Tangible Visualiza.on. Andy Wu Synaesthe.c Media Lab GVU Center Georgia Ins.tute of Technology

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1 Tangible Visualiza.on Andy Wu Synaesthe.c Media Lab GVU Center Georgia Ins.tute of Technology

2 Introduc.on Informa.on Visualiza.on (Infovis) is the study of the visual representa.on of complex informa.on, and the use of graphical techniques to help people understand and analyze data. Tangible User Interface (TUI) is the prac.ce that allows a person to interact with digital informa.on through the physical environment. Can we bring digital visualiza.ons to the physical space and manipulate them directly? Will it make people rethink the rela.onship between the representa.on of digital informa.on and our physical environment?

3 Tangible Visualiza.on The defini.on of Tangible Visualiza.on (TanViz) in my thesis : the forma.on of a tangible representa.on of an abstract concept. The applica.ons include: interac.ve art installa.ons that show abstract data interac.ve tabletop displays that have more interac.ons than tradi.onal ver.cal LCD/CRT displays interac.ve ambient displays that designed for specific purposes.

4 The Weather Lamp The Weather Lamp is my aqempt to explore how a tangible ambient display with lifelike quality can be used to convey complicated informa.on. It uses modulariza.on to show mul.variate data. It uses color, shape, sound and anima.on to convey the most informa.on to users with a single glance. It is a lamp that changes its shape according to the data and changes the way it represents data by physically manipula.ng it.

5 Design Goals (i) Abstract: I want to present weather data in a form (based on color, size or shape) that is not numerical but relates to the value of specific data. Non- intrusive: I want to present data in the background that does not require frequent aqen.on of the existence of this display. Aesthe1c: This display will be part of a living environment, rather than sirng in a laboratory. It has to be aesthe.cally pleasing to fit into our living space.

6 Design Goals (ii) Public and Isotropic: This display intends to be part of a living space. Ideally, users should get all informa.on within a glance. Its cylindrical shape will show the same informa.on to users viewing from all possible direc.ons. Tangible: Unlike most ambient displays that demonstrate data from some informa.on space to the user unidirec.onally, I want the Weather Lamp to have an interac.ve surface that accepts tac.le inputs as well. Modular: Most ambient displays are standalone devices with no communica.on capability to talk with their kinds. I want the Weather Lamp to be modular so that it can be assembled to express mul.variate data.

7 The Tangible Visualiza.on Module The Weather Lamp contains three Tangible Visualiza.on Modules (TVMs) that each of them uses a servo motor to change the module s size and an RGB LED to control the light. The module is controlled by a wiring board connected to the Internet. The module changes its color and shape according to the data retrieved from the Internet. It also generates sounds to draw people s awareness. The combina.on of several modules can convey more complicated informa.on

8 TVM of The Weather Lamp

9 Interac.on The Weather Lamp can act as an ambient display that delivers informa.on to users. The Weather Lamp also accepts tangible input when a user squeezes the disc. Some possible interac.ons: to set the range of data to be shown or to alert ex: when a stock market fluctuates to manipulate the data/device ex: as an air condi.oner controller to filter the data ex: as an audio equalizer

10 Evalua.on Future evalua.on plans include: Mankoff et al. s heuris.cs for ambient displays Two types of in situ studies: a task- oriented study that guides subjects through the func.on of the applica.on a free explora.on without given tasks.

11 Summary TanVis applica.ons should convey informa.on in a way that sa.sfies simplicity, aesthe.cs, and interac.ons. Some fundamental Infovis tasks can be solved naturally using tangible design Exploi.ng basic graphic elements in 2D graphics could improve the data- ink (data- object for TUIs) ra.o of TanVis if applied appropriately, since the percep.on is not only visual but can be tac.le and aural. Specifically designed TUIs are not comparable to scien.fic visualiza.on tools that are designed for general purposes on some tasks. But they work beqer on specific tasks and are easier to use. The TanVis emphasizes on the visual representa.on of data and encourages users to manipulate the object directly.