...is a datavisualization project which was part of the seminar [Input/Output Fundamentals of Process-Oriented Design] (https://incom.org/workspace/6176) supervised by Fabian Morón Zirfas. See the whole process from the first brainstorming till the final graphics.
There are many ways to collect data and convert them into a picturially shape. A lot of new tools and applications make us able to highlight (f.e.) numbers and conditions with more dimensions and dynamic variables than a pie chart could ever do. To see different results of one issue in the course: we decided to visualize data of the international space station.
What data are available about the ISS? The research phase was quiet intense and detailed as you can find a lot of figures on [the nasa’s webpage] (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html) and elsewere. It seems that it’s one of the well documented places on earth/ in space. It was challenging to decide for one aspect.
For me it’s very interesting that the nasa developed [The Voyager Golden Record] (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record) in the Seventies. It is a data collection (images, information, sounds) which should represent the human race to creatures in space. It’s a physical disk which is attached on the space probes Voyager 1 and 2.
All the data from the record are available online and you can find a lot of information about the team, who created the conent too. I started to analyze all theese information and to interprete and judge them. I was getting fascinated by the idea to think about a second version of the record. Who could/should be in the team today? What content could be on the Golden Record Number Two?
After some feedback and discussion with all the course members, our supervisor Fabian and our external guest [Lisa Charlotte Rost] (https://github.com/lisacharlotterost) ... we decided together, that my idea is too abstract as it doesn’t has a direct connection to data from the ISS. Maybe I was lost in the infinite information space- good that I received some honest feedback (thanks, again).
During my second research I studied the expeditions of the several space shuttels to the ISS. More than 40 Expeditions took place so far. Beside a lot of information about the people who went to ISS you notice a kind of regular fluctuation on the iss and. Concerning that fact you see a career- / hierarchy- system. While reading the protcols of the space shuttles (f.e. start-/ duration- / landing-times and so on) I noticed that there are short periods, where team members spend only a few days together on the ISS: Encounters In Space!
Following notices of my first brainstorming about a project name and a graphic.
I made a huge excel sheet (calendar with 6082 lines and 51 cloumns) to see who met eachother (only) in space. In a second spreadsheet you can find the people who where involved in each encounter. As it wasn’t possible to export the data with tools like import.io I export the data manually.
To make visible when people of different teams met eachother and for how long, i used [RAW] (http://app.raw.densitydesign.org/). You can insert spreadsheets in this application and choose a template for a suitable layout. As it is an automatic process you have to doublecheck, that your data are in the right order and hierarchy. To find the right diagram, which shows the correct relation of the data you need to experiment for a while.
In the end I customize the visual aspects like color, shape and text for all 50 Encounter- Diagrams manually. Here you can see two examples.
My vision is to summarize all 50 graphics together into one. It would be interesting to have one huge diagram, where it would be possible that all data are still readable.
The course "Input/Output Fundamentals of Process-Oriented Design" took place during the winter semester '15/'16 at the [University of Applied Sciences Potsdam] (http://www.fh-potsdam.de/). [HERE] (https://interface.fh-potsdam.de/eingabe-ausgabe/) you can find more projects.
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