I received a year-end treat from We All Count.

I am an excitable person, and was recently thrilled to be gifted five posters that are A) great examples B) of visual communication C) about data equity.

They arrived in my email inbox last week, accompanied by this statement: “As an exclusive treat this year for our newsletter community, we’re providing you with free high resolution versions for you to use any way you’d like.”

My ears don’t prick up, but like my dog, Loki, my jaw dropped a bit at the word treat.

I clicked on the link to view the shared files, one of which is snipped at the top of this post and displayed in full below. Immediately, I knew I’d like to share this content. This poster is a beautiful illustration of where my head has been, as I ponder how to counter the ways collecting survey data about social identity can be extractive and reductionist.

It really captures it.

Spot on.

The image shown above is a poster created by We All Count which is a bright red rectangle, portrait orientation. The top thirds says “please select your identity” and shows a purple diamond, an orange circle, and a periwinkle blue triangle as response options. About two-thirds of the way down, it says “my identity:” and shows a mural of many abstract shapes of various colors overlapping one another. The red rectangle is overlayed on what looks to be a pencil-and-paper PERSONAL HISTORY form might be found inside a medical chart. The bottom third of the image contains the We All Count logo in the right corner, and the following text: “Identity is complicated. Is your data collection tool ready to reflect that? Identity or social construct data collection can either reinforce divisions, classes, and stereotypes or it can be the way that we break out of them.

We All Count is a project for equity in data science. Their website provides community and tools for those working towards a world where data science is good for everyone. I learned about We All Count by listening to the founder, Heather Krause, talk to NSVRC’s Sally J. Laskey on this podcast.

I hope you will head over to We All Count’s website to further explore the generosity and abundance of their Holiday 2021 Poster Drop. Until you do, here’s one more clever design.

The image shown above is a poster created by We All Count which is a solid black rectangle, portrait orientation. The top of the poster contains white text saying “Being Black makes this poster more likely to be incarcerated.” The bottom third says “Color doesn’t cause that. Not in posters and not in people. Knowing the difference between correlation and causality is the difference between identifying oppressive systems and victim blaming.” The We All Count logo appears in the right corner.

We All Count’s example of sharing — and their emphasis on visual communication, data use, and equity — prompts me to share access to “useable” visual files for two commonly-circulated visual metaphors for equality vs. equity and one set of goals that needs our attention.

A) First, the drawing of the kids watching — or trying to watch — a game from behind a fence. In the original iteration, circa 2012 and shown below, the concept was better than the art. Here’s a link to a blog post by the content creator who chronicled a partial evolution of this image-turned-Internet-meme.

The landscape image above is split into two halves — left and right — that show the same three male-presenting stick figures watching the same baseball game from behind a fence with three identical boxes. The figures can be described as tall, taller, and tallest. On the left, each figure is standing on a box. The tallest and taller figure can see, and their hands are up in a cheering position. The tall figure cannot see and is not cheering. On the right, the tall figure is standing on no box, the taller figure is on one box, and the tall figure is on two boxes. All figures are watching the game, and have their hands up as though they are cheering.

B) Second is a more produced image of four people and bikes. Here’s a link to a downloadable version of the Robert W. Johnson Foundation’s (2016) graphic on equality v. equity, shown below. Both of these images call highlight the importance of creating solutions that account for diversity in human needs. In other versions of this conversation, I have heard the distinction that I find useful: while equality is a perhaps desirable status, equity is always a process.

The landscape image above is split into two halves — top and bottom — that show the same four illustrated figures riding bikes. The figures represent a variety of body types, including one figure using a wheelchair. On the top, there are four bikes of the exact same design and size. Three of the four figures appear uncomfortable with the bikes. On the bottom, each bike is a little different in design and/or size. All figures are comfortably riding the bikes.

C) And finally, a call to remain curious as to whether in some situations, within some still-to-come historical context, and/or on some scale, equality can be the most appropriate metric or goal.

For example, Google supported in a project that leveraged technology to increase representation of women in media. Computers “learned” a binary operationalization of gender, and then used machine learning to “watch” movies and record data assessing men and women in films. Since 2017, when Google shared the project with the term gender equality attached, the analyses have gotten more complex. You can learn more about these findings and current goals towards “gender balance” from the Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media.

Here is a link to visuals to communicate about the Sustainable Development Goals, which include — as goal #5 — Gender Equality.

The landscape image above contains three rows of six brightly colored squares. 17 squares have a monochromatic bright color in the background with white block lettering and simplistic icons. Each one represents a single sustainable development goal, for example “NO POVERTY.” The square in the sixth position of the last row has a white background and a donut chart with seventeen equal portions of each colors used in the 17 goal emblems. Taken together the eighteen squares represent the United Nation’s call to action around sustaining our planet and societies for generations to come.

I love the SDGs because they are positive, parsimonious, and pluralistic. Working at a global scale, the United Nations encourages all of us to design projects, at every level, across 17 areas to preserve our one home planet, Earth, through development that is designed for sustainability.

If it works for the many countries that make up our global community, I can live with the words gender equality jumping out at number five.