Data through Movement: Designing Embodied Human-Data Interaction for Informal Learning (Synthesis Lectures on Visualization)

This revised edition revisits the dynamic and developing field of human-data interactions (HDI). It draws on frameworks from the learning sciences, cognitive linguistics, visualization, and human-computer interaction to explore embodied HDI. This exciting sub-field of interaction design is based on the premise that every day we produce and have access to quintillions of bytes of data, the exploration and analysis of which are no longer confined within the walls of research laboratories. This new edition examines how people interact with data in informal environments like museums, where engagement is often brief and self-directed.
The first half of the book provides an overview of the multi-disciplinary, theoretical foundations of HDI, including embodied cognition, conceptual metaphor theory, embodied interaction, and embodied learning. It also reviews socio-technical theories essential for designing HDI installations that support informal, social learning in spaces like museums. The second half of the book describes strategies for engaging museum visitors with interactive data visualizations, It presents detailed methodologies for designing intuitive hand gestures and body movements for embodied installations. Through case studies of prototype exhibits, it illustrates how thoughtfully designed embodied HDI can facilitate deeper public sensemaking about complex topics such as census data, perspective-taking, correlation, and causation.
This cross-disciplinary book is intended as a resource for students and early-career researchers in human-computer interaction, the learning sciences, and data visualization, as well as for more senior researchers and designers who want to quickly familiarize themselves with HDI.

Francesco Cafaro is an Associate Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at the Luddy School of Informatics Computing and Engineering, Indiana University Indianapolis. His work investigates how theories from learning, cognitive, and computer sciences can be used to design intuitive, embodied experiences. His research brings data to life by moving it beyond the traditional screen, focusing on how full-body, embodied interactions can transform learning and sensemaking in public spaces. Dr. Cafaro has designed and evaluated prototype interactive installations in collaboration with numerous museums and cultural sites, including the New York Hall of Science in Queens, the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum in Chicago, Historic New Harmony, the Indiana State Museum, and Discovery Place in Charlotte.

Jessica Roberts is an Associate Professor in Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. As a learning scientist, her work explores technology-mediated social learning with a focus on public engagement with science and scientific data. Drawing on her background as a middle school teacher and a theatre designer, Dr. Roberts creates human-data interaction experiences that encourage learners in classrooms and free-choice settings to play with data through tangible, embodied, and collaborative interactions. She earned her Ph.D. in the Learning Sciences from the University of Illinois at Chicago, specializing in geospatial analysis and visualization. Her designs of interactive learning technologies have been exhibited at venues including the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, the New York Hall of Science, and the Georgia Aquarium. Dr. Roberts directs the Technology-Integrated Learning Environments (TILEs) Lab and leads interdisciplinary learning research efforts spanning topics from air pollution to zooplankton.