One of the highlights for me, was J. Anthony Langlois’ talk, “Reactive environments through politicized artworks”. Langlois’ argument was as follows: We (as a culture) need to change. In order to change we must have dialogue. In order to have effective dialogue, we need to be informed. He then described artistic attempts to “make the invisible visible” by way of eye-catching (often new-media based) visualization of otherwise unseen data. His examples were diverse and provocative: energy orbs, networked umbrellas, cameras in drag, to name a few. Data visualization has been an interest of mine for some time, particularly persuasive visualization to motivate sustainable behavior. Coming from an artistic background, Langlois’ angle was a slightly different. The examples he gave were not meant to motivate particular behaviors, aid in specific task, or even convey any exact message. Rather they were meant for the viewer to take notice, react viscerally, and then ask important questions. This is an interesting perspective which I hope to explore in my work.

Later in the afternoon, Kristin Hanks and I presented our undergraduate survey research, “attitudes toward sustainability and the material effects of interactive technologies.” While many of the conference goers opted for the other session at the time, we did have a sizable audience of Rose undergrads. As a nice complement to our talk, James Adams of Troy University presented some survey results on undergrad opinions on sustainability. His conclusion was that the majority of students care about sustainability, although they aren’t quite sure what it means. After our presentation, we had some positive feedback from the academics in the audience, which developed in some interesting conversations about the complexity of achieving sustainable technology.

All in all, it was a fun conference with multidisciplinary perspectives on sustainability.

Safety being a huge concern, we chose to implement our interface on a head-up display, projected onto the windshield. Such displays are always available in the driver’s peripheral vision and thus have been proven to minimize the amount of time a driver takes their eyes away from the road. So far they’ve been utilized commercially in limited application, such as speedometers and fuel guages.

Many questioned our choice to use this technology, with concerns about the feasibility and practicality. We were confident, however, that it was the most appropriate form to deliver the information. And it appears we’re not the only ones betting on the benefits. Microsoft has just recently applied for a patent for an adaptive heads-up user interface for automobiles . Read more about it here.

As we say in design, ideas are cheap, its execution that counts. Well seeing your design ideas duplicated by a major company is a nice validation of your thinking ability. I’m just looking forward to the day when I’m able to put some money behind my ideas, and execute ;)

For me personally at least, key encounters with information seem to have drastically altered my path in life. My interest in sustainability, for example, I can almost completely attribute to three simple graphs that were shown to me by Prof. David Haberman in the spring of 2005.

The first one represented global population. It looked something like this:

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The second one I believe represented resource consumption per capita. The shape was very similar to the first.

The third one (and this one was the kicker) represented species loss. It looked a bit like this:

Like Galileo’s sun spot maps, the three graphs taken together formed a ‘visible proof’ about the world. It was a moment of what Edward Tufte might call ‘beautiful evidence’. The inference was simple to make: unrestrained growth is destroying life on earth. This bit of knowledge, which could be illustrated through a few statistics, was something that I had been completely ignorant about. Once I encountered it, however, my whole way of seeing, thinking, and acting were changed. It is moments like these that inspire me as a designer.

Of course, information, data or statistics alone do not inevitably evoke such a response. The design of the encounter is of as much importance. Visual presentation must be clearly and intelligently designed to communicate effectively. Tufte’s books contain a wealth of insight on how to do this (see especially the principles of analytic design found in Beautiful Evidence). When it comes to designing interactive technologies, I think the possibilities and challenges both are multiplied. Gapminder’s compelling interface to world development data demonstrates some of rich possibilities afforded by interactivity.

However, even if design succeeds in communicating some cognitive knowledge, this does not mean that it will have any lasting effect on a person…