ListeningCups: A Case of Data Tactility and Data Stories

In this pictorial, we present the ListeningCups: a set of 3D printed porcelain cups embedded with datasets of everyday ambient sounds. During a one-week pilot project, a ceramic artist and an interaction design researcher collaborated to explore meaning making around everyday data (sound in our case). We developed a workflow to capture data, prepare datasets, transcribe data from decibels to G-code, and create a set of 3D printed porcelain cups which represent this data in a textural and tactile form. We discuss how our work also included aesthetic investigative practices as well as data accidents. We conclude by contributing two concepts-data tactility and data stories-that can serve as starting points for designers, artists, or researchers interested in the intersection of materiality, data, fabrication, and ceramics.