Abstract
In a world increasingly driven by data and technology, it is imperative to empower stakeholders across diverse backgrounds (scientists, policymakers, patients, the general public) to make informed decisions about their health with the information available. However, simply providing the information is often not enough. The key to sharing and communicating health and medicine is making the information relevant to the intended audience. This issue lies at the heart of effective science communication. Storytelling is an age-old practice, and arguably one of the most defining features of humanity. Stories enable science communicators to translate complex information from health and medicine into a narrative that is personally accessible and relevant to the individual. Many pieces come together to craft what many would call a “good story”—one of these is narrative. Our work seeks to tease out the role of narrative, with its various components, in telling medical stories. This chapter discusses current approaches in narrative medical visualization, with an eye toward future opportunities in develo** narratives for data-driven medical stories. We explore various strategies in narrative structure and character that may be unique to telling medical stories and provide an outlook on future directions in this space.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alkureishi MA, Johnson T, Nichols J et al (2021) Impact of an educational comic to enhance patient-physician-electronic health record engagement: prospective observational study. JMIR Hum Factors 8:e25054. https://doi.org/10.2196/25054
Aristotle (2008) The poetics of Aristotle, by Aristotle. Translated by S.H. Butcher. Available at: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1974/1974-h/1974-h.htm. Accessed: March 26, 2023
Bach B, Stefaner M, Boy J et al (2018) Narrative design patterns for data-driven storytelling. In: Riche NH, Hurter C, Diakopoulos N, Carpendale S (eds) Data-driven storytelling, 1st edn. A K Peters/CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, pp 107–133. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781315281575-5
Böttinger M, Kostis H-N, Ynnermann A (2020) Challenges and open issues in visualization for broad audiences. In: Chen M, Hauser H, Rheingans P, Scheuermann G (eds) Foundations of data visualization. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 381–389. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34444-3_21
Bucchi M, Trench B (2021) Rethinking science communication as the social conversation around science. J Sci Commun 20(03):Y01. https://doi.org/10.22323/2.20030401
Campbell J (2008) The hero with a thousand faces. New World Library
Chen M, Bell R, Taylor L (2016) Narrator point of view and persuasion in health narratives: the role of protagonist–reader similarity, identification, and self-referencing. J Health Commun 21:1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2016.1177147
Elmqvist N, Tsigas P (2008) A taxonomy of 3D occlusion management for visualization. IEEE Trans Vis Comput Graph 14:1095–1109. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2008.59
Fathom (2023) Fathom information design https://fathom.info/. Accessed 20 Mar 2023
Garrison L, Meuschke M, Fairman J, et al (2021) An exploration of practice and preferences for the visual communication of biomedical processes. Proc of Eurographics Workshop on Visual Computing for Biology and Medicine. https://doi.org/10.2312/vcbm.20211339
Garrison LA, Kolesar I, Viola I et al (2022) Trends & opportunities in visualization for physiology: a multiscale overview. Computer Graphics Forum 41:609–643. https://doi.org/10.1111/cgf.14575
Gaziano C, McGrath K (1986) Measuring the concept of credibility. Journal Q 63(3):451–462. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769908606300301
Giovannelli A (2009) In sympathy with narrative characters. J Aesthet Art Critic 67:83–95. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6245.2008.01337.x
Hullman J, Diakopoulos N (2011) Visualization rhetoric: framing effects in narrative visualization. IEEE Trans Vis Comput Graph 17:2231–2240. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2011.255
Joubert M, Davis L, Metcalfe J (2019) Storytelling: the soul of science communication. JCOM 18. https://doi.org/10.22323/2.18050501
Kearns C (2023) Artibiotics comics portfolio. https://artibiotics.com/comics. Accessed 19 Mar 2023
Köhler B, Grothoff M, Gutberlet M, Preim B (2019) Bloodline: a system for the guided analysis of cardiac 4D PC-MRI data. Comput Graph 82:32–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cag.2019.05.004
Kosara R (2016) Presentation-oriented visualization techniques. IEEE Comput Grap Appl 36:80–85. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCG.2016.2
Kouřil D, Strnad O, Mindek P et al (2023) Molecumentary: adaptable narrated documentaries using molecular visualization. IEEE Trans Vis Comput Graph 29:1733–1747. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2021.3130670
Lawonn K, Smit NN, Bühler K, Preim B (2018) A survey on multimodal medical data visualization. Computer Graphics Forum 37:413–438. https://doi.org/10.1111/cgf.13306
Lee B, Riche NH, Isenberg P, Carpendale S (2015) More than telling a story: transforming data into visually shared stories. IEEE Comput Grap Appl 35:84–90. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCG.2015.99
Madej K (2008) “Traditional narrative structure”–not traditional so why the norm?
Masri A, Svensson LG, Griffin BP, Desai MY (2017) Contemporary natural history of bicuspid aortic valve disease: a systematic review. Heart 103:1323–1330. https://doi.org/10.1136/heartjnl-2016-309916
Meuschke M, Garrison LA, Smit NN et al (2022) Narrative medical visualization to communicate disease data. Comput Graph 107:144–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cag.2022.07.017
Mittenentzwei S, Weiß V, Schreiber S, Garrison L, Bruckner S, Pfister M, Preim B, Meuschke M (2023) Do disease stories need a hero? Effects of human protagonists on a narrative visualization about cerebral small vessel disease. Computer Graphics Forum 42:123
New York Times (2012) Snowfall. https://www.nytimes.com/projects/2012/snow-fall/index.html#/?part=tunnel-creek. Accessed 20 Mar 2023
Oeltze-Jafra S, Preim B (2014) Survey of labeling techniques in medical visualizations. In: Proc. of Eurographics Workshop on Visual Computing for Biology and Medicine, pp 199–208. https://doi.org/10.2312/vcbm.20141192
van Pelt R, Vilanova A (2013) Understanding blood-flow dynamics: new challenges for visualization. Computer 46:60–67. https://doi.org/10.1109/MC.2013.121
Preim B, Ropinski T, Isenberg P (2018) A critical analysis of the evaluation practice in medical visualization. Proc. of Eurographics workshop on visual computing for biology and Medicine, pp. 45–56. https://doi.org/10.2312/VCBM.20181228
Richter Lipford H, Stukes F, Dou W, et al (2010) Hel** users recall their reasoning process. pp 187–194. https://doi.org/10.1109/VAST.2010.5653598
Segel E, Heer J (2010) Narrative visualization: telling stories with data. IEEE Trans Vis Comput Graph 16:1139–1148. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2010.179
Seyser D, Zeiller M (2018) Scrollytelling–an analysis of visual storytelling in online journalism. In: 2018 22nd International Conference Information Visualisation (IV)., pp 401–406. https://doi.org/10.1109/iV.2018.00075
Simis MJ, Madden H, Cacciatore MA, Yeo SK (2016) The lure of rationality: why does the deficit model persist in science communication? Public Underst Sci 25:400–414. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662516629749
Stupak E, Kleinau A, Mörth E, et al (2022) Is there a tornado in Alex’s blood flow? A case study for narrative medical visualization. Proc. of Eurographics Workshop on Visual Computing for Biomedicine. https://doi.org/10.2312/vcbm.20221183
Wachinger G, Renn O, Begg C, Kuhlicke C (2013) The risk perception paradox–implications for governance and communication of natural hazards. Risk Anal 33:1049–1065. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1539-6924.2012.01942.x
Wardlaw JM, Smith EE, Biessels GJ et al (2013) Neuroimaging standards for research into small vessel disease and its contribution to ageing and neurodegeneration. Lancet Neurol 12:822–838. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(13)70124-8
World Health Organization (W.H.O.) (2023) WHO health emergency dashboard. https://covid19.who.int/. Accessed 20 Mar 2023
Wolters Kluwer (2023) Guide patient engagement journeys with emmiengage. https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/emmi/emmi-engage. Accessed 19 Mar 2023
Ynnerman A, Ljung P, Bock A (2020) Reaching broad audiences from a science center or museum setting. In: Chen M, Hauser H, Rheingans P, Scheuermann G (eds) Foundations of data visualization. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 341–364. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34444-3_19
Cleveland Clinic (2022) Microvascular ischemic disease: symptoms & treatment. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22927-microvascular-ischemic-disease. Accessed 19 Mar 2023
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Garrison, L.A., Meuschke, M., Preim, B., Bruckner, S. (2023). Current Approaches in Narrative Medical Visualization. In: Roughley, M. (eds) Approaches for Science Illustration and Communication. Biomedical Visualization, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41652-1_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41652-1_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-41651-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-41652-1
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)