Table Of ContentMAKING DATA
ii
MAKING DATA
Materializing Digital Information
EDITED BY
IAN GWILT
BLOOMSBURY VISUAL ARTS
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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First published in Great Britain 2022
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Cover image: Snow Water Equivalent sculpture by Adrien Segal
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gwilt, Ian, editor.
Title: Making data : materializing digital information / edited by Ian Gwilt.
Description: London ; New York : Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2022. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021052915 (print) | LCCN 2021052916 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781350133235 (hardback) | ISBN 9781350133242 (epub) |
ISBN 9781350133259 (pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Information visualization–Social aspects. |
Data structures (Computer science) | Object (Philosophy)
Classification: LCC QA76.9.I52 M35 2022 (print) |
LCC QA76.9.I52 (ebook) | DDC 001.4/226–dc23/eng/20211130
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021052915
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021052916
ISBN: HB: 978-1-3501-3323-5
ePDF: 978-1-3501-3325-9
eBook: 978-1-3501-3324-2
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CONTENTS
List of figures vii
List of contributing authors xi
Foreword xix
Acknowledgements xxii
Introduction Ian Gwilt 1
SECTION ONE MAKING DATA: THEORIES
7
1 Data-objects: Thinking with your hands Adrien Segal 9
2 Shifting data between the material and the virtual
is not an immaterial matter Dew Harrison 25
3 Data as environment: Physicalization strategies for
communicating environmental data Laura Perovich and
Dietmar Offenhuber 41
4 Designing explanations of data-based interactions in
socio-technical systems Aaron Fry 57
5 Moving data: Visualizing human and non-human
movement artistically Michele Barker and Anna
Munster 73
SECTION TWO MAKING DATA: PRACTICES
87
6 Uncanny landscapes: Tactile and experiential encounters
with ecological data Zoë Sadokierski, Monica Monin and
Andrew Burrell 89
vi CONTENTS
7 Exploring digital-material hybridity in the post-digital
museum Daniela Petrelli and Nick Dulake 107
8 Socio-material translations of data and value(s)
Bettina Nissen 125
9 Personal data manifestation: A tangible poetics of
data Giles Lane and George Roussos 141
10 Data and emotion: The climate change object
Karin von Ompteda 153
SECTION THREE MAKING DATA: TECHNIQUES
167
11 Hybrid data constructs: Interacting with biomedical data
in augmented spaces Daniel F. Keefe, Bridger Herman,
Jung Who Nam, Daniel Orban and Seth Johnson 169
12 Sonic data physicalization Stephen Barrass 183
13 Making with climate data: Materiality, metaphor and
engagement Mitchell Whitelaw and Geoff Hinchcliffe 195
14 Waterfalls as a form of AI-based feedback for creativity
support Georgi V. Georgiev and Yazan Barhoush 211
15 Data as action: Constructing dynamic data
physicalizations Jason Alexander 223
SECTION FOUR MAKING DATA: TRAJECTORIES
237
16 Making data: The next generation Ian Gwilt and
Aaron Davis 239
Index 247
FIGURES
1.1 Tidal Datum, San Francisco, 2007, by Adrien Segal. Wood and
Steel, 26″ x 32″ x 72″. Photo courtesy of the artist. The tide data
represented in three-dimensions (x, y, z) are: (x) observed water
level height; (y) 24-hour daily tide chart; and (z) 29 days or the
duration of a full tide cycle 13
1.2a Arctic Sea Ice/Albedo, 2017 Cast Glass. Artwork by Adrien Segal 15
1.2b Trends in Water Use, 2011. Carved Plywood and Steel. Artwork
by Adrien Segal. Photograph by Fredrik Nilsen Studio 15
2.1 The Shift-Life installation in action (Harrison 2009) 35
4.1 Working toward an ‘Affinity Map’ in a design thinking session for the
Visualizing Finance Lab. Parsons School of Design, NYC.
February 2019. Photo by author 67
4.2 A map of first and second-order effects. Used for an innovation
exercise within an American automotive company in March
2020. This is the author’s version of a template derived from the
collaborative whiteboard platform ‘Miro’. Photo courtesy of Megan
Staake 68
5.1 An example of typically formatted movement data containing x,y
coordinates as longitude and latitude positions and timestamps.
Fraser KC, Shave A, Savage A, Ritchie A, Bell K, Siegrist J, Ray
JD, Applegate K, Pearman M (2016) Data from: Determining
fine-scale migratory connectivity and habitat selection for a
migratory songbird by using new GPS technology. Movebank
Data Repository. doi:10.5441/001/1.5q5gn84d. Published under
Creative Commons license, Universal Public Domain Declaration 76
5.2 Screenshot of two moving image channels combined
in pull, 2017, Michele Barker and Anna Munster, multi-
channel audiovisual installation. The left shows high-speed
cinematography; the right movement data rendered as 3D CGI 78
viii FIGURES
5.3 Left: Cinematographer Chris Bryan filming under waves and
wearing the GPS enabled watch capturing movement data. Right:
Screenshot of the motion path produced by x, y coordinates
of the cinematographer’s geospatial location correlated with
timestamp data over a 3-hour period taken from the visual
interface on the GPS enabled watch 81
6.1 Film still from Clever Country (Zakpage 2019) 94
6.2 Semiconductor’s Cosmos in Alice Holt Forest, UK. Photograph by
Laura Hodgson, 2014 96
7.1 The elements of Fort Pozzacchio installation (from bottom left to
right): the pebble; the interactive bench with the testimonies slots;
the printed postcard; the animation in station 1 being played (top).
Images: Daniela Petrelli/Nick Dulake 113
7.2 The interaction with My Roman Pantheon (from top left): collecting
the lamp from Juno’s shrine; in the museum offering a light; back
at the shrine returning the lamp and collecting the ‘oracle’;
four different personalised postcards. Images: Daniela Petrelli/
Nick Dulake 116
7.3 The Interaction at the Atlantic Wall exhibition (from bottom left –
clockwise): the replicas representing the different perspectives;
a visitor using the sugar box to listen to the stories of the Dutch
civilians; the personalized website; and the postcard. Images:
Daniela Petrelli/Nick Dulake 118
8.1 (a, b) Block Exchange workshop. Photo: Bettina Nissen; (c, d)
Weaving Crypto-Ledgers workshop. Photo: Bob Moyler; (e, f)
Strings of Distributed Value workshop. Photo: Bob Moyler 129
8.2 (a, b) GeoCoin experience. Photo: Bettina Nissen; (c, d) Currency
After Money installation. Photo: Yuxi Liu; (e, f) Alternative Rates of
Exchange installation. Photo: Bob Moyler 131
9.1 Lifestreams by Proboscis (2012) installed in the group show, The
New Observatory. FACT, Liverpool (2017). Image: Gareth Jones 145
9.2 Lifestreams, Parkinson’s Disease Lifecharms by Proboscis (2016).
Photo: Alice Angus 147
10.1 Climate Clock (2019). Designer: Ka Leng Kong. Photography: Ka
Leng Kong 155
10.2 Disruption: The Materiality of Global Temperature (2018); (a)
sculpture in OCAD University’s Great Hall; (b) detail of object
representing the year 2016. Designer: Paz Pereira-Vega.
Photography: Paz Pereira-Vega 158
FIGURES ix
10.3 Burning Acres (2018). Designer: Kathleen Stever. Photography:
Nicole Torres and Karin von Ompteda 161
11.1 Bento Box. Top-left: Digital visualizations of blood flow in the
right atrium use animation to make it possible to see the flow
develop over time and interactive techniques to select and filter
the data. Bottom-left: Physical representations provide the most
solid understanding of the 3D form, where it is possible to encode
additional data variables ‘on top of’ the form using a pattern of
data glyphs, but these physical printouts are inherently static.
Right: Optimal understandings of the data may come from a
hybrid construct that combines the best of both strategies.
Image credit: Interactive Visualization Lab, University of
Minnesota-Twin Cities 173
11.2 Initial hybrid design studies focus on bringing the interactivity
that works so well in digital spaces to physical data constructs.
Image credit: Interactive Visualization Lab, University of
Minnesota-Twin Cities 177
12.1 (a) Parametric tuning fork programmed in OpenJSCAD (Barrass
2015); (b) Parametric Tuning Forks (Barrass 2021); (c) Tuning Fork
and Variations (Barrass 2014) 186
12.2 (a) 3D printed Bells in Steel, Brass and Bronze (Barrass 2021);
(b) Binaural Data Bells (Barrass 2021) 188
12.3 (a) Tibetan Singing Bowl cast in Bronze (Barrass 2021); (b) Blood
Pressure Singing Bowl with profile mapping (Barrass 2021);
(c) Hypertension Singing Bowl (Barrass 2021); (d) Chemo Singing
Bowl with Bezier spokes (Barrass 2021) 190
13.1 (a, b) Initial software sketches; (c, d) Paper prototypes with hand
annotations; (e) Laser fabrication and material tests; (f) ANU
Climate Change Institute Canberra Climate Update, February
2018; (g) Canberra 2017 Climate Coaster. All works and images
by Mitchell Whitelaw (a–d) and Geoff Hinchcliffe (e–g) 198
13.2 (a, b) Initial sketches testing boundaries for daily and monthly
temperature peaks; (c) Finished website; (c1) Locations listed
in map and text views. Map points are coloured according to
annual average temperature; (c2) Timeline shows annual average
temperature from 1991 to 2018. Allows selection of different
years; (d, e) Exported images; colour version (d) for printing and
social media, vector version (e) for laser cutting. All works and
images by Geoff Hinchcliffe 201
