Data Visualization of Art Teaching and Learning
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Handbook of Research on Maximizing Cognitive Learning through Knowledge Visualization Anna Ursyn University of Northern Colorado, USA A volume in the Advances in Knowledge Acquisition, Transfer, and Management (AKATM) Book Series Managing Director: Lindsay Johnston Managing Editor: Austin DeMarco Director of Intellectual Property & Contracts: Jan Travers Acquisitions Editor: Kayla Wolfe Production Editor: Christina Henning Development Editor: Caitlyn Martin Typesetter: Kaitlyn Kulp Cover Design: Jason Mull Published in the United States of America by Information Science Reference (an imprint of IGI Global) 701 E. Chocolate Avenue Hershey PA, USA 17033 Tel: 717-533-8845 Fax: 717-533-8661 E-mail: [email protected] Web site: http://www.igi-global.com Copyright © 2015 by IGI Global. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without written permission from the publisher. Product or company names used in this set are for identification purposes only. Inclusion of the names of the products or companies does not indicate a claim of ownership by IGI Global of the trademark or registered trademark. Artwork within the cover image “The Grammar of the City” © 2015, by Anna Ursyn. Used with permission. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Handbook of research on maximizing cognitive learning through knowledge visualization / Anna Ursyn, editor. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4666-8142-2 (hardcover) -- ISBN 978-1-4666-8143-9 (ebook) 1. Cognitive learning. 2. Information visual- ization. I. Ursyn, Anna, 1955- editor of compilation, author. LB1062.H25 2015 370.15’23--dc23 2015000388 This book is published in the IGI Global book series Advances in Knowledge Acquisition, Transfer, and Management (AKATM) (ISSN: 2326-7607; eISSN: 2326-7615) British Cataloguing in Publication Data A Cataloguing in Publication record for this book is available from the British Library. All work contributed to this book is new, previously-unpublished material. The views expressed in this book are those of the authors, but not necessarily of the publisher. For electronic access to this publication, please contact: [email protected]. 494 Chapter 18 What Does Learning Look Like? Data Visualization of Art Teaching and Learning Pamela G. Taylor Virginia Commonwealth University, USA ABSTRACT Drawing upon the data visualization work of Lev Manovich and Manuel Lima, in this chapter the au- thor discusses ways for envisioning and representing the complex teaching and learning that is associ- ated with the visual arts. Experiences and examples are shared that use new and old technologies to create and make connections among critically reflective collections of student learning artifacts such as research, journals, preliminary sketches, work in other classes, and realms of experience outside of school. Instead of relying on one final art product, the author explores embedded data mining and visualization as a viable approach to gauging student learning. Following the lead education notables Elliot Eisner (2002, 2004), John Dewey (1934), and Howard Gardner (1985), this research positions the visual arts as a common thread throughout disciplines. Such inherent and fundamental visual arts practices as portfolios, project-based instruction, and exhibition continue to expand instruction and learning in such classes as English, math, science, and history. The implications include the possibility that art education will lead the way to implementing authentic embedded assessment processes across education disciplines and grade levels. INTRODUCTION learning and making art? How would it work and what would it look like? These questions guide Most every art teacher and artist knows that a and challenge this evolving research that actually work of art is not simply one work of art. It is a began in 1999. combination and progression of many and varied Drawing upon experiences from a 2-year ideas, influences, research, dreams, risks, and computer hypertext-based high school art study1 other life and learning experiences too numerous (Taylor, 1999) and a 3-year beta software develop- to mention. What if there were a way to critically ment study of a virtual 3-d linking environment2 capture and actually represent this process of (Taylor, 2014), this research is challenged and DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8142-2.ch018 Copyright © 2015, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. What Does Learning Look Like? extended through data visualization theory and compilation and critical representation of the practice. Specifically, this chapter will focus on processes, ideas and concepts of making data data visualization principles (Lima, 2011; Manov- comprehensibly, logically, and beautifully visual. ich, 2012) and design thinking methods/categories Lima’s interests in this line of research began with (Berger, 2009) as possible approaches for mining his MFA thesis at Parsons School of Design in and representing new and old technological data 2005. His Blogviz project mapped the structure associated with teaching and learning in the visual of popular blog links. Looking at the idea of a arts. Additionally, critical and valuable social as- meme (a culture or behavior passed from one pects of data visualization theory will be shared to another), Lima began by charting the citation to represent as well as problematize sample visual frequency of URLs on various blogs. Rather than representations of learning. represent this information as mere points on a map, Lima wanted to understand and visualize the flow/influence/connection that such frequency UNDERSTANDING DATA suggested. He studied the structure of blogs and VISUALIZATION THROUGH the WWW realizing that the network of blogs is AN ARTIST’S EYE of a similar structure to most natural and artificial systems that are represented through diagrams Much like the typical pie charts and bar graphs made of nodes and lines that connect and highlight seen in math class and political analyses, data relationships between the nodes. As Lima (2011) visualization functions as a way to visually rep- explained, “networks are an inherent fabric of life resent data sets. Supposedly, such visualizations and a growing object of study in various scientific provide a clearer way to see and understand data domains. .This genuine curiosity quickly turned analyses than through a narrative explanation into a long-lasting obsession over the visual rep- alone. The idea of representing data in illustrative resentation of networks, or more appropriately, ways actually dates back to Prehistoric art with network visualization” (p. 15). cave paintings, as well as to the carvings, scrolls, Lev Manovich, professor of computer science story vases and petroglyphs of ancient Egyptians, at the City University of New York, teaches and Greeks, Mayan, and Native Americans. Human be- does extensive research on new media theory. Of ings have a strong need to see and understand data late, his work has focused on data visualization and visually. Be it to provide directions, explanations, specifically searchability and findability. Manov- plans, strategies, or proof of an argument, more ich (2012) extends the work of Mark Wattenberg often than not a pen, pencil, computer stylus or who visualized such culturally significant data as touch pad is used to further an explanation. In the a history of net art (Miranda, 2013), Wikipedia case of such artists as Leonardo da Vinci, the data (Viégas & Wattenberg, 2010) and most watched visualized and indeed discovered stands the test YouTube videos (Matheson, 2013). With the sup- of time. Cases in point may include the Vitruvian port of grants from the Digging into Data 2011 Man, images of flying machines, and the Mona Competition, Manovich (2013) and his team Lisa’s androgyny (Boucher, 2003). used open source image processing software A leading voice on information visualization, designed for use in medical research and other Manuel Lima is a Senior UX Design Leader at scientific fields to design a set of tools for media Microsoft Bing and founder of VisualComplexity. visualization of large sets of images. Projects com – a visual exploration on mapping complex include pages of Science and Popular Science networks. His 2011 book entitled Visual Com- magazines published 1872-1922, video game- plexity: Mapping Patterns of Information is a playing recordings, all paintings by van Gogh, 495 What Does Learning Look Like? and one million Manga pages. Data were gathered based art education study in which high school art by measuring properties and visual artifacts such students collected and represented their learning as plotting curves that show patterns of change in interactive computer webs. Virtual boxes were and mapping spatial distances according to such filled with images of their art work, research, notes, categories as genres, styles, mediums, countries, comments, video, ideas from other classes, music, and movements. This data can visually organized and other information linked to their ideas and through similarities, differences, influence, lo- learning. Connections were depicted with lines, cation, artist, etc. Especially significant to this arrows, and explanatory notes among boxes and chapter is Manovich’s (2008) challenge and value specific areas like parts of images, phrases and of new research