Exploring co-located interactions with a shape-changing bar chart

Data-physicalizations encode data and meaning through geometry or material properties, providing a non-planar view of data, offering novel opportunities for interrogation, discovery and presentation. This field has explored how single users interact with complex 3D data, but the challenges in the application of this technology to collaborative situations have not been addressed. We describe a study exploring interactions and preferences among co-located individuals using a dynamic data-physicalization in the form of a shape-changing bar chart, and compare this to previous work with single participants. Results suggest that co-located interactions with physical data prompt non-interactive hand gestures, a mirroring of physicalizations, and novel hand gestures in comparison to single participant studies. We also note that behavioural similarities in participants between interactive tabletop studies and data-physicalizations may be capitalised upon for further development of these dynamic representations. Finally, we consider the implications and challenges for the adoption of these types of platforms.