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Short abstract:

Traditional data output in healthcare often overlooks nuances of patient experience, particularly in brain trauma and injury. Alternate methods of visualizing health data are needed to capture patient experiences which may not be adequately conveyed through biomedical technologies.

Long abstract:

Collaboration between art and science consistently addresses various processes that impact people’s lives. These interactions and procedures rely on generating, presenting, and disseminating data. The concept of “visualization” encompasses diverse purposes across different fields of knowledge (e.g. descriptive, aesthetic, explanatory, persuasive), while also facilitating connections among users from diverse backgrounds (Hegarty 2011; Polman and Gebre 2015).

The analytical framework provided by Science and Technology Studies (STS) highlights that art is not merely secondary to science but rather compliments it. STS scholarship has delved into the interplay between experimental cultures of both art and science, examining how artists and scientists engage in hands-on practices and immersive experiences within their respective domains (Schatzki and Knorr Cetina 2000). Both art and science engage in the perception, interpretation, and construction of realities. In the context of health data, which is intimately tied to individual patients, it becomes crucial to explore novel approaches to understand human experiences that conventional medical technologies might not always capture or explain.

Here, novel methods of visualizing data are examined, including how art-based approaches provide patients, healthcare providers, and researchers with a means to gain deeper insights into the realities of brain trauma and injury. This paper highlights the potency of data visualization not only in revealing the unseen, but also fostering new connections - both cognitive and emotional - among data, patients, and medical research communities. Through innovative techniques, patients can actively contribute to understanding their illness experience, assuming greater control over the creation, visualization, and circulation of data.