Assignment 3: US-Iran Relations Location and Language

The data about the US-Iran relation is displayed chronologically on a timeline that includes the title, description, photo, and location of the events. In this first iteration, we attempt to display the accounts of the events from an objective point of view. Below is the link to the timeline. (http://timemapper.okfnlabs.org/trista_tho/1stbriefingbook-eventsxlsx)

Nevertheless, we realize that the accounts offer conflicting interpretation and value for each side, so that in the second iteration we would like to highlight these perspectives and the dynamics of the US-Iran relation.

Language Timeline

Noticing lots of quotations in the data provided, we also decided to explore ways to vizualize the statements made by each side over time as a way of providing insight into the evolving sentiments between the US and Iran.

The events described in the data provided are points in a contested relationship between two countries, many of which have different and often conficting interpretations and values for each side- any description of an event thus cannot be taken at face value. Johanna Drucker in Humanities Approaches to Graphical Display warns that the graphical display of information carries the assumptions of knowledge as observer-independent and certain, rather than observer co-dependent and interpretative. Therefore, presenting the event descriptions in a graphical timeline could mislead the viewer.

To avoid this, we created a display of language that does not attempt to present an objective account of events. The language used by each side about the other (and the way the US chooses to describe and present its own policies towards Iran to the American public) provides a view into the relationship between the two sides which the reader can interpret themselves.

We created the timeline using Microsoft’s Timeline Storyteller, categorizing and color-coding the quotes by which side said them and what they were directed towards- in this case, statements the US made about Iran, statements the US made about its policy on Iran, statements Iran made about the US, and statements made by the media about the relationship between the US and Iran.