View
222
Download
4
Category
Tags:
Preview:
Citation preview
Mapping the World of Knowledge:
Cartograms and the Diffusion of Knowledge
ISKO Rome 2010
Lynne C. HowarthFaculty of Information
University of Toronto, Canada
“Representative” of Woman
“Who is Barack Obama?”-cover story New York Magazine
Sept. 28, 2009
Cartograms• A derivative of the data map
• Adds dimensionality to geographic positioning of information (Gastner and Newman 2004)
• Generated based on columns of categorized data
• Transformed by an algorithm
• Projected using mapping software
Red=RepublicanBlue=Democrat
US Presidential election, 2008
Plant hardiness zones (NA)
Worldmapper - 1
• Software tool for generating cartograms
• Developed by Barford and Dorling 2004
• Began with medicine + epidemiology; extended to demographics + world populations
• “a collection of world maps where territories are re-sized on each map according to the subject of interest” (2009)
Worldmapper - 2• 200 countries divided into 12 separate
regions, each with assigned colour range; up to 5 shades of colour distinguish countries or territories one from another
• Data derived from the Human Development Index, other United Nations agencies, FAO, WHO, CIA, World Bank, etc.
• Diffusion-based algorithms used to generate density-equalizing projections (cartograms)
Proportion of scientific papers written in 2001 by researchers living in that country
Worldmapper - Impact• Re-sized map a multi-level description of a
topic in simple, accessible, language-independent, and relative terms for comparison and contrast
• Contextualizes data relative to place and time – (“semantic annotation” - Prasad & Guha 2008)
• Colour and sizing facilitate description; also includes links to poster with verbal summaries, tables, graphs, technical notes, and data files for additional explanation and source information
Potential for KO - 1• Visualizing and contextualizing subject
content – Distribution by place – “geographic
bibliometrics”– Diffusion of knowledge – systematic
progression of ideas, topics, expertise– Identification of gaps in knowledge migration
• Linking of temporal (chronology and sequence) to space/place and topic
• Facilitating associations, serendipitous relationships, unique linkages
Potential for KO - 2• Assessing disruptions in diffusion of
knowledge– Economic, political, social, cultural
• Identifying opportunities for scholarly remediation (gaps in knowledge production; areas for future research)
• Addressing conditions of access and use (policies for redressing distortions, anomalies, restrictions/censorship, etc.)
Potential for Managing Subject Content
Topic “silence”
Visual“warrant”
Revisions to subject tools
How?
• Data-rich repositories, catalogues, bibliographies, indexes, databases
• Harvesting metadata for data columns
• Algorithmic manipulation for production of cartograms
• Association of textual data with resized representation (metadata to map)
Why?• Visualizing and interpreting rich stores of
textual surrogates• Descriptive (storytelling)• Analytical (identifying trends, gaps,
problems, etc.)• Formative (effecting change)• Transformative (language-independent; non-
verbal expression; different cognitive modalities)
Limitations• Cartograms as representations• Surrogates of representations• Imposition of a “map of the world” – whose
map?• Assumed agreement on utility of colour,
shape, size• Knowledge distortion?• Opportunities for misrepresentation or
deception – What story? Whose story?• Limitations of constituent data
Nonetheless …
• Promising visualization approach/tool to– Representing subject/knowledge content– Contextualizing subjects/knowledge– Tracking subject/knowledge “activity” across
time and space– Identifying gaps and barriers to the production
and dissemination of subjects/knowledge
• Potential for enhancing subject/knowledge indexing and retrieval tools
Thank-you
Questions?
Recommended