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Chapter 112interaction with a policy issue (Metze, 2020; O’Neill, 2013). Digital visualisations, in particular, can impact policy controversies as they can affect relations that are part of social life (see Marres, 2017, pp. 25–27), for example, between citizens and governmental actors involved in a controversy.Among the various policy controversies in which visualisations are used, controversies about energy and food technologies are particularly noteworthy. Energy and food revolve around technologies essential to our daily lives. Energy and food innovation can contribute to sustainable development in line with Sustainable Development Goals to ‘ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all’ (SDG 7) and ‘end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture’ (SDG 2) (United Nations, 2015). Energy technology can offer, for example, renewable energy sources that provide a reliable supply of cost-effective low-carbon energy (Jayachandran et al., 2022); food technology can offer, for example, preservation techniques that address safety challenges and fortified foods to mitigate nutritional deficiency (Mensi & Udenigwe, 2021). Despite these promises, innovation in the energy and food domains sparks controversies among scientists and in society. These controversies might arise when risks associated with technological innovation are considered in different ways (Clark, 2013; Dodge & Metze, 2017). Visualisations increasingly play a role in these controversies. They assign meaning to a policy issue, and this can influence public opinion and the governance of a controversial policy issue in diverse ways. In this thesis, I address the role visualisations play in policy controversies by considering them as meaning-makers.1.2 Visualisations as meaning-makersVisualising is a way to make meaning. As meaning-makers, visualisations can be seen as part of the cognitive-mental schemata activated when information is interpreted, namely as a framing device (see Rojas-Padilla et al., 2022). As a framing device, visualisations influence the way issues are publicly debated and people understand the world, because visualisations ‘lie at the heart of how we see and understand the world’ (Bleiker et al., 2013, p. 414). In policy controversies, where facts and knowledge are often framed by various actors (Dewulf et al., 2005; Fletcher, 2009), framing often takes place as part of the negotiation of the dominant meaning of the policy issue (Biltekoff, 2016; Metze, 2017). Intentionally Efrat.indd 12 19-09-2023 09:47