Visualising Information for Advocacy

Visualising Information for Advocacy is a book about how advocates and activists use visual elements in their campaigns. This 160-page guide features nearly 50 case studies from around the world to provide an introduction to understanding visual information and a framework for using images for influence.

Whether we’re swamped by it or starved of it, the value of information depends on its quality, and its usefulness depends on our ability to communicate it successfully. As activists, we can't sit and wait for people to wade through 60-page reports. To influence people we must make strong arguments and communicate them using strong evidence. Well timed, rigorous and well presented information is the greatest asset activists possess.

The ideas in Visualising Information for Advocacy have been developed through nearly 50 workshops, led for activists, journalists and advocates campaigning on issues as diverse as corruption and transparency, pro-democracy, land-grabbing, toxic waste, water scarcity, migration, maternal and child health, forced labour, violence against women, gender and sexuality rights, indigenous people's rights, child rights and anti-torture. These workshops have taken us to many countries to work with activists from Kazakhstan to Kenya.

In October 2013, Tactical Tech released the first edition of Visualising Information for Advocacy, and a second edition a year later. In 2016, we published a localised Arabic translation with specific case studies. In 2017, SocialTIC published a Spanish translation of the book.