Page 71 - Demo

Visual and Textual Storylines by Coalitions in a Policy Controversy6933.4.4 Polarization of two discourse coalitionAmong the examples that we chose to illustrate how visualization contributes to discourse coalition dynamics, we have three of possible polarization.Example 1: infographics in the NY controversyThe first example compares two competing discourse coalitions in the NY controversy: the environmental threat discourse coalition (see section 3.4.1) and the gas rush discourse coalition. The latter frames fracking as an economic opportunity for landlords and local governments and consists of oil and gas industry representatives, the staff of the Department of Environmental Conservation in the Division of Mineral Resources, representatives of the Chemung and New York Farm Bureau, landowners, and local officials (Dodge & Lee, 2017, pp. 19–20).Three actors belonging to these conflicting discourse coalitions depict similar infographics that describe a well construction. One actor is the New York State Water Resources Institute (NYSWRI), which belongs to the environmental threat discourse coalition. From the gas rush discourse coalition, we have the energy company Hess and Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) – a coalition that promotes shale gas production in the US.The Hess and the MSC infographics depict the drilling technique. In the visualizations and the accompanying text, the two actors narrate about the safety of the technique and visually showthemultiple casing that makes a shale well safe (see https://www.hess.com/sustainability/environment/shale-energy29 and https://marcelluscoalition.org/marcellus-shale/production-processes/casing-the-well30). By contrast, the NYSWRI infographic shows the multiple casing in context and as part of a complete well, including the subterranean layers through which it drills and the formation that it aims to reach (the hydrocarbon-bearing formation) (see Figure 3.5(a)31).29 For an archived copy of the webpage visithttps://web.archive.org/web/20200820185737/https://www.hess.com/sustainability/environment/shale-energy.30 For an archived copy of the webpage visit https://web.archive.org/web/20200708025845/https://marcelluscoalition.org/marcellus-shale/production-processes/casing-the-well.31 See https://wri.cals.cornell.edu/research-topics/shale-gas/groundwater-impacts. For an archived copy of the webpage visit https://web.archive.org/web/20190614151951/https://wri.cals.cornell.edu/research-topics/shale-gas/groundwater-impacts.Efrat.indd 69 19-09-2023 09:47