Investigating Ethical Data Communication with Purrsuasion: An Educational Game about Negotiated Data Disclosure

2026-04-06

AI Summary

This study addresses the ethical dilemmas in data visualization arising from contextual constraints that prevent full disclosure of raw data, reconceptualizing data disclosure ethics as a multi-stakeholder negotiation process rather than attributing issues to individual deception or misunderstanding. To explore ethical communication mechanisms, we designed and open-sourced Purrsuasion, an educational game in which students assume roles as constrained data providers and information seekers, engaging in iterative negotiation. Integrating mixed-methods analysis, gamified platform development, heuristic rubrics, and user interaction logs, our findings reveal that learners often settle on suboptimal visual designs and struggle to accurately infer authors’ intentions when envisioning ideal visualizations. Building on these insights, we propose a heuristic scoring framework to support socio-technical judgment, offering a novel pathway for ethics education and practice in data visualization.

Abstract

Data communication entails ethical dilemmas where situational constraints forbid full disclosure of source data. Whereas visualization research and pedagogy often frames ethics as a matter of individuals making deceptive design choices or being misled, disclosure problems involve negotiation between pro-social actors. To provide observability into these situated judgments, we contribute Purrsuasion, an open-source visualization game where participants play the roles of (i) data providers designing visualizations subject to disclosure constraints and (ii) data seekers requesting information and awarding a contract. We deploy Purrsuasion in an undergraduate data science class (N = 27), gathering gameplay data to support a mixed-methods analysis of students' communication dynamics, problem solving, and trust formation. We find that difficulties envisioning an ideal visualization solution lead to satisficing in visualization authoring and difficulties attributing authorial intent. Given these challenges, we approach scoring student solutions by developing a heuristic rubric that supports sociotechnical judgments of disclosure adherence.

Problem

• ethical data communication
• negotiated data disclosure
• data visualization ethics
• situational constraints
• disclosure dilemmas

Innovation

• ethical data communication
• negotiated disclosure
• visualization education
• sociotechnical judgment
• educational game