Can I believe what I see?

Our article has at last been published in Interdisciplinary Science Reviews (9 months late!).

My profound thanks to fellow-authors Dr. Olivia Vane and Dr. Florian Kräutli, and to the Special Issue editor Dr. Mario Verdicchio.

Abstract

Questions of trust are increasingly important in relation to data and its use. The authors focus on humanities data and its visualization, through analysis of their own recent projects with museums, archives and libraries internationally. Their account connects the specifics of hands-on digital humanities work to larger epistemological questions. They discuss the sources of potential mistrust, and examine how different expectations and assumptions emerge depending on the use and user of the data; they offer a simple schema through which the implications may be traced. It is argued that vital issues of trust can be engaged with through design, which, rather than being conceived as a cosmetic finish, is seen as contributing insights and questions that affect the whole process. The article concludes with recommendations intended to be useful in both theory and practice.

The article builds on the work that Florian and Olivia did as PhD students at the Royal College of Art, London, and in their subsequent roles at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, the Swiss Art Research Infrastructure, University of Zurich and on the Living with Machines project at the British Library.

The article is Gold Open Access. 

You can read it here:

• The Special Issue
• Direct link to the article

Citation: Stephen Boyd Davis, Olivia Vane & Florian Kräutli (2021) Can I believe what I see? Data visualization and trust in the humanities, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 46:4, 522-546

The articles in the Special Issue are:

• Mario Verdicchio (2021) Computing in this world, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 46:4, 427-429
• Deborah G. Johnson (2021) What is the relationship between computer technology and ethical issues?, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 46:4, 430-439
• Fabio Fossa (2021) Artificial agency and the game of semantic extension, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 46:4, 440-457
• Crystal Hall, Eric Chown & Fernando Nascimento (2021) A critical, analytical framework for the digital machine, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 46:4, 458-476
• Patrick Egan (Pádraig Mac Aodhgáin) (2021) Insider or outsider? Exploring some digital challenges in ethnomusicology, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 46:4, 477-500
• Marcelo Vianna (2021) Coordinating users to generate the base of the national industry – CAPRE’s role in controlling imports of computers and peripherals (1976–1979), Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 46:4, 501-521
• Stephen Boyd Davis, Olivia Vane & Florian Kräutli (2021) Can I believe what I see? Data visualization and trust in the humanities, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 46:4, 522-546
• Sébastien Plutniak (2021) Assyrian merchants meet nuclear physicists: history of the early contributions from social sciences to computer science. The case of automatic pattern detection in graphs (1950s–1970s), Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 46:4, 547-568
• Juan Luis Gastaldi & Luc Pellissier (2021) The calculus of language: explicit representation of emergent linguistic structure through type-theoretical paradigms, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 46:4, 569-590
• Adam Trybus (2021) Russell and the foundations of qualitative spatial reasoning: the first steps, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 46:4, 591-608

Congratulating Dr Vane

Prof Stephen Boyd Davis, Olivia Vane, Prof Jane Winters, and Prof Marian Dörk (on screen)

On 22 November 2019, Olivia Vane, PhD candidate in Innovation Design Engineering at the RCA, passed her viva – with no revisions required. She will graduate formally at the College’s Winter Convocation in February.

The examiners were:

• Jane Winters, Professor of Digital Humanities & Pro-Dean for Libraries at the School of Advanced Study University of London.
• Marian Dörk, Research Professor for Information Visualisation at the Urban Futures Institute of Fachhochschule Potsdam and co-director of UCLAB (via Skype)

The chair was my colleague Dr Sarah Cheang. I am very grateful to her and to the examiners. Thank you also to my fellow-supervisor, Dr John Stevens.

As observing supervisor, I was privileged to witness a fascinating discussion of key topics in the visualisation of cultural data, focused on value and trust.  

The full text of Olivia’s thesis is available here: Timeline Design For Visualising Cultural Heritage Data.

You can learn more about Olivia here.

Off to Potsdam for Information+ conference 2018...

Next week, 20 to 21 October 2018, Olivia Vane and I will be at the Information+ conference at University of Applied Sciences Potsdam (FH Potsdam), Germany.  We will be asking what design contributes – or should contribute – to information design, especially in the digital humanities.  Here is our abstract:

Designers — what are they good for (in data visualisation)?

Our focus is the digital humanities, especially visualisation of datasets such as text archives and object collections data in museums. The name “digital humanities” implies just two disciplines, computing and the humanities. What is the designer’s role? Collectively we should be able to explain what our contribution is —especially when some may fear our replacement by AI systems. We argue that there are particular aspects of designing that are distinctive and can enable more effective visualisations to be produced: (1) expertise in the visual articulation of meaning, (2) human-centric methods, and (3) the quick and adaptable use of low-fidelity early prototyping. We base our argument especially on the idea of design as a form of inquiry or research, and illustrate the three benefits using our recent interactive data visualisations with organisations including the Wellcome Library, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum and V&A London. 

It looks a great programme and we expect real progress to emerge around other questions like value and trust in visualisation.

SATURDAY, 20 OCT

• Sandra Rendgen KEYNOTE Inventing the future, one visualization at a time
• Claudia Rebeca Méndez Escarza Mixtec pictorial manuscripts: A source of visual information
• Günther Schreder + Eva Mayr Quo vadis, Isotype?
• Sam Holleran A History of “visual literacy” campaigns
• Will Stahl-Timmins The BMJ visual abstracts
• Guillermina Noël + Jorge Frascara Designing an optimal document in the health sector
• Lightning talks: Sol Kawage; Adina Renner; Jessica Bellamy
• Olivia Vane + Stephen Boyd Davis Designers — what are they good for (in data visualisation)?
• Sarah Campbell Feeling numbers: The emotional impact of proximity techniques in visualization
• Doris Kosminsky + Jagoda Walny Belief at first sight: Data visualization and the rationalization of seeing
• Lightning talks: Sibylle Schlaich + Anita Meier; Valentina D’Efilippo; Nadieh Bremer
• Grga Basic We Can: Data driven project exploring the lives of NYC canners
• Kennedy Elliott Think like a journalist: Tips for stronger, clearer and more cohesive visual narratives
• Reuben Fischer-Baum + Chiqui Esteban KEYNOTE Working in a graphics visual storytelling team

SUNDAY, 21 OCT

• Fernanda Viégas + Martin Wattenberg KEYNOTE Data visualization for machine learning
• Christian Au + Christian Laesser + Stephan Thiel Peakspotting — a visual tool for managing the capacity of Germany’s rail traffic network
• Raphael Reimann Empathizing with AI: How to see like a selfdriving car
• Jesse Josua Benjamin + Claudia Müller-Birn Designing for algorithm awareness in peer production systems
• Pedro M. Cruz Simulated dendrochronology of immigrants and natural-borns in the United States, showing the fifty states (1790–2016)
• Richard Brath Techniques for adding diverse contextual data into visualizations
• Yvette Shen Visualizing philosophy: A modern design approach to understand I-Ching
• Kelly Murdoch-Kitt + Denielle J. Emans Participatory data visualizations support intercultural collaboration
• Anne Luther Qualitative data visualization: The Entity Mapper
• Lightning talks: Theodor Hillmann; Fritz Lekschas; Alec Barrett 
• Catherine D'Ignazio Data feminism
• Greg McInerny Lost in the universe of graphical objects? Critical visualisation, disciplinary myopias and the visualisation spectrum
• Ron Morrison KEYNOTE Decoding space: Liquid infrastructures

Conference website: http://informationplusconference.com/

Printing Time: Workshop on French Almanacs at Waddesdon Manor

Almanac ‘Calendrier Republican’ 1794. Photo: Waddesdon Manor

I will be speaking, among expert company, at Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, UK on Monday 16th October 2017.

They have announced a workshop in conjunction with the exhibition Glorious Years: French Calendars from Louis XIV to the Revolution.  The workshop will explore themes around the production and consumption of French 17th-and 18th-century almanacs (in book and print formats), while also looking at the broader context of the history of Time and its depiction during this period.

The blurb says:

Our distinguished speakers are drawn from across disciplines. Confirmed participants include Stephen Boyd Davis (Royal College of Art), Adam Dant (artist), Rachel Jacobs (Waddesdon Manor), Maxime Préaud (Bibliothèque nationale de France), Véronique Sarrazin (Université d'Angers, Laboratoire CERHIO) and Matthew Shaw (Institute of Historical Research, UCL).

I will be talking about the changing conceptions of historical time and how that was represented graphically from the mid- through to the late eighteenth century.

There will be an opportunity to visit the exhibition during the day with curator Rachel Jacobs and artist Adam Dant.

To register an interest in attending please email diane.bellis [at] nationaltrust.org.uk. There is a charge of £25 for the day which covers all catering costs.  To secure a place, call the Waddesdon booking office 01296 653226 to pay using either a debit or credit card.

Waddesdon nearing completion in 1883. Photo: Waddesdon Manor

The exhibition from 22 March to 29 October 2017 includes 26 printed wall almanacs and 7 bound volumes.

Dr Florian Kräutli speaks at British Museum event. @AlumniRCA

It's good to see Florian Kräutli, formerly my PhD student at the Royal College of Art, and now Research Technology Officer at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, talking at the ResearchSpace Symposium ‘Building cultural heritage knowledge’ at the British Library tomorrow and Friday (27th and 28th July 2017).


The event is now full, but you can read about it here: Eventbrite

Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the conference highlights the challenges for sustainable knowledge building between cultural heritage institutions, universities and other interested audiences. Papers will include the principles, methodology, techniques and viewpoints of people and projects attempting to answer these questions and provide practical solutions.

12 July. Boyne? Aughrim? calendars!

It seems so appropriate that the very date of commemoration of the Battle of the Boyne is bound up with the same religious differences that underlay the battle itself. The Gregorian calendar was regarded by many protestants as a popish conspiracy.

From BBC History ‘The Battle of the Boyne’

The Battle of the Boyne was fought on 1 July 1690, according to the old Julian calendar. This was reformed and replaced with the Gregorian calendar across the British Empire in 1752, repositioning the 'date' of the Battle of the Boyne to 11 July. The method of altering historical dates was somewhat complicated, with eleven days being added to 'old style' dates occurring after 1700, but only ten days to those taking place before that.

There is some dispute over whether celebrating on 12 July is simply the result of a slight historical miscalculation, or a case of the Battle of the Boyne replacing the Battle of Aughrim (another important battle in the Williamite War which took place on 12 July in the Julian calendar) as the focus of commemoration. Either way, William's victory at the Battle of the Boyne has been celebrated on 12 July for over 200 years.

Eviatar Zerubavel’s 2003 Time Maps: Collective Memory and the Social Shape of the Past is excellent on our obsession with anniversaries.

Exploring the Cooper Hewitt collection with timelines and tags

Olivia Vane, AHRC-funded doctoral student supervised at the RCA by myself and Dr John Stevens, has been doing a great job this summer on an AHRC International Placement at the Copper Hewitt in New York.

She is continuing to pursue our core questions concerned with making visual sense of history – currently exploiting the tags that curators have applied to objects in the collection to draw out a range of different connections and narratives.  This week she is trialling the designs in a public space in the museum, and gathering feedback from visitors.

Many thanks to all at the Cooper Hewitt who are encouraging and supporting this important work.

Olivia's guest blog post: Cooper Hewitt Labs.