The Language of Discovery: A Grammar for Designing Big Data Interactions

Looking deeper than the celebratory rhetoric of information quantity, at its core, Big Data makes possible unprecedented awareness and insight into every sphere of life; from business and politics, to the environment, arts and society. In this coming Age of Insight, 'discovery' is not only the purview of specialized Data Scientists who create exotic visualizations of massive data sets, it is a fundamental category of human activity that is essential to everyday interactions between people, resources, and environments.

To provide architects and designers with an effective starting point for creating satisfying and relevant user experiences that rely on discovery interactions, this session presents a simple analytical and generative toolkit for understanding how people conduct the broad range of discovery activities necessary in the information-permeated world.

Specifically, this session will present: • A simple, research-derived language for describing discovery needs and activities that spans domains, environments, media, and personas • Observed and reusable patterns of discovery activities in individual and collaborative settings • Examples of the architecture of successful discovery experiences at small and large scales • A vocabulary and perspective for discovery as a critical individual and organizational capability • Leading edge examples from the rapidly emerging space of applied discovery • Design futures and concepts exploring the possible evolution paths of discovery interactions