# Publications by Mert Toka

Peer-reviewed papers, theses and workshop papers, newest first. All entries in one file: [publications.bib](https://merttoka.com/research/publications.bib).

## Simulacra Naturae - Entangled Biomes: Generative Ecosystems driven by Brain Organoid Intelligence

Nefeli Manoudaki, Iason Paterakis, Mert Toka, Diarmid Flatley, Stejara Dinulescu

SIGGRAPH Art Gallery 2026, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Simulacra Naturae: Entangled Biomes operates as a multisensory infrastructure investigating how aesthetic experience emerges when biological activity, generative algorithms, and embodied agents interact. Action potentials from 131 neurons in brain organoids, grown in vitro, provide the foundation of emergent aesthetic behavior across heterogeneous subsystems spanning the visual, the sonic, and the material. Touch and proximity sensing further engages human interactions with the cyberphysical ecosystem, driving the movement of artificial plant elements. The result is a cyberphysical ecology where distributed neural dynamics and human interaction co-evolve across varying temporal and material scales.

[DOI](https://doi.org/10.1145/3799824.3812690) · [Author's PDF](https://merttoka.com/data/papers/manoudaki2026-simulacra.pdf) · [Project](https://merttoka.com/simulacra-naturae)

PDF note: Author's version. Title and author order differ from the published record.

Keywords: Agent-Based Modeling, Organoid Intelligence, Embodied Interaction, Bio-Digital Morphogenesis, Cyberphysical Ecology

Rights: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

```bibtex
@inproceedings{manoudaki2026-simulacra,
  title = {{Simulacra Naturae - Entangled Biomes: Generative Ecosystems driven by Brain Organoid Intelligence}},
  author = {Manoudaki, Nefeli and Paterakis, Iason and Toka, Mert and Flatley, Diarmid and Dinulescu, Stejara},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques Conference Art Gallery},
  series = {SIGGRAPH Art Gallery '26},
  year = {2026},
  month = jul,
  pages = {1--5},
  publisher = {ACM},
  address = {New York, NY, USA},
  location = {Los Angeles, CA, USA},
  doi = {10.1145/3799824.3812690},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3799824.3812690}
}
```

## Simulacra Naturae: Generative Ecosystem driven by Agent-Based Simulations and Brain Organoid Collective Intelligence

Nefeli Manoudaki\*, Mert Toka\*, Iason Paterakis\*, Diarmid Flatley

IEEE VISAP 2025, Vienna, Austria

First three authors contributed equally.

Simulacra Naturae is a data-driven media installation that explores collective care through the entanglement of biological computation, material ecologies, and generative systems. The work translates pre-recorded neural activity from brain organoids, lab-grown three-dimensional clusters of neurons, into a multi-sensory environment composed of generative visuals, spatial audio, living plants, and fabricated clay artifacts. These biosignals, streamed through a real-time system, modulate emergent agent behaviors inspired by natural systems such as termite colonies and slime molds. Rather than using biosignals as direct control inputs, Simulacra Naturae treats organoid activity as a co-creative force, allowing neural rhythms to guide the growth, form, and atmosphere of a generative ecosystem. The installation features computationally fabricated clay prints embedded with solenoids, adding physical sound resonances to the generative surround composition. The spatial environment, filled with live tropical plants and a floor-level projection layer featuring real-time generative AI visuals, invites participants into a sensory field shaped by nonhuman cognition. By grounding abstract data in living materials and embodied experience, Simulacra Naturae reimagines visualization as a practice of care, one that decentralizes human agency and opens new spaces for ethics, empathy, and ecological attunement within hybrid computational systems.

[DOI](https://doi.org/10.1109/visap.2025.00008) · [Open access](https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.02924) · [Preprint PDF](https://merttoka.com/data/papers/manoudaki2025-simulacra.pdf) · [Project](https://merttoka.com/simulacra-naturae)

Keywords: Artificial life, symbiosis, brain organoids, collective intelligence, generative ecosystem

Rights: CC BY 4.0 (arXiv copy)

```bibtex
@inproceedings{manoudaki2025-simulacra,
  title = {{Simulacra Naturae: Generative Ecosystem driven by Agent-Based Simulations and Brain Organoid Collective Intelligence}},
  author = {Manoudaki, Nefeli and Toka, Mert and Paterakis, Iason and Flatley, Diarmid},
  booktitle = {2025 IEEE VIS Arts Program (VISAP)},
  year = {2025},
  month = nov,
  pages = {29--36},
  publisher = {IEEE},
  location = {Vienna, Austria},
  doi = {10.1109/visap.2025.00008},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1109/visap.2025.00008}
}
```

## Emergent Expression: Distributing Human-Nonhuman Creative Agencies in Computational Art Practices

Mert Toka

Ph.D. Dissertation · UC Santa Barbara 2025, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

Since the 1950s, computer artists have used generative systems to explore creative agency in collaboration with autonomous processes that exhibit emergent behavior and self-organization. In the 1990s, artistic and scientific investigations into life-like computation introduced aesthetic frameworks inspired by biological growth and digital morphogenesis. More recently, advancements in materials and fabrication technologies have made translating generative processes into the physical world increasingly feasible. This dissertation presents findings from my artistic practice, conceptualized as emergent expression, in the context of distributed creative agencies involving computational and material processes. These processes can display novel behaviors that influence the form in unexpected ways. The research encompasses both virtual and physical domains, investigating how generative systems can be effectively integrated into digital fabrication and craft workflows. Through practice-led research and collaborative projects, I develop computational complex systems informed by artificial life aesthetics, as well as new fabrication methodologies tailored for craft applications. These systems result in hybrid prototypes that demonstrate how generative form, material behavior, and human intervention can be combined into cohesive artworks. This investigation centers on emergence as a creative construct, builds on my art practice-based research, and leads to the development of novel computational tools, techniques, and workflows that negotiate human creative agency.

[Open access](https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3zb6d2t4) · [PDF](https://merttoka.com/data/papers/toka2025-emergent.pdf) · [Project](https://merttoka.com/emergent-expression)

Keywords: emergence, generative systems, creative agency, artificial life, digital fabrication, craft

Rights: © 2025 Mert Toka

```bibtex
@phdthesis{toka2025-emergent,
  title = {{Emergent Expression: Distributing Human-Nonhuman Creative Agencies in Computational Art Practices}},
  author = {Toka, Mert},
  school = {UC Santa Barbara},
  year = {2025},
  month = sep,
  address = {Santa Barbara, CA, USA},
  url = {https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3zb6d2t4}
}
```

## Practice-driven Software Development: A Collaborative Method for Digital Fabrication Systems Research in a Residency Program

Mert Toka\*, Devon Frost\*, Samuelle Bourgault, Avi Farber, Camila Friedman-Gerlicz, Raina Lee, Eun-ha Paek, Pilar Wiley, Jennifer Jacobs

ACM DIS 2024, Copenhagen, Denmark

First two authors contributed equally.

Building new software tools for professional digital fabrication requires that HCI researchers understand domain-specific materials and fabrication workflows to ensure software operations align with professional manufacturing requirements. To bridge the research-practice divide, we adopt a practice-driven software development methodology for digital fabrication in an artist-in-residence program. In our method, HCI researchers and craft professionals collaboratively develop software tools over three months. We piloted our methodology through two consecutive computational ceramics residencies with five professional craftspeople. The teams produced five novel software tools for clay 3D printing and hundreds of ceramic artifacts. We provide a detailed description of our methodology through artist and HCI researcher accounts and an analysis of the integration of software ideation, implementation, and debugging with professional art and craft production. Our work demonstrates a systematic mechanism for achieving meaningful digital fabrication software contributions with mutual benefit for artists and researchers.

[DOI](https://doi.org/10.1145/3643834.3661522) · [PDF](https://merttoka.com/data/papers/toka2024-practice.pdf) · [Project](https://merttoka.com/claytoolkit)

Keywords: Computational fabrication, Artist residencies, Software development, Clay 3D printing

Rights: CC BY 4.0

```bibtex
@inproceedings{toka2024-practice,
  title = {{Practice-driven Software Development: A Collaborative Method for Digital Fabrication Systems Research in a Residency Program}},
  author = {Toka, Mert and Frost, Devon and Bourgault, Samuelle and Farber, Avi and Friedman-Gerlicz, Camila and Lee, Raina and Paek, Eun-ha and Wiley, Pilar and Jacobs, Jennifer},
  booktitle = {Designing Interactive Systems Conference},
  series = {DIS '24},
  year = {2024},
  month = jul,
  pages = {1192--1217},
  publisher = {ACM},
  address = {New York, NY, USA},
  location = {Copenhagen, Denmark},
  doi = {10.1145/3643834.3661522},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3643834.3661522}
}
```

## Crafting the Computational: Artistic Production, Generative Systems, and Digital Fabrication

Mert Toka

ACM DIS 2024 Companion, Copenhagen, Denmark

Digital artists use generative systems for negotiating agency and control with autonomous processes that display emergent and self-organizing behavior. Practitioners have started using these systems in material fabrication for rich sensory opportunities; however, translating digital generative designs into the physical involves significant knowledge of programming, complex workflows, physical constraints, and material properties. I aim to develop computational systems bridging generative art methods with digital fabrication techniques to support artistic practices. I seek to develop digital generative workflows that account for the complexities of real-world materials through collaborations with professional practitioners. My thesis contributes practice-based research into evolutionary algorithms for real-time digital form generation, a manual-computational workflow for artistic production that moves between digital and material pipelines, and a collaborative practice-driven software development methodology for digital fabrication. These contributions inform my next project aiming to bridge the gap between digital and physical workflows, bringing computational generative design closer to material fabrication.

[DOI](https://doi.org/10.1145/3656156.3665122) · [PDF](https://merttoka.com/data/papers/toka2024-crafting.pdf) · [Project](https://merttoka.com/emergent-expression)

Keywords: Computational Design, Generative Systems, Artificial Life, Fabrication and Material Workflows, Artistic Practice

Rights: © 2024 owner/author(s)

```bibtex
@inproceedings{toka2024-crafting,
  title = {{Crafting the Computational: Artistic Production, Generative Systems, and Digital Fabrication}},
  author = {Toka, Mert},
  booktitle = {Designing Interactive Systems Conference},
  series = {DIS Companion '24},
  year = {2024},
  month = jul,
  pages = {24--29},
  publisher = {ACM},
  address = {New York, NY, USA},
  location = {Copenhagen, Denmark},
  doi = {10.1145/3656156.3665122},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3656156.3665122}
}
```

## Engaging Young People in the Expressive Opportunities of Digital Fabrication Through Craft-Oriented CAM-Based Design

Ashley Del Valle, Mert Toka, Jennifer Jacobs

ACM DIS 2024, Copenhagen, Denmark

Digital fabrication can be a rich creative domain for young people. Most youth-oriented digital fabrication activities focus on CAD, where practitioners design solid geometry. Professional designers frequently bypass CAD and instead design at the level of the machine toolpath. This CAM-based design process allows for material exploration, unique textures, and complex shapes. We recognize young people’s role as designers and seek to adapt professional digital fabrication techniques to meaningful youth design activities. We present a youth-oriented CAM-based design curriculum consisting of 1) hands-on activities that introduce machine toolpath concepts, 2) a learner-oriented CAM software interface that scaffolds digital toolpath creation, and 3) project-oriented design activities that integrate CAM-based design and manual craft for ceramics and textile production. We evaluated our approach through a workshop with twelve high school students. Our research shows that young people can skillfully apply CAM-based design and manual craft to create functional and personally meaningful artifacts.

[DOI](https://doi.org/10.1145/3643834.3660693) · [PDF](https://merttoka.com/data/papers/delvalle2024-engaging.pdf)

Keywords: digital fabrication, youth, craft, CAM-based design, toolpath, ceramics, textiles

Rights: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

```bibtex
@inproceedings{delvalle2024-engaging,
  title = {{Engaging Young People in the Expressive Opportunities of Digital Fabrication Through Craft-Oriented CAM-Based Design}},
  author = {Del Valle, Ashley and Toka, Mert and Jacobs, Jennifer},
  booktitle = {Designing Interactive Systems Conference},
  series = {DIS '24},
  year = {2024},
  month = jul,
  pages = {1162--1176},
  publisher = {ACM},
  address = {New York, NY, USA},
  location = {Copenhagen, Denmark},
  doi = {10.1145/3643834.3660693},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3643834.3660693}
}
```

## An Adaptable Workflow for Manual-Computational Ceramic Surface Ornamentation

Mert Toka\*, Samuelle Bourgault\*, Camila Friedman-Gerlicz, Jennifer Jacobs

ACM UIST 2023, San Francisco, CA, USA

First two authors contributed equally.

Surface ornamentation is a rich component of ceramic manufacture wherein craftspeople use multiple methods to create intricate patterns on vessels. Computational fabrication can extend manual ceramic ornamentation through procedural pattern generation and automated fabrication; however, to be effective in traditional ceramics, computational fabrication systems must remain compatible with existing processes and materials. We contribute an interactive design workflow, CeramWrap, in which craftspeople can procedurally design and fabricate decorative patterned stencils tailored to radially symmetrical vessels. Our approach extends manual techniques through a workflow where craftspeople design and edit repetitive motifs directly on a 3D digital model of a vessel and then interactively adjust the unrolling of the 3D design to a 2D format suitable for digitally fabricating stencils and templates. Through a series of example artifacts, we demonstrate how our workflow generalizes across multiple vessel geometries, supports manual and digital clay fabrication, and is adaptable to different surface ornamentation methods.

[DOI](https://doi.org/10.1145/3586183.3606726) · [PDF](https://merttoka.com/data/papers/toka2023-adaptable.pdf) · [Project](https://merttoka.com/ceramwrap)

Keywords: Manual-Computational Workflows, Computational Fabrication, Craft, Ceramics, Surface Ornamentation

Rights: CC BY 4.0

```bibtex
@inproceedings{toka2023-adaptable,
  title = {{An Adaptable Workflow for Manual-Computational Ceramic Surface Ornamentation}},
  author = {Toka, Mert and Bourgault, Samuelle and Friedman-Gerlicz, Camila and Jacobs, Jennifer},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 36th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology},
  series = {UIST '23},
  year = {2023},
  month = oct,
  pages = {1--15},
  publisher = {ACM},
  address = {New York, NY, USA},
  location = {San Francisco, CA, USA},
  doi = {10.1145/3586183.3606726},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3586183.3606726}
}
```

## PunchPrint: Creating Composite Fiber-Filament Craft Artifacts by Integrating Punch Needle Embroidery and 3D Printing

Ashley Del Valle\*, Mert Toka\*, Alejandro Aponte, Jennifer Jacobs

ACM CHI 2023, Hamburg, Germany

First two authors contributed equally.

New printing strategies have enabled 3D-printed materials that imitate traditional textiles. These filament-based textiles are easy to fabricate but lack the look and feel of fiber textiles. We seek to augment 3D-printed textiles with needlecraft to produce composite materials that integrate the programmability of additive fabrication with the richness of traditional textile craft. We present PunchPrint: a technique for integrating fiber and filament in a textile by combining punch needle embroidery and 3D printing. Using a toolpath that imitates textile weave structure, we print a flexible fabric that provides a substrate for punch needle production. We evaluate our material’s robustness through tensile strength and needle compatibility tests. We integrate our technique into a parametric design tool and produce functional artifacts that show how PunchPrint broadens punch needle craft by reducing labor in small, detailed artifacts, enabling the integration of openings and multiple yarn weights, and scaffolding soft 3D structures.

[DOI](https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3581298) · [PDF](https://merttoka.com/data/papers/delvalle2023-punchprint.pdf) · [Project](https://merttoka.com/punchprint)

Keywords: 3D Printing, Textile Craft, Punch Needle Embroidery

Rights: CC BY 4.0

```bibtex
@inproceedings{delvalle2023-punchprint,
  title = {{PunchPrint: Creating Composite Fiber-Filament Craft Artifacts by Integrating Punch Needle Embroidery and 3D Printing}},
  author = {Del Valle, Ashley and Toka, Mert and Aponte, Alejandro and Jacobs, Jennifer},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems},
  series = {CHI '23},
  year = {2023},
  month = apr,
  pages = {1--15},
  publisher = {ACM},
  address = {New York, NY, USA},
  location = {Hamburg, Germany},
  doi = {10.1145/3544548.3581298},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3581298}
}
```

## DynamoVis 1.0: an exploratory data visualization software for mapping movement in relation to internal and external factors

Somayeh Dodge, Mert Toka, Crystal J. Bae

Movement Ecology 2021

Background: This paper introduces DynamoVis version 1.0, an open-source software developed to design, record and export custom animations and multivariate visualizations from movement data, enabling visual exploration and communication of patterns capturing the associations between animals’ movement and its affecting internal and external factors. Proper representation of these dependencies grounded on cartographic principles and intuitive visual forms can facilitate scientific discovery, decision-making, collaborations, and foster understanding of movement. Results: DynamoVis offers a visualization platform that is accessible and easily usable for scientists and general public without a need for prior experience with data visualization or programming. The intuitive design focuses on a simple interface to apply cartographic techniques, giving ecologists of all backgrounds the power to visualize and communicate complex movement patterns. Conclusions: DynamoVis 1.0 offers a flexible platform to quickly and easily visualize and animate animal tracks to uncover hidden patterns captured in the data, and explore the effects of internal and external factors on their movement path choices and motion capacities. Hence, DynamoVis can be used as a powerful communicative and hypothesis generation tool for scientific discovery and decision-making through visual reasoning. The visual products can be used as a research and pedagogical tool in movement ecology.

[DOI](https://doi.org/10.1186/s40462-021-00291-5) · [PDF](https://merttoka.com/data/papers/dodge2021-dynamovis.pdf) · [Project](https://merttoka.com/dynamovis)

Keywords: Animal tracking, Exploratory data analysis, Geographic visualization, Internal and external factors, Animation, Movement ecology

Rights: CC BY 4.0

```bibtex
@article{dodge2021-dynamovis,
  title = {{DynamoVis 1.0: an exploratory data visualization software for mapping movement in relation to internal and external factors}},
  author = {Dodge, Somayeh and Toka, Mert and Bae, Crystal J.},
  journal = {Movement Ecology},
  year = {2021},
  month = nov,
  pages = {55},
  volume = {9},
  number = {1},
  doi = {10.1186/s40462-021-00291-5},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s40462-021-00291-5}
}
```

## Siren: General-Purpose Algorithmic Composition and Live-coding Environment

Mert Toka

M.S. Thesis · UC Santa Barbara 2018, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

Siren is a software environment for exploring rhythm and time through the lenses of algorithmic composition and live-coding. It leverages the virtually unlimited creative potential of the algorithms by treating code snippets as the building blocks for audiovisual playback and synthesis. Employing the textual paradigm of programming as the software primitive allows the execution of patterns that would be either impossible or too laborious to create manually. The system is designed to operate in a general-purpose manner by allowing multiple compilers to operate at the same time. Currently, it accommodates SuperCollider and TidalCycles as its primary programming languages due to their stable real-time audio generation and event dispatching capabilities. Harnessing the complexity of the textual representation (i.e., code) might be cognitively challenging in an interactive real-time application. Siren tackles this by adopting a hybrid approach between the textual and visual paradigms. Its front-end interface is armed with various structural and visual components to organize, control and monitor the textual building blocks: Its multi-channel tracker acts as a temporal canvas for organizing scenes, on which the code snippets could be parameterized and executed. It is built on a hierarchical structure that eases the control of complex phrases by propagating small modifications to lower levels with minimal effort for dramatic changes in the audiovisual output. It provides multiple tools for monitoring the current audio playback such as a piano-roll inspired visualization and history components.

[PDF](https://merttoka.com/data/papers/toka2018-siren.pdf) · [Project](https://merttoka.com/siren)

Keywords: algorithmic composition, live-coding, TidalCycles, SuperCollider, hybrid textual-visual interface, music software

Rights: Author's copy

```bibtex
@mastersthesis{toka2018-siren,
  title = {{Siren: General-Purpose Algorithmic Composition and Live-coding Environment}},
  author = {Toka, Mert},
  school = {UC Santa Barbara},
  year = {2018},
  month = sep,
  address = {Santa Barbara, CA, USA},
  url = {https://merttoka.com/data/papers/toka2018-siren.pdf}
}
```

## Siren: Interface for Pattern Languages

Mert Toka, Can Ince, Mehmet Aydın Baytaş

NIME 2018, Blacksburg, VA, USA

This paper introduces Siren, a hybrid system for algorithmic composition and live-coding performances. Its hierarchical structure allows small modifications to propagate and aggregate on lower levels for dramatic changes in the musical output. It uses functional programming language TidalCycles [13, 14] as the core pattern creation environment due to its inherent ability to create complex pattern relations with minimal syntax. Borrowing the best from TidalCycles, Siren augments the pattern creation process by introducing various interface level features: a multi-channel sequencer, local and global parameters, mathematical expressions, and pattern history. It presents new opportunities for recording, refining, and reusing the playback information with the pattern roll component. Subsequently, the paper concludes with a preliminary evaluation of Siren in the context of user interface design principles [18], which originates from the cognitive dimensions framework for musical notation design [6, 20].

[DOI](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1302677) · [PDF](https://merttoka.com/data/papers/toka2018-siren-interface.pdf) · [Project](https://merttoka.com/siren)

Keywords: Siren, hierarchical structure, algorithmic composition, pattern programming, interface design, live-coding, pattern visualization

Rights: CC BY 4.0

```bibtex
@inproceedings{toka2018-siren-interface,
  title = {{Siren: Interface for Pattern Languages}},
  author = {Toka, Mert and Ince, Can and Baytaş, Mehmet Aydın},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
  series = {NIME '18},
  year = {2018},
  month = jun,
  pages = {53--58},
  location = {Blacksburg, VA, USA},
  doi = {10.5281/zenodo.1302677},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1302677}
}
```

## Siren: Hierarchical Composition Interface

Can Ince, Mert Toka

ICMC 2017, Shanghai, China

This paper introduces Siren, a software environment that aims to reinforce ties between the live-coding performance and algorithmic composition. It is based on a hierarchical structure, which propagates modifications to the lower levels with minimal effort, and a tracker-inspired user interface, which allows sequencing patterns on broader timelines. It is built on top of the TidalCycles language [1, 2], and the use of functional programming paradigm allows uninterrupted audio output even the syntax does not match the required format. In addition to the pattern composition, Siren supports programming variations of and transitions between patterns. It features polyrhythmic timers, pattern history, local and global parameters, and mathematical expressiveness. Apart from its musical opportunities, the interface leverages a handful of highlights such as user authentication and import/export functionality.

[Open access](https://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.bbp2372.2017.003) · [PDF](https://merttoka.com/data/papers/ince2017-siren.pdf) · [Project](https://merttoka.com/siren)

Keywords: Siren, live-coding, algorithmic composition, TidalCycles, hierarchical structure, tracker interface

Rights: CC BY 3.0

```bibtex
@inproceedings{ince2017-siren,
  title = {{Siren: Hierarchical Composition Interface}},
  author = {Ince, Can and Toka, Mert},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2017 International Computer Music Conference},
  year = {2017},
  pages = {36--39},
  publisher = {Michigan Publishing},
  location = {Shanghai, China},
  url = {https://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.bbp2372.2017.003}
}
```

## Incorporating Tabletop Visual Analytics into the Decision-making Process: A Case Study of Retail Banking

Erdem Kaya, Mert Toka, Atilla Bayrak, Burcin Bozkaya, Selim Balcisoy

business|vis|15 Workshop · IEEE VIS 2015, Chicago, IL, USA

Extended abstract

The large-scale use of office tools and statistical analysis applications indicates that they have sufficed well for some of the everyday tasks in our work cycles such as analysis, presentation, reporting, and decision-making. Nevertheless, they were designed in an era when business data was not big and complex enough. The ever growing avalanche of the data that we collect for our businesses compels us to find new means of understanding, sharing, and reporting the underlying ideas, and of making decisions for the future. We implemented a tabletop hybrid visual analytics system comprised of projection and physical visualization with the aim of supporting these tasks better by making the data physically available. We conducted a case study with an analysis team of a nationwide bank and completed a series of observations and interviews during their data analysis and decision-making sessions. Our study revealed that the hybrid visual analytics system approach promotes idea sharing and the contribution of all members of the group during the presentation sessions. This approach also seems to transform the common one-way structure of the communication in the presentation sessions into an alternative structure that encourages everyone to take the floor. Research questions that will be investigated in future work are also discussed.

[PDF](https://merttoka.com/data/papers/kaya2015-incorporating.pdf) · [Project](https://merttoka.com/tangible-data-visualization-system)

Keywords: Hybrid visual analytics systems, physical visualization, decision-making, data analysis, case study, retail banking

Rights: Authors' copy

```bibtex
@inproceedings{kaya2015-incorporating,
  title = {{Incorporating Tabletop Visual Analytics into the Decision-making Process: A Case Study of Retail Banking}},
  author = {Kaya, Erdem and Toka, Mert and Bayrak, Atilla and Bozkaya, Burcin and Balcisoy, Selim},
  booktitle = {business{\textbar}vis{\textbar}15 Workshop at IEEE VIS 2015},
  year = {2015},
  location = {Chicago, IL, USA},
  note = {Extended abstract},
  url = {https://merttoka.com/data/papers/kaya2015-incorporating.pdf}
}
```

## Konumsal Verilerin Fiziksel Görselleştirmeler ile İncelenmesi [A Visual Analytics System Based on Physical Visualizations]

Mert Toka, Selim Balcısoy

USMOS 2015, Ankara, Türkiye

This research aims for the natural use and efficient analysis of dense data on manufactured 3D objects, which are produced with the aid of new research field, tangible visualization, by utilizing physical interfaces and visualization elements. In the proposed work, a data analytics workstation has been developed by applying tangible data visualizations and physical interfaces, on which users are able to analyze data collaboratively. For this purpose, topographic data of Istanbul has been acquired and preprocessed for 3D manufacturing. Upon completion of installation of CNC manufactured physical topographic map, heat map visualization of a data, which has projected from ceiling and calibrated with tangible interface, has presented to the users.

[PDF](https://merttoka.com/data/papers/toka2015-konumsal.pdf) · [Project](https://merttoka.com/tangible-data-visualization-system)

Keywords: interaction methods, physical visualizations, spatial data visualization, tangible interfaces, topographic map

Rights: Authors' copy

```bibtex
@inproceedings{toka2015-konumsal,
  title = {{Konumsal Verilerin Fiziksel Görselleştirmeler ile İncelenmesi [A Visual Analytics System Based on Physical Visualizations]}},
  author = {Toka, Mert and Balcısoy, Selim},
  booktitle = {USMOS 2015},
  year = {2015},
  location = {Ankara, Türkiye},
  url = {https://merttoka.com/data/papers/toka2015-konumsal.pdf}
}
```