Towards a Framework for Dynamic Data Physicalisation

Presentation given at International Workshop Toward a Design Language for Data Physicalization, Berlin, Germany.

ABSTRACT: Advanced data visualisation techniques enable the exploration and analysis of large datasets. Recently, there is the emerging field of data physicalisation, where data is represented in physical space (e.g. via physical models) and can no longer only be explored visually, but also by making use of other senses such as touch. Most existing data physicalisation solutions are static and cannot be dynamically updated based on a user’s interaction. Our goal is to develop a framework for new forms of dynamic data physicalisation in order to support an interactive exploration and analysis of datasets. Based on a study of the design space for dynamic data physicalisation, we are therefore working on a grammar for representing the fundamental physical operations and interactions that can be applied to the underlying data. Our envisioned extensible data physicalisation framework will enable the rapid prototyping of dynamic data physicalisations and thereby support researchers who want to experiment with new combinations of physical variables or output devices for dynamic data physicalisation as well as designers and application developers who are interested in the development of innovative dynamic data physicalisation solutions.

Research paper: https://beatsigner.com/publications/towards-a-framework-for-dynamic-data-physicalisation.pdf

Transcript

1. 2 December 2005 Towards a Framework for Dynamic Data Physicalisation Beat Signer, Payam Ebrahimi, Timothy J. Curtin and Ahmed K.A. Abdullah https://wise.vub.ac.be Web & Information Systems Engineering Lab Department of Computer Science Vrije Universiteit Brussel
2. Beat Signer - Department of Computer Science - bsigner@vub.be 2 October 21, 2018 Dynamic Data Physicalisation ▪ Understanding the design space ▪ how do users map data to physicalisations ▪ Data physicalisation design guidelines ▪ what are the just-perceptual differences that a physical variable can convey? ▪ Dynamic data physicalisation framework ▪ data physicalisation grammar ▪ data processing with device-independent output ▪ software drivers for different physicalisations (e.g. TangHo) ▪ New application domains Jacques Bertin, 1967
3. Beat Signer - Department of Computer Science - bsigner@vub.be 3 October 21, 2018 Data Physicalisation Framework
4. Beat Signer - Department of Computer Science - bsigner@vub.be 4 October 21, 2018 Tangible Hologram (TangHo) Setup Timothy J. Curtin
5. Beat Signer - Department of Computer Science - bsigner@vub.be 5 October 21, 2018 Tangible Hologram (TangHo) Platform
6. Beat Signer - Department of Computer Science - bsigner@vub.be 6 October 21, 2018 Dynamic Data Physicalisation ▪ Physical objects used for input as well as output ▪ How can we achieve dynamic data physicali- sation with dynamic affordances ▪ use physical variables such as temperature or texture ▪ exploration of big data sets ▪ experimental tangible holograms (TangHo) platform
7. Beat Signer - Department of Computer Science - bsigner@vub.be 7 October 21, 2018 Conclusions ▪ Conceptual and software dataphys framework ▪ rapid prototyping ▪ drivers for physicalisations (e.g. TangHo) ▪ Dataphys grammar ▪ data-driven physicalisation ▪ exploration of large multi-dimensional datasets ▪ Dynamic dataphys design and interaction guidelines