University of Canterbury, New Zealand

Artistic Data: Rise of data-driven call to action in climate change and sustainable futures 

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Abstract

Anthropogenic climate change is irreversible and its effects here to stay. As humans, we are a community of information seekers, with inherent agency to mitigate and adapt to the adverse effects of climate change. Yet there is no alignment between the information produced within scientific and academic agency groups and the public. Raw form of numbers and words as data is not going to appeal to a wider group of stakeholders. This creates a gap for data visualization and specifically data-driven art. Such art can close the gap between data needed for forecasting and mitigating adverse changes, and the call to action, dialogue and involvement of the public needed to bring about actual change in our climate change adaptation behaviours. This chapter explores first human agency, and the reactions art can evoke, as a call to action. Some examples of data-driven art are also presented and the three spaces these exact influence in everyday life. This is followed by an introduction to a matrix for evaluating impact and phenomenology of data-driven climate change art, derived from extant literature. The main contribution of this chapter is the conceptualisation of this matrix and creating space for further discussion and insights in the body of knowledge towards intrinsic, intangible and artistic curation of otherwise scientific and raw data forms. 

Biography

Indie joined the University of Canterbury in 2023, reading for a PhD in adaptation options for rural coastal lowlands, under civil and natural resources engineering. Her doctoral study is funded by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand. She also works as research and teaching assistant with the department of accounting information systems at Canterbury. She is completing a Master of Commerce in accounting at the University of Otago. Her master’s topic looks at assessing suitability of performance metrics in climate actions. She serves on the AFAANZ’s Qualitative Research in Accounting Network’s special interest group (QualRAN SIG). She has been chosen as a mentee for British Accounting and Finance Association’s 2023-24 research mentoring scheme cohort.  Prior to which, Indie was a postgraduate representative for Otago’s Climate Change network in 2022. Between 2017 to 2019 she worked in research management and assistantship at the University of Melbourne.