Representation in Scientific Practice Revisited

by Catelijne Coopmans (Editor), Janet Vertesi (Editor), Michael E. Lynch (Editor), Steve Woolgar (Editor)

Overview

A fresh approach to visualization practices in the sciences that considers novel forms of imaging technology and draws on recent theoretical perspectives on representation.

Representation in Scientific Practice , published by the MIT Press in 1990, helped coalesce a long-standing interest in scientific visualization among historians, philosophers, and sociologists of science and remains a touchstone for current investigations in science and technology studies. This volume revisits the topic, taking into account both the changing conceptual landscape of STS and the emergence of new imaging technologies in scientific practice. It offers cutting-edge research on a broad array of fields that study information as well as short reflections on the evolution of the field by leading scholars, including some of the contributors to the 1990 volume.

The essays consider the ways in which viewing experiences are crafted in the digital era; the embodied nature of work with digital technologies; the constitutive role of materials and technologies—from chalkboards to brain scans—in the production of new scientific knowledge; the metaphors and images mobilized by communities of practice; and the status and significance of scientific imagery in professional and popular culture.

Contributors
Morana Alac, Michael Barany, Anne Beaulieu, Annamaria Carusi, Catelijne Coopmans, Lorraine Daston, Sarah de Rijcke, Joseph Dumit, Emma Frow, Yann Giraud, Aud Sissel Hoel, Martin Kemp, Bruno Latour, John Law, Michael Lynch, Donald MacKenzie, Cyrus Mody, Natasha Myers, Rachel Prentice, Arie Rip, Martin Ruivenkamp, Lucy Suchman, Janet Vertesi, Steve Woolgar

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262525381
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	01/03/2014
Series:	Inside Technology
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Catelijne Coopmans is a Fellow and Director of Studies at Tembusu College and a Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore.

Janet Vertesi is Assistant Professor in the Sociology Department at Princeton University.

Michael Lynch is Professor in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University.

Steve Woolgar is Chair of Marketing and Head of Science and Technology Studies at the University of Oxford.

Michael Lynch is Professor in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University.

Steve Woolgar is Chair of Marketing and Head of Science and Technology Studies at the University of Oxford.

Catelijne Coopmans is a Fellow and Director of Studies at Tembusu College and a Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore.

Janet Vertesi is Assistant Professor in the Sociology Department at Princeton University.

Michael Lynch is Professor in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University.

Steve Woolgar is Chair of Marketing and Head of Science and Technology Studies at the University of Oxford.

Janet Vertesi is Assistant Professor in the Sociology Department at Princeton University.

Catelijne Coopmans is a Fellow and Director of Studies at Tembusu College and a Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore.

Morana Alac is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication and Program in Science Studies at the University of California, San Diego.

Donald MacKenzie is Professor of Sociology (Personal Chair) at the University of Edinburgh. His books include Inventing Accuracy (1990), Knowing Machines (1996), and Mechanizing Proof (2001), all published by the MIT Press. Portions of An Engine, not a Camera won the Viviana A. Zelizer Prize in economic sociology from the American Sociological Association.

Anne Beaulieu is Project Manager of the Groningen Energy and Sustainability Programme.

Arie Rip is Professor of Philosophy of Science and Technology in the School of Management and Governance of the University of Twente.

Cyrus C. M. Mody is Professor and Chair in the History of Science, Technology, and Innovation at Maastricht University. He is the author of Instrumental Community: Probe Microscopy and the Path to Nanotechnology (MIT Press).

Michael Lynch is Professor in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University.

Steve Woolgar is Chair of Marketing and Head of Science and Technology Studies at the University of Oxford.

Lorraine Daston is Director at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin and Visiting Professor in the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. She is the coauthor (with Katharine Park) of Wonders and the Order of Nature, 1150-1750 and (with Peter Galison) Objectivity and the editor of Things that Talk: Object Lessons from Art and Science, all three published by Zone Books.

Michael Lynch is Professor in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University.

Steve Woolgar is Chair of Marketing and Head of Science and Technology Studies at the University of Oxford.

John Law is Professor in Sociology at the University of Keele, Staffordshire, England.

Bruno Latour, a philosopher and anthropologist, is the author of We Have Never Been Modern, An Inquiry into Modes of Existence, Facing Gaia, Down to Earth, and many other books. He coedited (with Peter Weibel) the previous ZKM volumes Making Things Public, ICONOCLASH, and Reset Modernity! (all published by the MIT Press).

Table of Contents

Preface Michael Lynch Steve Woolgar vii

1 Introduction: Representation in Scientific Practice Revisited Catelijne Coopmans Janet Vertesi Michael Lynch Steve Woolgar 1

Chapters

2 Drawing as: Distinctions and Disambiguation in Digital Images of Mars Janet Vertesi 15

3 Visual Analytics as Artful Revelation Catelijne Coopmans 37

4 Digital Scientific Visuals as Fields for Interaction Morana Alac 61

5 Swimming in the Joint Rachel Prentice 89

6 Chalk: Materials and Concepts in Mathematics Research Michael J. Barany Donald MacKenzie 107

7 Networked Neuroscience: Brain Scans and Visual Knowing at the Intersection of Atlases and Databases Sarah de Rijcke Anne Beaulieu 131

8 Rendering Machinic Life Natasha Myers 153

9 Nanoimages as Hybrid Monsters Martin Ruivenkamp Arie Rip 177

10 Toward a New Ontology of Scientific Vision Annamaria Carusi Aud Sissel Hoel 201

11 Essential Tensions and Representational Strategies Cyrus C. M. Mody 223

12 In Images We Trust? Representation and Objectivity in the Digital Age Emma K. Frow 249

13 Legitimizing Napkin Drawing: The Curious Dispersion of Laffer Curves, 1978-2008 Yann Giraud 269

14 How (Not) to Do Things with Brain Images Joseph Dumit 291

Reflections

15 Preface Steve Woolgar 317

16 Beyond Representation Lorraine Daston 319

17 Representation in Formation Michael Lynch 323

18 Struggles with Representation: Could It Be Otherwise? Steve Woolgar 329

19 Reconfiguring Practices Lucy Suchman 333

20 Indistinct Perception John Law 337

21 A Question of Trust: Old Issues and New Technologies Martin Kemp 343

22 The More Manipulations, the Better Bruno Latour 347

Contributors 351

Index 357