"The use of infographics is on the rise in newspapers, on television, and on the web. Data visualizations are now ubiquitous in education and corporate life as well. Yet modern communications scholarship has had little to say about this development: the infographic has so far existed on the periphery of communications studies. To date, no serious attempt has been made to explore the historical emergence of the form in terms of its cultural and mass-communicative impact. This book will step into the breach with a history of the use of data graphics in news media and mass communication. This book sets out an original, theoretically rigorous account of the historical evolution of infographics and data visualization in news media and mass communication. It represents the first serious attempt to explore the rise of data visualization as a popular, cultural phenomenon. The author employs an innovative methodology (and method of analysis), towards contextualizing the rise of these forms in popular culture through six historical phases; the proto-infographic; the classical; the improving; the commercial; the ideological; and the professional. Given the potential scope of this topic, the author situates this book specifically within the UK"--