Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jan 2021 OA PDF

“Missing/Unspecified”: Demographic Data Visualization During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Rachel Atherton

Abstract

While data 1 has shown that COVID-19 disproportionately affects Black people, the CDC’s early data listed race as “missing/unspecified” at high rates. Incomplete demographic data obscures the virus’s full impact on marginalized communities. Without more information about who the virus is affecting and how, we cannot protect our most vulnerable. This article demonstrates disconnects between reported datasets and data visualizations in public-facing COVID health and science communication and suggests steps that technical and professional communicators can take in creating or using data visualizations accurately and ethically to describe COVID conditions and impacts.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2021-01-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651920957982
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Open Access
OA PDF Bronze
Topics
scientific writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (11)

  1. Reifman (2026)
    Categorizing Human Identity in Writing Research: A Case for Participant Self-Id…
    Written Communication
  2. Reifman (2026)
    Categorizing Human Identity in Writing Research: A Case for Participant Self-Id…
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  3. Hartzog (2025)
    ‘Flatten the curve’: rhetorical data visualizations of a global pandemic
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Young (2025)
    Pandemic Communications Beyond Risk and Crisis: A Change of Course for Law Enfo…
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  5. Lindgren et al. (2025)
    Technical Communication's Fight Against Extractive Large Language Modeling by A…
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Show all 11 →
  1. Liddle (2024)
    Commemoration and Context: The Death Counter Graphics of COVID-19
    Communication Design Quarterly
  2. Winkle (2024)
    Between the Lines: Visual Euphemism in Technical and Professional Communication…
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  3. Lindgren (2024)
    A Stasis Network Methodology to Reckon with the Rhetorical Process of Data: How…
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  4. Sorapure (2023)
    User Perceptions of Actionability in Data Dashboards
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  5. Gouge et al. (2022)
    Building Toward More Just Data Practices
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  6. Atherton (2022)
    Toward Data Justice: Understanding Police Shooting Data Systems and Narratives
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication

References (10) · 2 in this index

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  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020b). Data visualization. Centers for disease control and prev…
  3. COVID Tracking Project. (2020). The COVID Racial Data Tracker. Retrieved May 11, 2020, from https://covidtrac…
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  2. Jones et al. (2016)
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CrossRef global citation count: 26 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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