Visualising collective actions – The process of creating the ArtovaModel

Abstract

This thesis illustrates the process of designing a visualisation of collective action practices through the case of the ArtovaModel visualisation. The vision was, through this visualisation, to help the Artova neighbourhood association enable further pleasurable collective actions, engage people in a discussion on collective actions or provide common grounds of communication. I aimed to achieve this by firstly helping to compile a vocabulary, a structure and a database of real-life examples from Artova–facilitated collective actions and later making them accessible by visualising the gathered information in a way that it is transparent and modifiable.

This thesis project has derived from a combination of data visualisation practices, human- centered design methods and collective action theory. It describes the collaboration with Artova, six collective actions and the independent company Avanto, to compile practices that Artova-facilitated collective actions share. Human-centered design methods were utilised to identify how these practices might aid other collective actions and the Artova association members. Lastly, an online interactive visualisation to communicate the gathered information was created, based on data visualisation practices. The activities employed and their risks and impact at each step of the visualising process are discussed. The thesis concludes with a personal reflection on this journey and lessons learned about visualising collective actions.