Data are laconic descriptions of the world, or are they? My talk explores forms of data that do not fit into this mold, forms of data overlooked in the visualization discourse. They cannot be visualized with traditional means or interpreted with traditional frames of mind. They do not represent something, but act on their surroundings. By focusing on the agency of data, I argue that representation alone obscures the relational, material, and economic dimensions through which data operate.
Dietmar Offenhuber is Professor and Chair of the Department of Art + Design at Northeastern University, with a secondary appointment in the School of Public Policy. Trained as an architect, he received a Master of Science from the MIT Media Lab and a PhD in Urban Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research focuses on data infrastructures, environmental information, visualization, and evidence construction. He has published several books, including the award-winning Waste is Information – Infrastructure Legibility and Governance (MIT Press). His new book, Autographic Design - the Matter of Data in a Self-Inscribing World, published by MIT Press, examines design practices based on material forms of information.