An Exploratory Study of Data Physicalization Using Household Objects
Date
2024-03-20
Authors
Ramesh, Shanker
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Abstract
We explore people’s perceptions and ideas regarding creating data physicalizations using household objects such as chairs, flower pots, and photo frames to enable data-driven self-reflection. By conducting a sketching-based qualitative study with 11 participants we identified styles of physical encoding participants used, strategies for creating physicalizations they employed, and techniques for constructing physicalizations they relied on. From the study results we contribute i) a bottom-up list of physical variables people might use for different data types, ii) a comparison between the theory about visual variables and the empirical use of physical variables, iii) an identification of the need for flexible taxonomies for physical representations, and iv) a discussion of the relationship between social pressure and the location of physical representations in the household.
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Keywords
data physicalization, personal data, physical activity data, household, qualitative analysis