tangents

tangents is a digital publication project that aims to synthesize a wide array of information on contemporary issues into visual essays. Here’s why:

We’ve never had access to so much information and felt so uninformed.

With a fast paced, highly interconnected yet divisive world inherited, the nature of challenges has become increasingly complex. Simultaneously, the boom in telecommunication and IT is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, access to high quality information has never been easier. Yet, fuelled by the rise of social media use, an abundance of misinformation accompanies it generating a pile of noise.

Unfortunately, news reporting has been slow to respond to the inflow of information. Instead of synthesizing information to report on underlying societal issues, much of the ‘news’ report anecdotal events, adding to the information overload. As a result, often we don’t trust the news and struggle to stay abreast of fake or irrelevant news (see the report). At its worst, the current system is feeding us misleading or fake information. At its best, it is shallow reporting.

While some address these issues by providing in-depth coverage of complex issues, the result is lengthy reports (sometimes exceeding 10,000 words) which often require (at least) some prior knowledge of the topic - thus making it undigestible. The outcome, let’s face it, is that they often end up unread. The consequence is an uninformed society, with the exception of an elite few.

So, how could it be fixed? Without pretending to have all the answers, here are two things which could go a long way:

Getting to the heart of things

First of all, the reader’s time spent on reading should be respected by delivering thoroughly synthesized essays. This implies sifting through the available information, with a focus on facts, data and research, an emphasis on identifying underlying issues, causes or patterns, and quickly getting to the heart of things. The choice of topics should be socio-economically relevant, without embracing current ideologies. But, as mentioned, that’s not enough.

Storify to explain

Much research indicates that stories are far more effective at conveying knowledge than reports. For this reason, news reports should be storified, such that they are appealing to read and easily digestible - thus maximizing the information retained, whilst minimizing the time spent on reading.

To get to the heart of things publications should create visually compelling ways to gives rise to a society of well-informed citizens and enables a healthy, well-informed public debate arena.

I built and maintain this blog as a passion project. The publication is freely available. If you have any topic suggestions or would like to get involved, please reach out to me.