Vis Futures is a card-based sketching game where players think critically (and playfully) about the future of data and visualization.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Players deal a set of cards that hint at a possible future, and a possible dataset in that future. Players then use those prompts to imagine and sketch new visualization designs and imagine ways that future people from a particular audience might encounter, interact with, or utilize data (quirks and all). At the end of each round, players share their visualizations, discuss, and vote on which scenarios and visualizations are the most creative!

WHY FUTURING FOR VISUALIZATION?

Our goal is to include more people (including visualization students, researchers, and practitioners, as well as clients and collaborators) in discussions of critical data issues that have implications for the future of data, visualization, and technology. This game encourages players to engage in future-forward design thinking, examining the increasingly complex implications of our relationships with data and technology, and considering how, where, and why visual representations of data might play a role. It can be pretty fun too!

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BROUGHT TO YOU BY

Mackenzie Hisako Dalton
Lora Oehlberg
Wesley Willett
University of Calgary

Charles Perin
University of Victoria

Sheelagh Carpendale
Simon Fraser University

Petra Isenberg
Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Inria, LISN

Special thanks to all of the workshop participants and contributors, including: Adriana Arcia, Alec Barrett, Anais Lupu, Andrew McNutt, Ann Chou, Christian Heine, David Saffo, Fateme Rajabiyazdi, Jagoda Walny, Jason Dykes, Jillian Aurisano, Jonathan Roberts, Jumana Almahmoud, Jörn Kohlhammer, Kath Blair, Kim Snooks, Kuang-Cheng Lai, Lamia, Liudas Panavas, Lyn Bartram, Marija Schufrin, Maximilian Kohl, Panagiotis Ritsos, Petra Isenberg, Phillip Koytek, Richard Brath, Samuel Huron, Sarah Storteboom, Silvia Miksh, Søren Knudsen, and Sydney Pratte.

Additional thanks to the Aviz team and Inria-Saclay, the members of the UCalgary Data Experience Lab, and the attendees of Schloss Dagstuhl Seminar 22261 (Visualization Empowerment) for their help playtesting and refining the cards and gameplay mechanics.