Macroscopes for Making Sense of Science
Katy Börner, Elizabeth Record · 2017
Interactive data visualizations known as macroscopes have great potential as tools for exploring, understanding, and communicating science [1]. Macroscopes empower individuals to interact with data in order to better understand it from multiple perspectives. Joël de Rosnay [2] first introduced the concept of the macroscope in his 1979 book, The Macroscope: A New World Scientific System, where he describes macroscopes as tools "not used to make things larger or smaller, but to observe what is at once too great, too slow, and too complex for our eyes." The Cyberinfrastructure for Network Science Center, in partnership with Indiana University's Advanced Visualization Laboratory, developed a touchscreen kiosk to showcase the macroscopes in the international science mapping exhibit, Places & Spaces: Mapping Science [2].