The second day of the seminar was focusing on the development of up to twoideas we had yesterday. We were amining towards breaking our topic and process down with the help of a limitation of 10 post-its to create 10 ways of ivestigating our topic conceptually.
I, for myself, came up with firstly, a very spatial way of visualizing given linguistic data to create a space which is a metaphor for my research question and in a further step, ctreate something like a guided maze. Visitors can go through this maze and discover chronically, what I discovered. Starting from scratch with no knowledge about the topic, the visitor first gets to know some of the basic terms like "Lemma" or "Syntax" with the help of installations placed in this space. For the term "Syntax", there will be some components the visitor has to stick together and only after assembling it the right way, a signal (e. g. light, sound, ...) is triggered, which symbolizes the whole flow of information or data. Through providing several installatons with this explanatory chatacter, a broader understanding of this data set can be triggered.This helps to understand the research question way better than with no knowledge. This can also solve the issue of my target group. Since I was focusing primarily on researchers, it was almost impossible for others who are not working in this field to gain access to the data. With this approach, I can enable them to get to know the basics of this topic and to be able to extend their understanding better. This could also encourage them to deal with the subject of data in a more interesting and open-minded way. To sum up and to point out, there are three main adavantages that come with this proceeding.
- enable the public to interact with this data / make it accessible for them
- still provide research-based data for researchers
- provide context / What is my statement with this work?
My second sceanrio was basically a more concrete and specified definition of my currrent process. In the beginning, I will first analyze current visualization forms. Improtant key question are "Why are they used?", "What for?", "Why not something else?", "What could be better?" and "What is missing?". Based on this work, I will have gained an understanding and insight into the semiotics of graphics and wit this knoweldge, will be able to conduct better form the surveys I am going to make. Taking into account other professions and people, who are not working in this field is also a crucial point I figured out during the last days, as they provide general understanding of a data set or visualization, not just an extreme narrowed down and specified perception as a researcher in the field of lingusitics would be. My questions could look like this:
Researchers
associations with this viz / semiotics?
use it where?
why?
examples you know?
problems you see?
other ways you know?
general problems of viz in your daily work?
what would you wish to have?
what would you need to conduct a broader understanding?
Designers
In which field you are working?
Ever been in touch with data viz?
Where? Pro? Con?
Why?
What is displayed?
Why do you know?
Statement is: ..., did you get that?
first impression? associations? semiotics?
if yes: how long to get content?
if not: why did you not get it?
What was missing in your opinion?
Other viz you know that explained sth. or stayed in mind?
Why?
Other viz you know that are accessible more easily for you?
Why?
beautiful or explanatory?
visual language helping the data set?
if yes: why? speak from your experience as a designer
if not: why? speak from your experience as a designer
Ordinary / Not working in this field
What is your background / profession?
Ever been in touch with data viz?
Where? Pro? Con?
Why?
What is displayed?
Why do you know?
Statement is: ..., did you get that?
first impression? associations? semiotics?
how long to get content?
Why did you not get it?
What was missing in your opinion?
Other viz you know that explained sth. or stayed in mind?
Why?
Other viz you know that are accessbible more easily for you?
Why?
beautiful or explanatory?
Thus, I will be able to derive missing parts or weaknesses. From that point, I can really start my practical work in terms of using one data set and aplly several models to them to test what I observed. At htis point, I am considering to create a spaital installation as well, basically to mix up with the scenario above, to extend the perception and the access.
Questions that strike me at this point are mainly:
- How can this spatial manifestation look like?
- How can I focus more on an artistic way?
- How can I formulate my focus more towards a research-assistancing work than a pedagocial mass communication tool?
