Topics Show all

Seismologists Gather for "Discourse Over Materials"

<image info>

"Discourse over materials" is a phrase coined by scholars who use ethnographic techniques to study the behavior of scientists and science students as though they (we) were a recently-contacted tribe with mysterious customs and folkways. "Discourse," in this context, lies somewhere in the triangle bounded by "conversation," "discussion," and "argument." "Over materials" refers to the situation where a knot of people gathers around some physical object or representation, which serves as focal point, statement of the problem, source of evidence, and visual aid in the discussion. This form of discourse includes lots of gestures and pointing, and some bouts of "muddle talk." Meaning-making emerges in some complicated way through the interplay among the materials, the spoken words, and gestures (Roth & Welzel, 2001; Ochs et al, 1996.)

The seismologists don't call what they are doing "discourse over materials"; they call it "record reading." More

Milk Comes from the Store; Data Comes From the Internet

<image source>

Imagine my outrage when I came across a website made by adults who should know better. More

Comments (10)

Universal versus Conditional Truths

In my previous post, I wrote about the distinction between data-driven visualizations and concept-driven visualizations. Today I'd like to dig deeper into how concept-driven visualizations play out in geosciences, recalling that concept-driven visualizations are "typically generated from a concept or theory and not directly tied to any empirical data" (Clark & Wiebe, 2000). To put the punchline first, I conclude that concept-driven visualizations can synthesize a stunning amount of geoscience information efficiently and compactly, but that they run the danger of overspecifying the features of a heterogeneous planet.

Below is an example of a powerful concept-driven visualization from an introductory textbook. This single figure pulls together the findings of geoscientist-centuries of earth exploration. To learn enough about seafloor bathymetry to be able to sketch in the mid-ocean rift valley and the abyssal hill fabric required ship-years worth of echo-sounder data and the cartographic genius of Marie Tharp. To learn enough about mid-ocean ridge magmatism to confidently write "spreading center basaltic vulcanism" required hundreds of rock dredges and thousands of analyses. In terms of insights per square centimeter, this figure is a masterpiece.

At the same time, this figure is also a potential source of deep confusion, More

Comments (1)

Data-Driven Versus Concept-Driven Visualizations

In a much underappreciated paper, Aaron C. Clark & Eric N. Wiebe of North Carolina State University draw a distinction that should be front and center in the minds of every person who teaches with or learns from scientific visualizations: a distinction between what they call "concept-driven" and "data-driven" visualizations.

From the point of view of a teacher or learner, data-driven and concept-driven visualizations have different affordances and different pitfalls. More

Comments (3)

Through a Lens Darkly and Then Face to Face*

I've been hiking every Sunday this past fall with a group of geology majors--the Sunday Hiking Club. We are doing a service-learning project to create trailside posters and websites that explain the natural history of popular trails in the mountains surrounding our town. While on our hikes, all of the students are taking digital photographs of their experiences on the trail, and the archives of these images will serve as the raw materials for the story lines we'll present to the public. At the simplest level, our trailside posters will help direct the attention of interested hikers to the wonders they'll encounter along the trail. The premise is that the hike may be a bit more enjoyable and meaningful for recreational hikers if they know what special features to look for along the way. For the hiking public, their original motivation for going on the hike may range from exercise to aesthetics, but we think we can slip in a little science education along the way. The accompanying websites will be a bit more detailed, with in-depth information for further personal investigation with resources such as geologic maps, articles that are accessible for reading by the public, archives of annotated images, and links to related instructional sites. In observing Nature through my own lens, and also observing my students as they themselves look at the world with focused attention through their cameras, I came to realize vaguely at first, and then with increased clarity, the transformative power of photography as an instructional activity. More

Comments (2)