THE JOURNEY OF FOREIGN FIGHTERS

In the context of understanding the complex phenomenon of violent religious radicalization, the map details the journey of foreign fighters to the territories of the Caliphate. The data was retrieved from official organizations, research centers and consortiums that make this data publicly available.

«According to figures collected by the Soufan Group, between 27,000 to 31,000 people including women and children who would not normally engage in conflict have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic state and other extremist groups fighting in the region. Reasons that these people join Islamic state or any other extremist group seem to depend on where they come from».

— Wikipedia, foreign fighters in the Syrian and Iraqi Civil Wars

Starting from the data about the movements of the fighters from their home countries to the combat fields, the project studies the role of social, religious and economic indexes that might influence the reality of each individual and that could be crucial in driving the need to look for equilibrium elsewhere missing.

The countries of origin are placed horizontally by the distance from the fighters' common destination. The size measures the country's Muslim population while the vertical distribution represents the country's overall population, this way, a comparison between the worldwide Muslim communities can be performed by the reader.

The key elements of the map are the flows of foreign fighters leaving from all the different countries worldwide to merge into one common entity. It is interesting to notice the relation emerging between the size of the flow and the size of the Muslim community per each country. When this ratio is particularly strong, the country is highlighted in stronger hues of red accordingly. The more intense the color, the more foreign fighters over the country's Muslim population.

The publicly available data from The Soufan Group also provides information about the official number of returnees from the combat field back to their home country. This movement of people is visualized with the yellow flow that leaves the original destination and goes back into the respective countries. Retunrees are not to be intended as "survivors," as the data considered here are not about how many people lost their lives.

Awards & Exhibitions

2017

PAMPLONA, ES

Malofiej International Infographic Award

On March 31st, 2017, the visualization was awarded at the prestigious Malofiej International Infographic Awards with Best of Show in print and an additional gold medal in the category World and Nations.

1.334 entries from 134 organizations in 31 countries participated in the contest.

Best of Show in the online category was won by The New York Times.

«When we looked at this work, we understood it. The more we looked at it, the more we got out of it.

It was beautifully designed, beautifully executed, and then at the end, or at the beginning depending on who you are, you notice the homage to the Great March. So it was all of these things, together, on a very difficult topic. This is something that I always wanted to understand and we all felt that we learned so much from it. The data was amazing, the presentation was smart overall and really wonderful, so congratulations».

— Sarah Slobin, Visual Journalist at Quartz, formerly NYT/Fortune/WSJ, Malofiej25 Jury

Check the video of the Awards Ceremony here

2017

LONDON, UK

Kantar Information is Beautiful Awards

On November 27th, 2017, the visualization was awarded at Kantar Information is Beautiful Awards with the gold medal in the category Current Affairs and Politics. More than 3.600 entries from allover the world participated in the contest.

It also won Studio of the Year for DensityDesign, where the map was created.

CHECK THE WINNERS here.

2018

BOSTON, USA

The Art of Networks III Exhibition

From January 13, 2018 to March 12, 2018, the visualization was on display at The Art of Networks III exhibition, held at the Northeastern University in Boston, MA.

The Art of Networks III is organized by Isabel Meirelles (OCAD University, Toronto, Canada), Matthew Brehmer (Microsoft Research, Redmond, WA), Marian Dörk (University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, Germany), Ronaldo Menezes (Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL), and Nicole Samay (Northeastern University, Boston, MA).

«This exhibition, presents a dynamic cross section of data visualizations created over the past three years. Selected by a program committee, these visualizations were devised by leading research labs and studios around the world that are producing some of the most innovative work in this area».

— Northeastern University, Center for the Arts

CHECK MORE here

2018

HELSINKI, FI

Visualizing Knowledge 2018

On May 4, 2018 the visualization was on display at Visualizing Knowledge at Aalto University. The showcase was accompanied by conference talks and workshops at Aalto University.

«Visualizing Knowledge features an exhibition that showcases new talents from the field of Information Design. Following an open call that yielded high quality entries from all over the world, 13 works were selected in regard to understandability, societal impact, aesthetic qualities and visual innovation».

— Aalto University

Presentations

2018

HILVERSUM, NL

Infographics Conference 2018

On October 12, we were invited to attend the Infographics Conference 2018 in Hilversum as speakers to make a presentation about our piece.

The Conference is a summit regarding infographics and data visualisation, every year a selection of Information Designers from all over the world are invited to speak at the conference in front of an audience of about 300 people from the field.

The Conference is organized by Kim Raad (Information designer & illustrator), Linda Meijer-Wassenaar

(Data visualisations and visual stories), Lars Boogaard (Online visualisations editor), Ruiter Janssen

(Graphic designer specialised in information design), Mariette Twilt (Information designer), Gert Gerrits

(Projectmanager at the Association of Dutch Designers) and Markus Praat (Project manager Digital Design at the Association of Dutch Designers).

Publications

2016

MILAN, IT

Corriere della Sera - La Lettura

On December 31st, 2016, the visualization was published on Corriere della Sera – La Lettura #266, the Sunday cultural supplement of the first Italian newspaper. The map is featured in the Visual Data section together with an article written by Lorenzo Cremonesi.

2017

LONDON, UK

Market Cafe Magazine

In July 2017, the work on the journey of foreign fighters was published on the second issue of Market Cafe Magazine along with a feature interview focused on the importance of collaborating in a multidisciplinary team. We also talked about our design process and how an academic piece became Best of Show at the Malofiej Awards.

Market Cafe Magazine is a London-based independent magazine about data visualization. It features stories of exceptional people and mind-blowing works.