Seeing through New Eyes: Science, Truth and Technologies of Visualization - II

Abstract

Visual representations of scientific objects have long gained their meaning from societal contextualizations (Woolgar and Lynch 1990). Over the past 20 years, new technologies of visualization have reshaped scientific and public knowledge of the world around us (Coopmans, Vertesi et al 2014). Nanoparticle tracking analysis, climate modelling, remote sensing, functional MRIs and new 3D imaging, for example, often work by rendering visible what was previously invisible, by manipulating spatial and temporal scales. This panel will critically examine the politics of new visualizations, which are increasingly designed to convey specific narratives.

Regardless of the type, visualizations are anchored in the notion that “seeing bestows...an accent of truth” (Amann and Knorr-Cetina 1988, 134). New collaborative and crowdsourced visualizations further emphasize claims to authority. And while visualization processes are often obscured by the final object that is publically circulated, visualizations are always an act of interpretation. The technological process of rendering objects visible brings together multiple parties: “implicating author, illustrator, production, and reader” (Daston and Gallison 2007, 18).

New technologies of visualization have innovated the way that we interact with objects, but also how objects are produced/produce themselves. STS has also engaged with how visualizations can create broader societal and political innovations - whether in terms of governance, political engagement, science education, citizen science, participatory mapping etc. This panel hopes to engage this porous border between visualization, technology, and STS. We highly encourage submissions that diverge from the conference paper format, whether through video, audio, artistic or other formats.

Chair

• Emily Boak, University of Calgary

Discussant

• Sarah Wagner, George Washington University

Individual Presentations

• Exposed: The Detection of Deep Fakes through Digital Forensics - Mitali Thakor, Wesleyan University

• Visualization Personal Data for Infrastructural Inversion - Matthew Bietz, University of California Irvine

• Visualizing the Surveillance Archive: Critical Art and the Dangers of Transparency - Torin Monahan, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Session Organizer

• Sabrina Peric, University of Calgary