Visualization for Impact: the Gordon Research Conference at Bates College

The Gordon Research Conference on Visualization in Science and Education meets every two years, and in 2025 its theme was Visualization for Impact. A week at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine with scientists, educators and designers working on machine learning, XR, earth science, uncertainty and visualization for social good.

It’s a room of people who want their work to land and are honest about why it often doesn’t. My talk was the argument I’ve been making since: we’ve had twenty years of data visualization and public trust in information is at a historic low, so the next twenty need to be about communication. It was the first stop of a summer that ran on through London, Utrecht, Budapest and Vienna.