From conflict to collaboration: visualizing shifts in group energy to support creativity

To date, little attention has been paid to data visualization in qualitative research (Sloane 2009) and especially where it integrates the verbal contributions of participants with nonverbal data. This project explores how visualizations can be used to understand where and how points of conflict occurr in work groups, and how they relate to nonverbal elements in the group interaction such as group energy levels and laughter. Group dynamics, expressed in engagement and mood, are visualised as a function of time. Sequential overlays represent qualitative nonverbal and verbal source data (written and audio) to enrich the visualisation.

The team are working on a new way of visualizing group interaction and discussion. Funding from JGI allows the team to complete initial design and software approaches and to present them - including the research behind both - on an interactive website. Longer-term aims are:
o Dissemination of the visualization methodology through journals, presentations and online platforms
o Sharing of the design development process through online graphic design and data science platforms
o The development of an app for mobile phones that could be used by team leaders, managers, consultants, etc to better understand poor team dynamics or blocks to creativity.