Role of Graphics in Disaster Communication: Practitioner Perspectives on Use, Challenges, and Inclusivity

2026-02-03

AI Summary

This study addresses the persistent accessibility barriers in disaster information graphics for vulnerable populations—including people with visual impairments, older adults, and culturally or linguistically diverse groups—despite their widespread use in preparedness, early warning, and response phases. While such graphics are critical communication tools, there remains a notable lack of systematic, inclusive design guidance. Through semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis, this work is the first to systematically identify real-world inclusivity gaps in operational contexts. Integrating perspectives from human factors engineering and accessible communication, the study proposes actionable inclusive design guidelines and outlines key technical research directions to support large-scale deployment. These contributions aim to enhance both the equity and effectiveness of disaster information graphics, offering practical foundations for more universally accessible emergency communication.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: AI for Accessibility
• Computer Vision: Bias, Fairness & Privacy
• Reasoning under Uncertainty: Graphical Models

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Mitigating misinformation and disinformation
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Algorithms and analysis for incomplete, noisy, or partially observed Web-related graphs
• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Web data visualization

Abstract

Information graphics, such as hazard maps, evacuation diagrams, and pictorial action guides, are widely used in disaster risk communication. These visuals are important because they convey hazard information quickly, reduce reliance on lengthy text, and support decision-making in time-critical situations. However, despite their importance, disaster information graphics do not work equally well for all audiences. In practice, many graphics remain difficult to interpret, and their accessibility for vulnerable populations is still uneven and underexplored. Despite their central role, there has been little empirical work examining how graphics shape disaster communication, what challenges practitioners face in using them, and, most importantly, how inclusive current disaster graphics are in real-world settings. To address this gap, we examine how information graphics are currently produced and used in disaster communication, what issues emerge in practice, and how inclusivity is addressed. We conducted semi-structured interviews with disaster communication practitioners and researchers to examine the role of graphics across preparedness, warning, and response contexts, as well as the barriers experienced by vulnerable communities. Our findings show that graphics are widely expected and heavily relied upon, yet significant accessibility gaps persist for groups such as people with vision impairments, older adults, and culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Participants also highlighted that inclusive adaptations are difficult to achieve during unfolding emergencies due to operational constraints, limited guidance, and resource barriers. Based on these findings, we outline recommendations for disaster management agencies and graphic designers and identify research directions for technological and adaptive support to make disaster graphics more inclusive at scale.

Problem

• disaster communication
• information graphics
• inclusivity
• accessibility
• vulnerable populations

Innovation

• disaster communication
• information graphics
• inclusivity
• accessibility
• vulnerable populations