Embodying information
with Ilya Vidrin, Nicole Zizzi, Victoria Palacin, Rahul Bhargava, Amanda Brea, and Jesse Hinson
This project explores embodied ways of experiencing and making sense of data. We investigate how movement--dance, somatic practices, and theatre--can be used to represent data through and with the body and the implications of these practices for movement experts, community members, and researchers. How do somatic experiences of data differ from visual data displays? What would data physicalization look like if it centered on felt experiences? How do storytelling approaches to data impact people's understanding of information? What happens when we consider movement itself to be the primary material artifact of the data display?
We explore the design space and affordances of these approaches through workshops and collaborations with expert movers. Our first paper Data Theatre as an Entry Point to Data Literacy was recently published in Educational Technology & Society and demonstrates how theater-based approaches to data can facilitate critical reflection and help a larger group of learners engage with data. We have a number of addtional publications currently under development and hosted a related panel at the Center for Design.
On a larger scale, this approach has the potential to expand perspectives in computer science--which often take the “body” out of embodiment--through engagement with holistic humanities-based perspectives on embodiment.
