CAREER: Physicalizing Small Data: A First-Person Approach to Examining IoT Data

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

By working with artists in residence, this project will generate novel tools and methods around physical representations of data in the context of the home. Home Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as smart home cameras, smart speakers, motion sensors, smart watches and more are a fast-growing global market that not only represents one of the most important new ways of collecting data about people, but also takes place in a particularly private space, the home. As articulated in recent public debates, it is crucial that people be able to access, assess, and control their own data in order to better understand both themselves and what others can learn about them, as well as to manage possible privacy and surveillance risks of allowing these data to be collected. To help people control their own data, the project team will bring together technologists and artists to create new ways for individuals to experience the data they create through IoT systems that observe them and their homes. This ‘small data’ approach is designed to center individual agency and control around data, helping people be more aware and engaged participants in the data economy while advancing knowledge around visualization and sense-making of data. The project is structured as a series of first-person research collaborative artist residencies that develop and then generalize bespoke physical representations (“physicalizations”) of data. Starting with a first-person approach is crucial because developing meaningful physicalizations require a close understanding of both the context and the people involved in the data collection, such as, the circumstances of the home, the particular technologies in play, the residents’ current understanding of data, and so on. Thus, each residency will start by developing a series of physicalization prototypes tuned to the resident artist’s context. Then, the project team will iterate on both the prototypes and the methods used in creating them to create public-facing activities and tools that a wider range of people can experiment with and customize to their own homes, technologies, and understandings. Together, the work will (1) develop new tools and methods for physicalizing IoT data in context, (2) increase rigor in first-person methods with regards to documenting, analyzing and disseminating findings, (3) examine the creative possibilities of collaborations between technology design and the arts that will generalize beyond the specific problem of data physicalization, and (4) advance the practice and tools available for other researchers interested in small data-focused research. The collaboration of technology designers and artists also has the potential to invite and involve communities who are often underrepresented in computing, for instance women and students in the arts and humanities. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.