Atlas of Knowledge: Anyone Can Map (MIT Press) by Katy Brner

by Katy Börner

Maps of physical spaces locate us in the world and help us navigate unfamiliar routes. Maps of topical spaces help us visualize the extent and structure of our collective knowledge; they reveal bursts of activity, pathways of ideas, and borders that beg to be crossed. This book, from the author of "Atlas of Science," describes the power of topical maps, providing readers with principles for visualizing knowledge and offering as examples forty large-scale and more than 100 small-scale full-color maps.Today, data literacy is becoming as important as language literacy. Well-designed visualizations can rescue us from a sea of data, helping us to make sense of information, connect ideas, and make better decisions in real time. In "Atlas of Knowledge," leading visualization expert Katy Borner makes the case for a systems science approach to science and technology studies and explains different types and levels of analysis. Drawing on fifteen years of teaching and tool development, she introduces a theoretical framework meant to guide readers through user and task analysis; data preparation, analysis, and visualization; visualization deployment; and the interpretation of science maps. To exemplify the framework, the Atlas features striking and enlightening new maps from the popular "Places & Mapping Science" exhibit that range from "Key Events in the Development of the Video Tape Recorder" to "Mobile Location Data from Cell Phones for Urban Analysis" to "Literary Mapping Temporal and Spatial Settings of Victorian Poetry" to "Seeing A Visualization of the Metadata Universe." She also discusses the possible effect of science maps on the practice of science."

Genres: Science, Design, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published March 13, 2015

About the author

Katy Börner (born 1967 in Leipzig, Germany) is an engineer, scholar, author, educator, and speaker specializing in data analysis and visualization, particularly in the areas of science and technology (S&T) studies and biomedical applications. Based out of Indiana University, Bloomington, Börner is the Victor Yngve Distinguished Professor of Engineering & Information Science in the Department of Intelligent Systems Engineering and the Department of Information and Library Science at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering and a member of the Core Cognitive Science Faculty. Since 2012, she has also held the position of visiting professor at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands,[1] and in 2017-2019, she was a Humboldt Fellow at Dresden University of Technology, Germany.

Börner is the founding director of the Cyberinfrastructure for Network Science Center, an organization dedicated to the study, development, and promotion of tools and services for the analysis and visualization of large-scale networks, particularly in the areas of biomedical, social, and behavioral science, physics, and technology.[2] She is also the curator of the international Places & Spaces: Mapping Science exhibit, a collection of science maps and macroscope tools that seeks to educate the general public about science mapping and empower individuals to create their own data visualizations.[3]

In 2015, she was appointed to a two-year term as member of the U.S. Department of Commerce's Data Advisory Council.[4] Since October 2018, she has served as a Trustee of the Institute for Pure & Applied Mathematics (IPAM), NSF Math Institute at UCLA.[5]

Reviews

[Allan Annaert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book with many examples of graphically presenting knowledge, data, or ideas.

[Mills College Library]

501.154 B7363 2015