GoCo: A Gamified Activity for Winnowing Visualization Projects with Interdisciplinary Experts

Abstract

Interdisciplinary collaboration in an academic context is challenging , particularly when the basis of collaboration is data. Even with datasets that overlap in their spatiotemporal dimensions, underlying disciplinary assumptions may not allow it to be meaningfully synthesized without thorough alignment among its experts. We encountered this issue while tasked to develop a visualization that combined data from different disciplines. The breadth of possibilities within these interdisciplinary settings meant that winnowing was needed to align all experts before further process could be made. We therefore designed and deployed a winnowing technique specifically apt for multidisciplinary settings. Our design, GoCo, a hybrid system consisting of a tangible and digital counterparts, uses abstract concepts, playfulness, gamification and network visualizations, to uncover promising research directions. Through findings from its deployment, we believe this work informs early stage visualization activity practices on aspects of gamification, tangible tokens and hybrid documentation 1 .