The advantage of digital age including diverse digital technologies, SNS,
cloud service is characterized by increasing data deluge and complexity, which
requires many efforts in seeking the relations between and among the results of
data analyses and queries. According to the social needs, on one hand, data
visualization began to gain more attention for the purpose of communicating
information clearly and effectively through graphical means which stimulate viewer
engagement and interest. visual literacy, on the other hand, is also emerging as an
important literacy, which indicates the ability to interpret, negotiate, criticize, and
masocke meaning from information presented in the form of an image.
This study, in this context, aimed to examine the relationship between data
visualization and , visual literacy in other word, to analyze how students’ visual
literacy competency has been affected by their experience with data visualization
in their art classes. For this purpose, this study conducted a case study of art
classes in which 180 high school 1st graders participated in experiencing data
visualization tool (Tagxedo) in creating their art works for 3weeks (4 classes). The
results were analyzed by data collected from mind-maps before and after classes,
interviews, reflective journals, and their art works and interpretation and showed
positive improvement and changes of visual literacy of the participant students. In
conclusion, this study showed data visualization is closely related with and provide
positive affects to the competency of visual literacy required as an important
literacy in the digital age.