DATA GESTALT & DATA AFFORDANCE
THEORY INSTRUMENT
Data visualizations and data physicalizations have become popular methods of making big data accessible to non-specialists and uncovering hidden rationales. This pictorial suggests how the acts of data drawing and data tinkering can engage young people in understanding their own data. We asked graduate design students to track their water consumption and waste recycling through drawing and prototyping. We analysed 32 data drawings and 30 data tinkerings using Gestalt Principles and the Theory of Affordance. Through our analysis, we generate a set of ‘data-gestalt’ nouns and ‘data-affordance’ adjectives, which help explain how our collaborators are able to ‘engage’ experientially with data; how abstract data is given intelligible form. By listening to how they talk, we realise that these concrete ways of engaging provide ownership of ‘data work’ and enhance awareness of (un)sustainable consumption behaviours. We argue that data drawing and data tinkering may have a potential to influence consumption habits.
You can find more information about: Ağça, Ayşe Özge, and Jacob Buur. 2023. “Data-Drawing and Data-Tinkering.” International Conference 2023 of the DRS Special Interest Group on Experiential Knowledge (EKSIG): June 19-20, 2023, Milano, Italy. Accessible Online: https://www.eksig2023.polimi.it/assets/EKSIG-Proceedings.pdf
