The contextual environment, which is inherently partly unpredictable, naturally impacts the engagement and
interpretation of a public visualization. In this paper, we have
drawn parallels with rhetoric strategies used in street art, in order
to explore how to integrate and even mash the environment as an
intrinsic component of a public visualization. The rhetoric
strategy of information access creates opportunities to allow
people to engage with the information in various degrees (or not).
Playfulness, as rhetoric strategy in the everyday environment,
draws attention and encourages people to interact with the
information, potentially in a sustainable way. The rhetoric strategy
of manipulating existing meanings entices people to interpret the
visualization in close relationship to its immediate environment,
which in itself provides for a rich, contextual situation. And
finally, the rhetoric of ambiguous signs of authorship impels
people to question the relevance, reliability and purpose of the
information for themselves, allowing for various degrees of reappropriation.
In conclusion, we thus propose the surrounding
environment as a powerful yet still largely untapped contextual
medium for public visualization.