Making with Climate Data: Materiality, Metaphor and Engagement

Extract:

This chapter reports on a practice-led research project investigating the tangible visualization (or physicalization) of climate data. Working with the Australian National University’s (ANU) Climate Change Institute (CCI), the authors designed and produced an open-ended edition of data-objects: small, laser-cut climate coasters. Each represents one year’s temperature data for a single location, in relation to the long-term average. This data translation concept was further developed through the design of a web application, which allowed for an expanded range of data and locations. It also broadened the reach of the project, and enabled users to customize and produce coasters of their own. Reflecting on this work and the contexts of data physicalization and climate communication three key points emerged. Firstly, that data physicalization – making data-objects – can make a useful contribution to the challenge of engaging audiences with climate change data, in the context of an increasingly polarized debate. Second, the affordances of materiality and metaphor are significant here. The material form engages senses of smell and touch, reframing prosaic communication of data as a more immediate encounter; while the metaphor or functional form of the coaster invokes an everyday context of conviviality and conversation. Third, a distinctive hybrid approach to data physicalization, where computational workflows for digital fabrication are adapted for the web is of significant value. We show how this combined approach worked to increase the audience and relevance of the project, as well as to validate the design of the tangible object. The makerly approach adopted here, based on software- and data-driven sketching and experimentation, alongside material prototyping, enabled movement between physical and screen-based visualization. As an instance of ‘making data’, this project operates within a broader networked context of cultural and technical data practices....