Combining Data Visualization and Interactive Narrative: A Persuasive Approach to Raise Climate Change Awareness

Climate change is a global phenomenon that affects every living being on our planet. Raising awareness among people about climate change and helping them realize the possible consequences of their actions is key to mitigating climate change problems. Our research was aimed at achieving this by building a persuasive intervention that combines visualization of climate change data and an interactive narrative that demonstrates how our actions can impact the climate. We conducted a user study with 100 participants and found evidence showing that our system was effective in significantly promoting behavioral intention to mitigate climate change. We found defensive responses as a key factor that is negatively influencing the effect of our intervention on the participants. Compelling visuals and multiple interaction options, simulating climate actions and their consequences, and reducing the effort to learn about the phenomenon were significant positive techniques used in the intervention. Additionally, the social elements of our intervention played a major role in promoting participants’ willingness to perform proenvironmental behavior. Our work contributes to the field of persuasive technology, data visualization, interactive narratives, and climate research by introducing a new persuasive way of communicating climate change information to the public using a combination of data visualizations and interactive narratives.