Data Materialisation: A New Undergraduate Course for a Data Driven Society

Abstract

Traditionally, data has been presented in textual format and the interaction with the user confined to the keyboard or touch screen to input data and the screen to deliver information. However, with the advent of a data-driven society, an opportunity for more natural and efficient ways of presenting data and interacting with it has emerged. Although the area of Human-Computer Interaction has existed for a long time, its focus has always been on the interaction with an artefact (the computer). Today instead, we face the challenge of interacting with an intangible object: data. As a result, a key requirement emerges: How do we make legible the enormous amounts of data produced per day to ordinary people? Designers, able to devise natural and smooth interaction experiences, should play a relevant role in this new scenario. However, they might lack the basic technical knowledge required to understand the possibilities of these new systems. In this paper we present a brief how-to manual for an undergraduate course on data materialisation: the process of transforming an intangible object (data) in an artefact that can be interacted with in a physical way.

The Impact of Data on the Role of Designers and Their Process

“…This is also pointed out in the context of participatory approaches (Ribeiro et al, 2020, Chapter 2). Along with a growing effort to incorporate digital knowledge and skills in design education (Beghelli et al, 2019;Zakaria and Lim, 2018), our insights suggest that data literacy for designers goes beyond technical challenges. It requires dedicated preparation to these new designer roles and a wide skill set ranging from obtaining meaningful insights from data to communicating insights effectively, in a way that can be digested by others.…”

A systematic literature review on utilisation of behavioural data in service design: Unexplored potentials on data utilisation on co-design

“…Among all, a novel and unique approach to data representation, Data materialisation, has been suggested in two articles (Beghelli et al, 2019;Bergamaschi, 2015) in our studies. Aseniero et al (2020) developed Activity River to visualise planned and recorded personal activities, and various visualisations of data methods as tangible forms, which Beghelli called Data Materialisation, have been explored (Beghelli et al, Mika Yasuoka, Yuki Taoka, Momoko Nakatani, Nana Hamaguchi, Shigeki Saito A systematic literature review on utilisation of behavioural data in service design: Unexplored potentials on data utilisation on co-design Linköping University Electronic Press 2019).…”

“…Real-time representation helps to comprehend behavioural data better, as shown in cases such as the materialisation of outside wind speed (Beghelli et al, 2019) and everyday life routine patterns (Woo and Lim, 2020).…”

Designing with biodiversity data: connections among design, materials, and technology

“…However, in recent years, the rapidly developing, datadriven society has witnessed the sprouting of a more modern and efficient approach to data visualisation as well as interaction with intangible objects. Within this approach emerges a rather uncharted research area in the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) field: Human-Data Interaction (HDI), a subject focused on rendering interaction mechanisms between users and data with a comprehensive data collection and processing system [5]. Questions that this article deems important and attempts to answer are (1) Could the possible merit of data materialisation be conducive to both the fathoming of and interaction with a massive amount of data?…”