Data Objects

Summer term 2016, FH Potsdam, BA Interfacedesign
Supervisors: Prof. Boris Müller and Fabian Morón Zirfas

The aim of this course was to investigate how abstract data can be transformed into spatial structures. The focus was less on data exploration but rather on the question of how the meaning of the data and the relationship within the data set can be represented as an artefact. The aim was to create objects of a high aesthetic quality, to convey a message and to have a narrative angle. The artefacts should enable an audience to both understand a certain fact and to experience data in a spatial environment. During the class, we have collaborated with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research and the Bertelsmann Foundation.

• Molds of child poverty

  

  Sure - the rich become richer, and the poor become poorer. But what is the state of the children in Europe? What is their place within the socio economic change, we are experiencing right now and how much are they threatened by poverty and social exclusion? The main goal of our class 'dataobjects' was to transform the abstract data into a spatial objekt or physical structures.

  In collaboration with the Bertelsmannstiftung and based on the data of their 'Social Justice Index' report, we created an exhibit, which discusses the questions above and brings child poverty into a public debate in a deliberately provocative way.

  Jasper Precht, Juri Wolf, Carl Friedrich Richter & Irina Maslennikova

  Website | Documentation

• Carbon Time Crater

  

  Carbon Time Crater is an interactive, physical data visualisation which shows the global CO2 emissions and the CO2 emissions of the five world regions: OECD, Asia, Latin America, Middle East/Africa and the Reforming Economies. An explorative and playful object has been created which lets you slide through the development of the CO2 emissions in the next 100 Years considering five different scenarios (SSPs).

  Jonathan Jonas & Ron Leisner

  Website | Documentation

• Urban Dataobjects

  

  We wanted to confront and disrupt people from their daily routine. Thus we brought the data back to where it came from — the public space. For each of the 10 data sets we selected its appropriate medium and place in the city.

  José Ernesto Rodríguez, Mario Klemm, Merle Ibach, Philipp Strixner-Weber, Thomas Miebach

  Website | Documentation

• Possible Futures of Land Cover

  

  This project observes possible developments of land use in the next one-hundred years. We designed true to scale cards representing areas of different land use. With the help of a treemap, which divides the worlds surface by region, the areas can be compared and related.

  Adina Radke & Urike Thierbach

  Website | Documentation

• World Primary Energy

  

  This data visualization shows the world’s probable future consumption of primary energy resources. We examined the worldwide development of energy consumption from 2020 to 2100, throughout 5 probable scenarios.

  The dataset provided by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research consists of a huge amount of complex parameters. These are hard to grasp for non-scientists. Our physicalisation aims to make it more tangible and less abstract. It supports the analysis and comparison of some excerpts of the database. Moreover, it illustrates the complexity of the subject and allows viewers to engage in discussions about future climate scenarios.

  Katja Budinger, Stéphane Flesch, Roman Grasy & Kathi Veitengruber

  Website | Documentation

• Weaving Data

  

  »Weaving Data« is a data object that visualizes data sets of five future climate scenarios, called Shared Socio-economic Pathways, provided by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. It adopts the connection between mechanical weaving and data visualization as data based tapestry.

  Samira Akhavan, Anna Heib & Amelie Kirchmeyer

  Website | Documentation

FH-Potsdam 2016 | Please read the individual documentations for copyright information.