EVENT: Bonnie Varco @ Stanford (May 18 2009)

Visualization Convergence for Collective, Connective and Distributed Intelligence

Speaker: Bonnie DeVarco

Location:May 18, 20094:00 PM 120 Wallenberg Hall - Media X

Description (short): Today’s leading edge information and geographic visualization technologies are rapidly becoming instruments for connective intelligence on the World Wide Web. People can now easily travel around Earth and through space on their computers and mobile devices with the ubiquitous tool, Google Earth.  At the same time, new data visualization tools allow us to travel through the patterns of shared knowledge and scholarship using new mapping methods that are both pragmatic and illuminating.  Whether tracking and predicting epidemics, making national policy decisions, or identifying emerging scientific paradigms, these new maps and visualization methodologies are effective tools for clear thinking and collective action.  Bonnie will survey the recent history of these tools, their networks of users, and their current state-of-practice.  She will also present and discuss new trends, showing how these technologies are converging and amplifying their importance for global communication and collaboration.

Description (extended): Cartographic maps of physical places have guided mankind’s explorations for centuries. They enabled the discovery of new worlds while also marking territories inhabited by the unknown. Domain maps of abstract semantic spaces aim to serve today’s explorers navigating the world of science. These maps are generated through a scientific analysis of large-scale scholarly datasets in an effort to connect and make sense of the bits and pieces of knowledge they contain. 

The Places & Spaces exhibit, at Wallenberg Hall beginning April 20, has two components. The physical component is available for display and allows for close visual inspection through high-quality prints. It is meant to inspire cross-disciplinary discussion on how best to track and communicate human activity and scientific progress on a global scale. The online counterpart at SciMaps it provides links to a selected series of maps and their makers along with detailed explanations of why these maps work.

Reception following May 18 Seminar, to include Jeff Heer and students, Bonnie DeVarco, Katy Borner and other mapmakers of the Places & Spaces exhibit.

Bonnie Varco is currently working, among other things, on the Ludic Cartography project with me and Henry Lowood. If cartography and mapping is your passion/obsession, you should not miss this event! 

Press release here: Download Media_X_Press_Release_PS_Exhibit_5_8_09

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