Be the data: A new approach for lmmersive analytics

In an era with exploding amounts of data, educating students about data analysis techniques becomes increasingly important. However, many students find it challenging to understand complex analytical methods and in turn have an unenthusiastic attitude about learning from them. This paper describes Be the Data, an immersive analytical approach for teaching abstract data analytical concepts, such as dimension reduction. In particular, we present the design and development of a novel system to engage students in exploring alternative 2D projections of high dimensional data. In our system, each student embodies a virtual data point visualized in a collocated physical space. The coordinates of students on the floor represent coordinates on a 2D projection of the high-dimensional data they embody. Students can explore alternative projections by physically moving themselves, and hence the corresponding data points, in the space. Students receive visual feedback about the data variables that would produce their projection. Therefore, students can pose hypotheses about the data and further explore and understand it. Our goal is to encourage and foster students' interest in data analysis by engaging them in an immersive experience.