Nicole is a professor at Monash University and describes herself as a practice-based researcher interested in doing things in the real world. Trained as an architect, she leads the XYX Lab at Monash University, which focuses on gender-sensitive design with a specific focus on public places. Her work examines women’s experiences and the experiences of LGBTQIA+ communities, thinking about how we can make change through design interventions in urban spaces.
In this episode Nicole tells us about mobilising the power of data to intersect with storytelling, particularly around gendered violence and minoritised people’s experiences in cities. Nicole and I discuss the HyperSext City exhibition that uses beautiful graphic design to present confronting data about urban safety, and the YourGround crowdsourcing project mapping safe and unsafe experiences across Victoria and New South Wales.
We talk about the importance of making data persuasive and publicly available, the challenge of balancing aesthetic appeal with difficult content, and the role of design in both data collection and communication. We finish our chat discussing Nicole’s advice about breaking data out of conventions and counting what matters. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it.
What we cover in this episode:
- Professor Kalms’ background as a practice-based researcher leading the XYX Lab at Monash University
- How data is often hidden behind paywalls and incomprehensible spreadsheets, limiting its power for advocacy
- The persuasive role of data in confronting people who question whether gendered violence and discrimination are really happening
- The HyperSext City exhibition creating immersive graphic environments using international peer-reviewed data on gender and cities
- The deliberate shock tactics of using beautiful design to present confronting data about horrible experiences in cities
- Cross-referencing intersectional data including age, disability, indigeneity and ethnicity across different urban typologies
- The YourGround crowdsourced mapping project developed with CrowdSpot to gather data on safe and unsafe experiences in public spaces
- Taking exhibitions and data into public spaces through paste-ups during Fremantle Design Week to situate stories where they occur
- How design elements of data collection methods impact accessibility and participation, such as the use of iconography making data collection accessible across diverse language groups and literacy levels
- The importance of making research reports publicly available and communicating findings through multiple formats
- The long-game approach to measuring impact by repeating data collection over 5-10 years to track changes in experiences
- Key challenges around data fatigue, knowing how much challenging information audiences can absorb, and timing of advocacy
- Recommendations including Catherine D’Ignazio and Lauren Klein’s work on data feminism and Kevin Guyan’s Queer Data on queering data as method