Data Visualization Research

We have finally completed our data collection, after three intense days. We recorded 26 participants, ranging from under 10 to 60+, did 8 interviews, collected 26 foot prints and questionnaires, used 7 tubes of acrylic, and 2 litres of poster paint, 8 basting dishes, used 840 sheets of news print, videoed 104 movie clips and listened to 260 sound clips. It has been epic.

We now need to think about how we start unpicking and analyzing the data we have collected in relation to the hypothesis set out in our initial abstract. Although scientifically analyzing the data is important, I am more interested in how we can visualize our findings in a new and creative way.

Marcin Ignac

Marcin is a data visualization artist, inspired by nature and situations in everyday life. He is interested in patterns emerging from data, bridging simplicity and complexity using the structure of biological organisms. Working with code and creative software tools he is able to develop intriguing and striking visual interpretations of matter in an attempt to promote understanding.

Tatelets



                         Developed during at Hack The Space 24h hackaton at Tate Modern the
                         projects transforms images of the artworks you have seen during your visit
                         in to a bracelet encoding the history of your visit. Each of the artworks
                         selected by you would be analized by an algorithm measuring the image
                         complexity and it's key colors palette. That data would be later used to
                         generate a pattern on the bracelet. The complexity of the image drives the
                         number of surface fractures while the key colors are applied to the resulting
                         tiles.


Crystal Infection



                       Crystal Infection is an iPad application visualizing growth of a virtual plant
                       combined with cold aesthetics of crystals. It's a continuation of my series of
                       explorations on non-photorealistic simulations of natural phenomena. Every
                       time the algorithm starts a possible growth space is defined and during each
                       iteration the plant tries to expand it's branches to fill the most space available
                       within the reach. For me the most interesting aspect of this algorithm is the
                       ability to control the unpredictable. Opposite to L-Systems that always look
                       symmetrical and synthetic this algorithm creates much more natural forms.

                        Video available here.

Digital Type Wall

 

                                      In August 2012 Variable was invited by SEA Design to collaborate
                                      on Pencil to Pixel exhibition showcasing history of typography as
                                      seen by Monotype. The result is an immersive installation
                                      composed of several generative animations showcasing different
                                      fonts. Every time the animation is run a different font is chosen
                                      creating one of 6000 possible compositions

for more information Marcin's blog can be found here.

Data collection done

The sound of taste: An interactive sonic poster

Grey London is an open, ambitious collision of almost 500 people working in London’s Hatton Garden. We are a creative company on a mission to make a different shape of work, partnering with the world’s most ambitious brands to play a meaningful role in culture.

                   To launch Schwartz's new Flavour Shots range of herb and spice blends locked in oil,
                   we wanted to break the dusty, tired, traditional category conventions and create
                   something far more innovative and engaging. What does flavour look like? How does it
                   sound? These are the questions that inspired ‘The Sound of Taste.’ Several tons of herbs
                   and spices were rigged to explode in perfect sync with a bespoke track written by MJ
                  Cole. Each explosion represented an individual piano note or chord, which when filmed in
                  super slow motion, created a surreal three-dimensional sound scape. We pushed the
                  campaign further with innovative content: Feel Flavour is an interactive poster uses touch
                  sensitive inks to turn the surface into an interactive interface, which pairs (via Bluetooth)
                  with a smartphone or tablet, enabling your device to become a mobile speaker. We
                  smashed sales targets by 25%, increased awareness and changed attitudes amongst
                  audiences not previously reached through Schwartz advertising. Our work was also      
                  recognised creatively, picking up a silver Cannes Lion.

More information available at www.digitalbuzzblog.com

Touch Board Poster: Dale Silvester

Illustration student Dale Silvester has screen printed Electric Paint to make an interactive poster. He wanted to create a multi sensory experience for the viewer with images, touch and sound. He used metallic, liquid and crackling noises loaded onto the Touch Board’s SD card to bring the illustrations to life!

Despite our budget restrictions there is something potentially interesting in the idea that the printed publication can produce its own sound though interaction.

Watch the video here.

More information available from www.bareconductive.com

Tutorial #1

After the second day of our experiment we had a group tutorial with our Tutor to discuss our progress to date and the potential development of our ‘publication’.

Key points raised:

·         What are our hypothesis for the experiment? What did we hope to find out and have we proved or disproved this with our collected data?

1.       Because we are in the middle of collecting data, we are still waiting for the evidence to inform the direction of our final outcome.

2.       We discussed the idea of an interactive publication, using Q codes and raised ideas about the importance of sound when interacting with the publication.

3.       We can use some of the information gathered in our abstracts to help formulate the hypothesis.  

 

·         What are the options for the outcome? How can we make the outcome engage the viewer enough to further explore our archive of evidence?

1.       We discussed the idea of a large format fold out poster for our creative data visualisation, combined with an online presence where viewers could further explore the project. Mike mentioned that we should not underestimate the importance of the publication as a vehicle for engagement with the rest of our findings. We need to make sure that viewers are intrigued enough to want to explore the ‘website’.

2.       We need to think carefully about the pagination of the publication, if it is a fold out poster, then how do the information graphics relate to each other once open, and throughout the different stages of unfolding.

3.       We need to think about how paper folds and investigate potential folding systems.

4.       Kal, because she has a science background, is happy to analyse the data. Something I would struggle to do. We need to make sure that she feels happy with her contribution to both the scientific side and the practical realisation.

 

·         How are we going to manage our time over the next 6 weeks to maximize the potential of this project?

 

1.       We have a timetable that we were sticking to in order to organise, build and conduct our experiment. Once the experiment is complete, we need to have a meeting as a group to outline job roles for the next 5 weeks.

2.       There are positives and negatives here. We can work independently on the visualizations, and bring our ideas together weekly or via email to review, develop and amend. So there is less of a need to be meeting up consistently outside of uni. However we need to make sure that everyone feels happy with their contribution and gets something out of the project.

3.       Continued review, evaluation and reflection on this will be the best way to move the project forward and maintain our group dynamic.

Reflection 23.02.16

I am going to use Schön’s (1991) concept of ‘reflection in action’ and ‘reflection on action’ to structure my reflective account.

Reflection in action is experiencing, thinking on your feet, thinking about what to do next and acting straight away. Reflection on action is thinking about something that has happened, thinking what you would do differently next time and taking your time. (http://mycourse.solent.ac.uk/mod/book/view.php?id=2732&chapterid=1113)

We conducted our first set of experiments today. We arranged to meet at uni at 9 to get started setting up all the equipment. We knew it would be a lengthy process installing, linking and organising all the technical equipment. This turned out to be relatively straight forward as Carlos was a great help. We had to re-format the MP3 players after unsuccessfully trying to load the new sounds and delete the previous test sounds. (As delightful as Spanish guitar is, it would have ruin the mood of our pleasant and unpleasant sounds.) We were able to easily sync our phones to the Go Pro cameras. All of the MP3 players were fine until the first participant entered the unit, when one of them stopped working. We decided as a group to proceed with 5 sounds as it would still get the desired effect. After the first two participants, we realised that something as subtle as the way we had placed the paint in the unit was subconsciously influencing the colour choices the participants were making. We had green and yellow together on the left hand side and red and blue together on the right. Each participant chose the colours based on the side they were positioned (e.g green and yellow for participant one, and blue and red for participant two) In order to make sure that we were not influencing the colours choices we moved the paint so all the colours were together. It seemed like a small change but it did effect the choices made after that.

We struggled to get participants initially and under estimated the amount of time it would take for each participant to complete the experiment. We were able to organize a process to minimize waiting time, by getting individuals to fill out the consent form and read the instructions whilst another participant was inside the pod. Perhaps if we had arranged a quicker experiment then more people would have taken part. Also the fact that participants were asked to stand in wet paint definitely put a number of people off. It could be argued that our instructions were not clear enough, some of the participants had to ask repeatedly what they were expected to do. The difficulty is to not over control the output of individual participants whilst maintaining a comparable element for the purposes of correlation and quantitative data. For instances, one of the participants used all 4 colours, whilst another only completed the ‘pleasant’ sound tests.

Unfortunately there was not a lot of space for individuals to wait, and the longer the waited the more of the sounds they could hear. It is difficult to know at this stage whether the participants could anticipate the sounds from outside the unit and in turn whether this effected their movements, colour selections or sound choices.

After the first 4 tests, we only had male participants. We had not considered previously that we would have a bias in any particular gender or age group. (Perhaps mainly 18-29 year olds based on the average age of university students.) A group decision was made to continue to let anyone participate, instead of making a conscious effort to select specific ages and genders. This would then become an interesting unexpected finding within our data.

The paint consistency was a success, although a little slippery initially, and participants were able to easily refill their footwear throughout the experiment. The paper sheets worked well, although the size was not quite right, however we were unable to save any of the large sheets as samples because they were too wet and awkward to manoeuvre in and out of the unit. We were, however able to capture a shot of the final test sheets using the Go Pro cameras. The downside was that the effort put in to constructing the large sheets of paper seemed a waste with how quickly they were disposed of.

After completing 12 tests we had to stop because all of the cameras ran out of battery at the same time. We were also completely exhausted from actively gathering participants, organising people, capturing data, filming, interviewing and photographing. Although we only had 12 participants, we were able to successfully record 3 interviews, covered a range of ages, including two under 18’s, which gave great results and amass a wealth of footage. We also received positive interest from passers by and nice comments from participants. I was surprised by the level of interest from individual participants. They wanted to know more about the ideas behind the installation, any information about the publication and were keen to ask questions about our individual practice. Overall it was a success.

After day 2.

Setting up: Part 3

Equipment

Go Pro

We conducted some preliminary recording experiments using the Go Pro cameras. We set up an aerial wide angle shot to capture the whole test sheet from above and the movement across the sheet. We also set up a normal angle view from the left corner of the unit to give a variety of shots to edit together. We were able to download the Go Pro app to control the cameras from our phones. 

android app available here
apple app available here 

MP3 Players and speakers

The speakers and MP3 players arrived and we were able to test the volume and quality of the sound. Although the quality isnt super high, its perfect for the scale of our experiment. each MP3 player has an 8GB memory card, which means we can make each sound play for 2 mins. the only potential downside to the mp3 players is that they dont have a screen to indicate which number track is playing. This could potentially cause problems for the 2nd experiments with the 'unpleasent' sounds.
 

Video Testing

When setting up the Go Pro's we had to make sure we were getting a good shot of the whole floor area to collect as much data as possible. This involved a bit of adjustment and problem solving in terms of how we were going to attach the camera arms to the installation unit. In the end we used a bar across the centre of the unit and the camera on a wide angle shot, and a shorter bar across the corner to capture a high angle view. We wanted to make sure we had a nice variety of visuals to play around with when editing the video.

 

Setting up: Part 2

Continuing the technical set up of the installation unit. Thanks to Erika for the action shots - more available here.


Go Pro Practicing

Setting up: Part 1