Combatting the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and anti-vaccination lobbying requires measured and considerate communication of accurate, understandable and timely data linked to these topics. This project is a new collaboration between Computing Science (HP) and diagnostic clinical microbiology (AS) on the use of novel Information Visualisation techniques applied to Scottish data on meningococci, pneumococci and Haemophilus influenzae infections in the context of AMR and vaccine effectiveness. As part of the digital health agenda, we (Scottish Microbiology Reference Laboratory (Glasgow)) for respiratory pathogens (excluding TB) now routinely whole genome sequence respiratory pathogens in real-time providing enhanced typing and characterisation of invasive isolates that also informs outbreak detection, management and vaccine coverage. Current data sets are already large and cluttered; information derived from bacterial whole genome sequence will increase the complexity of information generated even further. Information visualization is the process of representing data in a visual and meaningful way so that a user can better understand it. In our case we propose communicating data to multiple stakeholders (Policy makers, healthcare workers and the public) each of these with different accessibility and needs. Visualization allows users to draw insights from abstract data in an efficient and effective manner. It draws from the fields of human-computer interaction, visual design, computer science, and cognitive science, among others. In order to ensure communication continuity across key policy stakeholders, this project will include collaborators from the Immunisation team at Public Health Scotland and the Scottish Antimicrobial Prescribing Group (SAPG). In addition to facilitating access to appropriate stakeholders as part of the qualitative investigations (i.e., interviews), these collaborations will help reveal how, when, and where the visualizations will be used and evaluated. This collaboration will also help to transform existing National strategies on Information Visualisation across multiple pathogen/vaccination challenges.
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