Networks and Roots: Information Design and Data Visualization for Digital Collections

• Grant number: 25/14817-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: January 01, 2026
• End date: December 31, 2029
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Industrial Design - Visual Programming
• Principal Investigator: Giselle Beiguelman
• Grantee: Bruna Keese dos Santos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 22/05946-9 - Digital Collections and Research: art, architecture, design and technology, AP.TEM

Abstract

The research proposed in this project aims to investigate information design processes and data visualizations for digital collections linked to the humanities. To this end, in addition to theoretical research on the subject and the survey and analysis of cases produced over the past decade, the research includes a practical stage in which it proposes the design of the interface and the creation of data visualizations for the Meta-herbarium, a project under development within the scope of the Fapesp Thematic Project "Digital Collections and Research: art, architecture, design, and technology", coordinated by Prof. Giselle Beiguelman. This project seeks to develop a platform that will connect digitized museum collections and databases related to Brazilian biodiversity from the speciesLink network. It will offer a reinterpretation of classifications and taxonomies based on Indigenous nomenclatures, thus bringing together computational, artistic, and scientific questions, as well as the botanical knowledge of Indigenous peoples-merging reflections on nature, ancestry, and technology.In this context, the research aims to approach data visualization from a perspective that builds relationships across networks of subjects and information. The goal is to discuss how design can contribute to the creation of interfaces and visualizations for digital collections that enable generous explorations, allowing for multiple perspectives, connections, and collaborative processes. The intention is to approach data visualization through the concept of "making visible" (Erlhoff & Marshall, 2008; Bonsiepe, 2011; Drucker, 2014). To that end, the research explores forms of (in)visibility, investigating how design can help reveal hidden aspects of data. The Meta-herbarium theme inspires the research to look at the design present in forests-with their networks of roots that connect and nourish one another, forming a vast living organism. (AU)