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1Introduction13or not, actors also employ visualisations in the process of framing (Messaris & Abraham, 2011). Hence, when giving meaning to an issue, actors use visualisations – intentionally or not.The meaning visualisations give to an issue can forcefully influence individual and collective ways of thinking about it, as shown in the GMO controversy, where iconic imagery was strategically used by GMO opponents to visually refute the coherent sound science argument for GMO safety and to create negative associations of GMOs, notably with risk (Clancy, 2017; Clancy & Clancy, 2016; Rodriguez & Asoro, 2012). However, negative associations of a technology are also determined by what is lacking in prevailing visual representation. In the UK, during 2006-2007, in a time of debate about future energy policy, newspapers predominantly portrayed members of the public as passively accepting renewable energy technologies, and visual evidence of opposition was missing in this media coverage, contributing to the delegitimisation of opposition and the rejection of individual participation in decision-making about energy (Devine-Wright, 2011).1.3 Research gap and research questionAs meaning-makers, visualisations can help map the various meanings given to an issue by those who are impacted by its policy. This mapping is crucial for improving policy design and implementation for controversial issues because it allows for an understanding of the ways different actors make sense of the policy issue. Meaning also constructs political action, or in Wagenaar’s words: ‘meaning does not merely put a particular affective or evaluative gloss on things, but … it is somehow constitutive of political actions, governing institutions, and public policies’ (Wagenaar, 2015, p. 4). The ways people give meanings to a policy issue are guided by their ‘set of values, beliefs, and feelings’ (Yanow, 2000, p. 10), which can be studied through visualisations as visualisations can reveal ‘what the policy controversy entails, which disagreements over facts, norms and values are deemed important’ and what are the ‘dominant cultural beliefs and interpretations‘ (Metze, 2018b, pp. 166–167).Considering visualisations as meaning-makers, some scholars look into wellknown and influential visualisations and point out their effect in the context of a specific controversy (e.g., the diagram ‘Burning Embers’, from the 2001 IPCC report, Efrat.indd 13 19-09-2023 09:47