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Article published In: Cultural Turns in Information Design I
Edited by Juhri Selamet and Nina Hansopaheluwakan Edward
[Information Design Journal 30:1] 2025

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Designing participatory data physicalization as cultural connectors for a Quantified Us

ORCiD logo with link | The Ohio State University
Published online: 30 January 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/idj.25011.she
Abstract
This paper examines participatory data physicalization as a mode of public engagement. Building on the shift from the Quantified Self to a Quantified Us, the study investigates how data can enable shared meaning-making and intercultural dialogue beyond individual reflection. Culture is understood here as encompassing identity differences, knowledge perspectives, symbolic associations, and lived contexts of interpretation.
Using a Research through Design methodology, nine wellness-focused installations deployed in university campus public spaces revealed five recurring design dimensions: material affordances and metaphors, participation framing, interpretive flexibility and situated meaning, peer visibility and intercultural encounter, and publicness as cultural care.
Findings show that participatory data physicalization can serve as civic infrastructure, where data is not only represented but also co-authored, negotiated, and encountered as a living communal resource. Shared concerns around identity, community, and emotion foster resonance across differences while sustaining plurality and ambiguity. This work contributes to the cultural turn in information design by positioning participatory data engagement as a practice of recognition, solidarity, and civic connection.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1From quantified self to Quantified Us
    • 2.2Participatory data physicalization
  • 3.Toward collective and material data practices
  • 4.Methodological approach
    • 4.1Research framework
    • 4.2Process documentation
    • 4.3Ethical considerations
  • 5.Project context and data sources
  • 6.Ecology of design and participation
  • 7.Design dimensions of participatory data physicalization as cultural connectors
    • 7.1Material affordances and metaphors
    • 7.2Framing participation
    • 7.3Interpretive flexibility and situated meaning
    • 7.4Peer visibility and intercultural encounter
    • 7.5Publicness as cultural care
  • 8.Limitations
  • 9.Cultural potentials of participatory data physicalization
  • 10.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
References (45)
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