This project will pioneer a critical new genre of science exhibit: interactive visualizations that engage visitors in the process of scientific inquiry. The capability to create advanced visualizations of large scale data sets in an interactive platform was developed in a prior pathways project. The interactive platform will be installed in a museum/science center setting in this full scale development project and will be assessed to determine how visitors utilize the interactive advanced visualizations of large data sets to explore for themselves, scientific issues involving the world's oceans.
The display, called Living Liquid, will develop visualizations from three large data sets provided by science partners in the project involving ocean ecology, with programming of the data developed in the pathways demonstration project. The visualizations of this data will be viewed by visitors to the Exploratorium in San Francisco on an interactive display table. The data display allows users to see data elements displayed in the geographic location from which they were found. Unlike other efforts to create visual displays for the public focused on a one-way display or that require guided mediation, users of the Living Liquid platform can direct the investigation of the data themselves. Unlike a screen at home or a tablet, the display format is intended to promote interaction and dialogue among the groups that form around the display as a self-supporting form of investigation. The strength of table design is in the physical and digital interfaces built into the display that make the exploration of data appealing, intuitive and meaningful, to evoke questions and comparisons and make patterns in the data discoverable by the users.
The three areas chosen for the display table from science partners in the project include: "Plankton Patterns," an adaptation of the MIT Darwin Project simulation, which is used by scientists around the world to study what types of plankton live in the oceans and why they are there. On the Viz Table, this simulation will be adapted so visitors can explore the diversity and number of plankton through real glass lenses, a unique feature of this visualization effort. "Genetic Rhythms" is based on data from the Center for Microbial Oceanography Research and Education (C-MORE) which studies what genes microscopic ocean creatures turn off and on under different environmental conditions. On the Viz Table, visitors will be able to explore the activity of different genes as the ocean conditions change throughout a day. "Ocean Tracks" uses data from the TOPP project at Stanford University, which is studying the migratory paths of large marine creatures in relation to environmental conditions. This visualization will allow visitors to follow the paths of marine creatures such as sharks, turtles, or salmon and how they correlate to conditions such as temperature gradients or ocean currents. The data displays are separate from each other because, how data is collected and studied is different for each science partner.
The project will assess how the public interacts with the large data sets through the specially designed visualizations and the extent to which the visualization enhances the understanding of the data. It will also assess how viewers use the data through the interactive functions on the visualization, controlling their own explorations of real scientific data to understand and explore what the data tells them about issues of ocean ecology. The project includes scientist-led public programs using the visualizations to explore science topics and issues identified by the data through the visualization. It also includes a research study on how informal learners can use data visualizations to support self-directed or group inquiry and learning.
The project provides opportunities for professional development for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals in how to use advanced visualization capabilities to communicate research methods and findings to the public and in their own work. One of the challenges in the emerging use of large data sets is bringing together computer scientists, cognitive scientists, and graphic designers with disciplinary experts to understand how to create and interpret visualizations of large data repositories. Major insights on the use of color, perception or effective interaction do not seem to extend beyond a given field. Consequently there is a need to provide opportunities for STEM professionals to learn about effective visualization techniques and user-testing and evaluation. This project provides the opportunity for cross-disciplinary professionals to share knowledge and get training while focused on a goal of creating visualization for the public.
