
comic, similar digital enhancements could be used to, for example,
interactively manipulate a visualization in one panel to change what
the next panels display.
Comics are a versatile medium which can be used as an engaging
"add-on" to traditional learning, but they can also support alternative
or informal learning spaces. Through their visual narrative, they can
support democratizing learning experiences and offer different entry
points to the topic of data visualization. This can broaden the scope
of current visualization teaching efforts and bridge the gap that exists
between conventional educational methods and learners from diverse
backgrounds and various social contexts.
P4. Widely shareable and reusable material Comics are
“un-demanding” when it comes to the medium they are presented in.
Print and paper can easily be used in physical classroom settings (group
work, wall posters, slideshows, textbooks, handouts) and as low-tech
ways to reach people with restricted access to video devices and in-
ternet streaming. Printed copies can also carry additional “value”
when holding a real physical booklet and flipping through the pages,
discovering content like in coffee-table books and overcoming digital
fatigue [37]. Efforts have also been made to offer finished comics with
curated content on different topics (e.g., "Reading With Pictures"
9
),
which can be edited by instructors to tailor them to their needs (e.g.,
"Comixplain"
10
). On the other hand, digital versions can be shared eas-
ily, e.g., on social media, blogs, and websites. Generally, comics adapt
well to the individual constraints of different media (e.g., scrolling
through digital panels or navigating on an infinite canvas as opposed
to turning a page [31]). Eventually, educational data comics could be
made interactive for exploration, personalization, and interaction [55].
P5. Support visualization activities Comics can be used
not only as instructional material but also as a supporting medium for
learning activities [21]. Educational theories effectively used to teach
visualizations in other media [45] could inform ways of using comics
both as material for autonomous learning (see P1) and as a “learning-
by-teaching"-approach, when learners create educational comics for
others, reflecting on the content along the way and thus strengthen
their own understanding about it [26] (see P3 and Figure 7). For
example, comics could be used as a method for collecting and tracking
data, similar to Galman’s approach of comics-based data analysis [15].
Writing and drawing can support making sense of data, acting as a multi-
modal way of scaffolding the analyst’s cognition. Galman describes
the process as similar to making mind maps to explore emerging ideas,
only that comics give access to empathy, offering possible new insights
and acting as a common ground for discussion with fellow researchers.
Building on this notion, educational data comics could be used by
students as a participatory design approach to document visualization
design options, decisions, differences, evolution, etc. as part of “design
journals”. The layout and visual depiction would help with discussing
and reviewing these alternatives with other learners. These comics
could even be reused by other educators, handed out to groups, or put
up in classrooms to support instruction.
5 CONCLUSION
We started this research by asking ourselves what comics can do for
education in visualization. We scouted literature in the research land-
scape of visualization education, educational comics, and data comics,
discussed 50 related papers, and list open questions in these areas. Our
description of five potentials, possible application scenarios, and future
work reveals great potential for creative exploration in i) the creation
of educational data comics ii) the application of educational comics in
8https://comic.naver.com/webtoon/detail?titleId=350217&no=31
,
(Accessed June 26, 2023)
9https://www.readingwithpictures.org/, (Accessed August 14, 2023)
10https://fhstp.github.io/comixplain/, (Accessed August 14, 2023)
Fig. 7: Comics can suppor t participatory design approaches as a part of,
for example, a visualization class.
learning scenarios, beyond the traditional classroom and into visualiza-
tion activities, and iii) research into effectiveness, best practices, and
promising application scenarios.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank Alena Ertl for her support in creating the figures for this paper. This work was
funded by BMK under the ICT of the Future program via the SEVA project (no. 874018),
by the Austrian Science Fund as part of the Vis4Schools project (I 5622-N), and by the
GFF NÖ as part of the dissertation project VisToon (SC20 - 014).
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