Opportunities and challenges for data physicalization

Physical representations of data have existed for thousands of years. Yet it is now that advances in digital fabrication, actuated tangible interfaces, and shape-changing displays are spurring an emerging area of research that we call Data Physicalization. It aims to help people explore, understand, and communicate data using computer-supported physical data representations. We call these representations physicalizations, analogously to visualizations -- their purely visual counterpart. In this article, we go beyond the focused research questions addressed so far by delineating the research area, synthesizing its open challenges and laying out a research agenda

Sonic Drapery as a folding metaphor for wearable visualization and sonification display

This article examines two different multimodal interpretations of a folding metaphor, with folding understood as a richly interpretable communication medium. The authors look at the mythological origins of giving voice to fabrics and the tradition in drapery and arts of creating folds to signify embedded meanings. Their projects explore the intertextuality and intermodality of drapery (found originally in painting) as the context for sonic drapery or audification of material in motion and electronic music created from sounds of cloth, friction and permutations of textile sounds. This notion of folding representation is then transported into a contemporary pervasive computing context, as the second section of the article concerns the design and development of a novel wearable visualization and sonification display device. This display is able to sense and externalize environmental data about the wearer using a deliberately subtle and ambiguous representation metaphor

On the role of design in information visualization

Every information visualization developer is engaged in a complex process of design – balancing the three requirements of utility, soundness and attractiveness within given constraints. This paper investigates the oft-overlooked requirement of attractiveness (or ‘aesthetics’) in visualization, and, in doing so, discusses a wider role for the design process which emphasizes the benefits of disseminating design rationale. In presenting a model of three potential roles for design in information visualization, we suggest that the field would benefit from encompassing a broader scope that includes visualizations produced as part of commercial practice or artistic exploration. We conclude with a discussion on the practical consequences to the academic community of adopting our model – consequences that will require a paradigm shift in the way we value, teach and conduct information visualization research

Synchronized wayfinding on multiple consecutively situated public displays

Our built environment is becoming increasingly equipped with public displays, many of which are networked and share the same physical location. In spite of their ubiquitous presence and inherent dynamic functionalities, the presence of multiple public displays is often not exploited, such as to solve dynamic wayfinding challenges in crowded or complex spaces. Hence, we have studied how signage can be animated onto multiple consecutively located public displays in combination with other content. This paper reports on an in-the-wild evaluation study in a real-world, metropolitan train station in order to identify the most promising design strategies to: 1) provide the notion of spatial directionality by way of animation; 2) support concurrent viewing of wayfinding with other content types, and 3) convey a sense of urgency. Our results indicate that spatially distributed animated patterns may be used to convey directions under specific spatial conditions and content combination strategies, yet their impact is limited and highly dependent on the visibility of the animated patterns on individual screens and across multiple displays

Expressive Wearable Sonification and Visualisation: Design and Evaluation of a Flexible Display

In this paper we examine a wearable sonification and visualisation display that uses physical analogue visualisation and digital sonification to convey feedback about the wearer's activity and environment. Intended to bridge a gap between art aesthetics, fashionable technologies and informative physical computing, the user experience evaluation reveals the wearers' responses and understanding of a novel medium for wearable expression. The study reveals useful insights for wearable device design in general and future iterations of this sonification and visualisation display.status: publishe