Data Theatre & How To Create Authentic Data Experiences with Professor Rahul Bhargava

Rahul Bhargava, Assistant Professor at Northeastern University’s College of Arts, Media & Design in Boston, Massachusetts, is an educator, researcher, designer, and facilitator who builds collaborative projects to interrogate our datafied society with a focus on rethinking participation and power in data processes. He has created big data research tools to investigate media attention, built hands-on interactive museum exhibits that delight learners of all ages, and run over 100 workshops to build data culture in newsrooms, non-profits, and libraries. Rahul has collaborated with a wide range of groups, from the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil to the St. Paul library system and the World Food Program. His academic work on data literacy, technology, and civic media has been published in journals such as the International Journal of Communication, the Journal of Community Informatics, and been presented at conferences such as IEEE Vis and ICWSM. His museum installations have appeared at the Boston Museum of Science, Eyebeam in New York City, and the Tech Interactive in San Jose.

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of being entranced by a performance of music or drama, so enraptured by the story you’re physically witnessing that it imprints in your memory. Learning through shared creative experiences comes naturally to humans, who have always gathered across time periods and cultures to act, dance and make art and music together. 

Data is a tool of power, and the skills to work with it are mostly taught through using a certain set of tools, like graphs and charts. But for those of us who learn through story, context, relationships, language, and emotional intimacy - this toolbox needs expanding.

Data theatre, data sculpture and data murals are just some of the mediums that Rahul researches to demonstrate how knowledge about data should be shared in multiple ways, to meet the diversity of learning styles amongst all people in society.

By making data education physically experiential - getting people in a room to actually make stuff, with real people and structures in 3D, interactive settings, and have fun doing it - many more people can learn to find their voice in discussions on data.

dataculture.northeastern.edu

dataculture.northeastern.edu/2021/05/27/2020-year-of-data-sculptures.html 

databasic.io

camd.northeastern.edu/faculty/rahul-bhargava/

twitter.com/rahulbot 

vis.social/@rahulbot

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