Katy Börner, Elizabeth Record, & Todd Theriault on "Atlas of Macroscopes"

Join us for an educational evening in conversation with the co-authors of Atlas of Macroscopes: Interactive Data Visualizations, Katy Börner, Elizabeth G. Record, and Todd N. Theriault. These three co-authors will be speaking about their book and showing examples of the macroscopes they worked with and referenced in the book!

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Katy Börner is Victor H. Yngve Distinguished Professor of Engineering and Information Science in the Departments of Intelligent Systems Engineering and Information Science at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University— Bloomington, where she is also the founding director of the Cyberinfrastructure for Network Science Center. She is the author of the Atlas trilogy (MIT Press) and a co-curator of the Places & Spaces: Mapping Science exhibit.

Elizabeth G. Record is Associate Director of the Cyberinfrastructure for Network Science Center at Indiana University Bloomington. She is a co-curator of the Places & Spaces: Mapping Science (scimaps.org) data visualization exhibit, which is an outreach activity of the Cyberinfrastructure for Network Science Center.

Todd Theriault is a co-curator of the Places & Spaces: Mapping Science exhibit. He is deeply engaged in the outreach and pedagogical efforts of the exhibit’s institutional home, the Cyberinfrastructure for Network Science Center in the Luddy School at Indiana University–Bloomington.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In the Atlas of Macroscopes, three passionate tour guides take you on an epic data adventure. Track a raindrop on its journey to the sea, learn why Spain lives in flats, chart urban centers by smell, and follow the movement of the stars into the deep past. Explore a wide array of data landscapes in novel, interactive ways. You may come away with a new vision of how to understand, evaluate, and communicate with data.

The Atlas showcases interactive data visualizations, called “macroscopes.” Like the microscope or telescope, macroscopes allow viewers to see objects that cannot otherwise be perceived by the naked eye. They enable us to review vast amounts of data about many kinds of organisms, environments, and technologies. From that data, we can analyze and comprehend the way these elements co-exist, compete, or cooperate. In this way, macroscopes help us understand the complex systems or networks within which we operate and which have a profound impact on our lives.

The Atlas of Macroscopes provides an eye-catching overview of 40 interactive visualizations that appeared in the Places & Spaces: Mapping Science exhibit between 2015 and 2024. These insightful and influential macroscopes enable users to “touch” data—to zoom and pan, access details on demand, or share links with others. They use datasets ranging from collections of political social media posts to galactic catalogs, employ a variety of algorithms from machine learning to dimensionality reduction, and reflect the talents and ambitions of 115 macroscope makers from 11 countries. In its introduction to these powerful data tools, the Atlas highlights the important design decisions, data choices, and technical innovations that shaped these macroscopes and examines instances of their real-world impact.