My research focuses on the emerging field of human data interaction, which is closely connected to the development and the application of Artificial Intelligence. I examine how people interact with data, perceive it and understand it.

Data is a central component of the research and is also of great importance in many other areas. For example, at the societal level, data is crucial for addressing climate change, and it helps, for example, in analyzing temperature trends and extreme weather events. Data acts as an interface, as a window into our perception of the world. Nevertheless, further work is needed to better understand what data actually is, how it is embedded in research or other areas that shape society, and what decisions influence its use and its understanding.

In my work, I strive to make the decisions made at each stage of data handling more transparent – from the questions we ask, to the collection, documentation and provision of data, to their analysis, reuse and communication. My goal is to explore how people interpret data, to find ways to explain data and models in an understandable way to diverse audiences, and to develop tools that help doing so. And precisely because of the enormous importance of data for and in people’s lives, it is so important to communicate the processes and results of research comprehensibly and in a reproducable manner.

Laura Koesten is the 2024 winner of Hedy Lamarr Award which is endowed by the City of Vienna. The computer scientist is a postdoc at the University of Vienna in the Visualization and Data Analysis Research Group and an associate researcher at King’s College London. Koesten is currently leading the WWTF-funded project “Talking Charts”, which focuses on the communication and understanding of data visualizations and can be assigned to the field of digital humanism.