Supporting environmental conservation with information visualization

Abstract

Since the advent of conservation practices, society has become increasingly separated from nature, which has led to a concealment of production from consumers known as the "black box." As a result, consumers rely on certifications to help guide environmentally supportive decisions but do not understand how and why these decisions matter. This project explores how information visualization can enable a better understanding of conservation strategies by revealing the "black box" of production. In particular, it focuses on revealing the complex supply chain of food, guiding consumers from farm to table in an effort to expose decision points to inform sustainable purchasing. Strategies include modeling supply chains and distributing these models by augmenting existing artifacts.