A touch of data. Designing haptic data physicalisations of personal data. - Einzelansicht

Since the beginning of times, people have been generating data. From cave-paintings and books, to our current smart devices, data play and have played a quintessential role in our everyday lives. Similarly, people have been creating physical data representations –called data physicalisations– for thousands of years. Yet, despite the long and rich history of our data, we have a very one-dimensional view of what counts as data (mostly numerical values) and how to portray them (in easy-to-understand visualisations). However, does this focus on the quantitative and easy-to-understand suit our personal data?

In this project we will be exploring the personal data in our lives and how to represent them through data physicalisation. We especially focus on data physicalisations which need to be touched or  interacted with, in order to ‘get’ the data (haptic data physicalisation). Using this type of data representation, we will be exploring the qualitative aspects of data and the user experience of interacting with them.

Following a Research through Design (RtD) approach, this project will challenge you to explore the haptic qualities of personal data. To do so, this project starts with Data Diaries, a series of hands-on exercises in which you have to collect personal data and represent them. From the Data Diaries, you will be challenged to create a haptic data physicalisation of personal data and develop this within a small team. This means conceptualising, designing, and building a physical prototype.  

This course is perfect for students who would like to be challenged to find problems, who enjoy individual and (multi-disciplinary) group-work, and to come up with their own concepts. Students will focus on research topics such as “qualitative data representations”, “data physicalisations”, “data feminism”, "affordances", "shape-changing interfaces", and "ambient/peripheral interfaces". We encourage students to participate that have a high interest in prototyping with hardware (e.g., Arduino), working with materials (e.g., wood or silicone), or using traditional fabrication techniques (e.g., origami-folding). The project is most suited for students who want 18 ECTS.

http://dataphys.org

Research through design as a method for interaction design research in HCI - https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1240624.1240704

time and place to be announced at the project fair.

All participants should enjoy working in an interdisciplinary group, want to be creative, build prototypes, and be able to converse in English.

Students of Product Design, Media Architecture and Media Art and Design: Please apply until 10.10.2022 11h a.m. by sending an email to eva.hornecker@uni-weimar.de , hannes.waldschuetz@uni-weimar.de , and rosa.donna.van.koningsbruggen@unu-weimar.de (please include a description of your prior experience in relevant areas or a portfolio). We'll let you know until Tuesday 11, if you can attend the project.

Active participation and interim presentations, practical problem-based work (both individual and in groups), and a project-based report.

Master Human-Computer Interaction,

Bachelor (Medien-)Informatik,

Master Computer Science for Digital Media,

Master Media-Architektur,

Master/Bachelor Produkt Design

Master Media Art und Design