ABSTRACT
One of many technological shifts of the past decade is the ease with which people can collect, store and access data. The abundance of data brings with it opportunities that designers are only beginning to explore. This chapter reviews some of the ways people are already using data to shift behaviors, while also serving as a guide for explorers. All users of data visualization are on their own journey of engagement. Data visualization to date has mostly been by and for people who bring their own questions to the data. Concrete visualization can be just as quantitatively accurate as abstract visualization but it also communicates a physical sense of scale. Concrete visualization restores a sense of reality to the data. Concrete visualization can make the difference between feeling and knowing very clear, and viewers can experience a shock when the way they relate to the data is suddenly transformed.
