Data Agents · Sense-Making

Visual and physical representations of historical personal data have been discussed as artifacts that can lead to self-refection through meaning-making. However, it is yet unclear how those two concepts relate to each other.

We present three different projects where personal data have been coupled with everyday objects. To understand how people made sense of those objects and how that might have led to self-refections, we use two different frameworks to help us create links between refection and meaningfulness.

Study: Data-Objects

Self-tracking consists of recording information about one's diet, health, or activities using a smartphone or wearable. While self-tracking data is typically captured real-time in a lived experience, the data is often stored in a manner detached from the context where it belongs. Data-objects are artifacts that represent contextually relevant data and can enhance people’s lived experiences. We study how to design contextually relevant data-objects based on people’s needs.

Based on speculative ideas of data-object combinations created in object theater activities with six participants, we identified three aspects that can enhance the design of data-objects: social sharing, contextual ambiguity and interaction with the body.

Study: Reflective Data-Objects

Personal data representations have been used to support acts of self-reflection, a topic that has received little attention in the context of long-distance relationships (LDRs).

In an autoethnographic exploration of LDR data, three sense-making activities were conducted: visualizing own messaging data, generative sessions with others, and card sorting with a partner. Based on the data-object ideas and the various sense-making sessions, design opportunities and challenges are drawn related to the transformative nature of relationships, negative reflection, and aspects of privacy.

Other Publications