Data physicalizations “map data to physical form,” yet many canonical examples are not based on external data sets. To address this contradiction, I argue that the practice of physicalization forces us to rethink traditional notions of data. This article proposes a conceptual framework to examine how physicalizations relate to data. This article develops a two-dimensional conceptual space for comparing different perspectives on data used in physicalization, drawing from design theory and critical data studies literature. One axis distinguishes between epistemological and ontological perspectives, focusing on the relationship between data and the mind. The second axis distinguishes how data relate to the world, differentiating between representational and relational perspectives. To clarify the aesthetic and conceptual implications of these different perspectives, the article discusses examples of data physicalization for each quadrant of the continuous space. It further uses the framework to examine the explicit and implicit assumptions about data in physicalization literature. As a theoretical article, it encourages practitioners to think about how data relate to the manifestations and the phenomena they try to capture. It invites exploration of the relationship between data and the world as a generative source of creative tension.

中文翻译：

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当我们谈论数据物理时我们在谈论什么

数据物理化“将数据映射到物理形式”，但许多规范示例并不基于外部数据集。为了解决这个矛盾，我认为物理化的实践迫使我们重新思考传统的数据概念。本文提出了一个概念框架来检查物理化与数据的关系。本文开发了一个二维概念空间，用于比较物理化中使用的数据的不同观点，借鉴设计理论和关键数据研究文献。一个轴区分了认识论和本体论的观点，侧重于数据和思想之间的关系。第二个轴区分数据与世界的关系，区分代表性和关系性观点。为了阐明这些不同视角的美学和概念含义，本文讨论了连续空间每个象限的数据物理化示例。它进一步使用该框架来检查物理化文献中关于数据的显式和隐式假设。作为一篇理论文章，它鼓励从业者思考数据如何与他们试图捕捉的表现形式和现象相关联。它邀请探索数据与世界之间的关系，将其作为创造性紧张的生成源。它鼓励从业者思考数据如何与他们试图捕捉的表现形式和现象相关联。它邀请探索数据与世界之间的关系，将其作为创造性紧张的生成源。它鼓励从业者思考数据如何与他们试图捕捉的表现形式和现象相关联。它邀请探索数据与世界之间的关系，将其作为创造性张力的生成源。