Figurative frames: A critical vocabulary for images in information visualization

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia Byrne ◽  
Daniel Angus ◽  
Janet Wiles
Keyword(s):  
Information Content ◽  
Information Visualization ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Abstract Representation ◽  
Frame Model ◽  
Information Density ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Information Visualizations

Critical analyses provide information visualization practitioners with insight into the range and suitability of different techniques for visualization. Theory provides the necessary models and vocabulary to deconstruct, explain and classify visualizations, allowing the analysis and comparison of alternate designs, and evaluation of their success. While the critical vocabulary for information visualization in general is well developed, the same cannot be said for ‘hybrid’ information visualizations which combine abstract representation of data with figurative elements such as illustrations. Figurative elements are widely used in information visualization in practice and are increasingly recognized as beneficial for memorability. However, the information encoded by a figurative image and how that information contributes to the overall content of the visualization lacks robust definition within visualization theory. To support critical analysis of hybrid visualization, we provide a model of the information content of a figurative image, which we call the figurative frame model. We use the model to classify hybrid visualizations along two dimensions: information density in the images (defined as the number of features and preserved measurements) and integration of figurative and abstract forms of representation. The new vocabulary for analysing hybrid visualizations reveals how the figurative images expand the expressiveness of information visualization by integrating descriptive and abstract information and allows the formulation of new measures of visualization quality which can be applied to hybrid visualizations.

Intimacy as Transgression and the Problem of Freedom

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Kym Maclaren
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Relationships ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Mutual Recognition ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Critical Insight ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
What Matters

“To consent to love or be loved,” said Merleau-Ponty, “is to consent also to influence someone else, to decide to a certain extent on behalf of the other.” This essay explicates that idea through a meditation on intimacy. I propose, first, that, on Merleau-Ponty’s account, we are always transgressing into each other’s experience, whether we are strangers or familiars; I call this “ontological intimacy.” Concrete experiences of intimacy are based upon this ontological intimacy, and can take place at two levels: (1) at-this-moment (such that we can experience intimacy even with strangers, by sharing a momentary but extra-ordinary mutual recognition) and (2) in shared interpersonal institutions, or habitual, enduring, and co-enacted visions of who we are, how to live, and what matters. Through particular examples of dynamics within these layers of intimacy (drawing upon work by Berne and by Russon), I claim that we are always, inevitably, imposing an “unfreedom” upon our intimate others. Freedom, then, can only develop from within and by virtue of this “unfreedom.” Thus, what distinguishes empowering or emancipating relationships from oppressive ones is not the removal of transgressive normative social forces; it is rather the particular character of those transgressive forces. Some transgressions upon others’ experience—some forms of “unfreedom”—will tend to promote freedom; others will tend to hinder it. This amounts to a call for promoting agency and freedom not only through critical analysis of public institutions, practices and discourses, but also through critical insight into and transformation of our most private and intimate relationships.

Muriel Spark's Early Fiction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Public Image ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
Social Critique ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Stage Play ◽  
Insight Into

This book presents a detailed critical analysis of a period of significant formal and thematic innovation in Muriel Spark’s literary career. Spanning the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s, it identifies formative instances of literary experimentation in texts including The Comforters, The Driver’s Seat and The Public Image, with an emphasis on metafiction and the influence of the nouveau roman. As the first critical study to draw extensively on Spark’s vast archives of correspondence, manuscripts and research, it provides a unique insight into the social contexts and personal concerns that dictated her fiction. Offering a distinctive reappraisal of Spark’s fiction, the book challenges the rigid critical framework that has long been applied to her writing. In doing so, it interrogates how Spark’s literary innovations work to facilitate moments of subversive satire and gendered social critique. As well as presenting nuanced re-readings major works like The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, it draws unprecedented attention to lesser-discussed texts such as her only stage play, Doctors of Philosophy, and early short stories.

scholarly journals The House of Marie Shannon

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sally Margaret Apthorp
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Domestic Architecture ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Camera Obscura ◽  
Architectural Space ◽  
Domestic Lives ◽  
Architectural Tradition ◽  
Light And Shadow ◽  
Insight Into

<p>This thesis creatively explores the architectural implications present in the photographs by New Zealand photographer Marie Shannon. The result of this exploration is a house for Shannon. The focus is seven of Shannon's interior panoramas from 1985-1987 in which architectural space is presented as a domestic stage. In these photograph's furniture and objects are the props and Shannon is an actress. This performance, with Shannon both behind and in front of her camera, creates a double insight into her world; architecture as a stage to domestic life, and a photographers view of domestic architecture. Shannon's view on the world enables a greater understanding to our ordinary, domestic lives. Photography is a revealing process that teaches us to see more richly in terms of detail, shading, texture, light and shadow. Through an engagement with photographs and understanding architectural space through a photographer's eye, the hidden, secret or unnoticed aspects to Shannon's reality will be revealed. This insight into another's reality may in turn enable a deeper understanding of our own. The methodology was a revealing process that involved experimenting with Shannon's panoramic photographs. Models and drawing, through photographic techniques, lead to insights both formally in three dimensions and at surface level in two dimensions. These techniques and insights were applied to the site through the framework of a camera obscura. Shannon's new home is created by looking at her photographs with an architect's 'eye'. Externally the home acts as a closed vessel, a camera obscura. But internally rich and intriguing forms, surfaces, textures and shadings are created. Just as the camera obscura projects an exterior scene onto the interior, so does the home. Shannon will inhabit this projection of the shadows which oppose 30 O'Neill Street, Ponsonby, Auckland; her past home and site of her photographs. Photographers, and in particular Shannon, look at the architectural world with fresh eyes, free from an architectural tradition. Photography and the camera enable an improved power of sight. More is revealed to the camera. Beauty is seen in the ordinary, with detail, tone, texture, light and dark fully revealed. As a suspended moment, a deeper understanding and opportunity is created to observe and appreciate this beauty. Through designing with a photographer's eye greater insight is gained into Shannon's 'reality'. This 'revealing' process acts as a means of teaching us how to see pictorial beauty that is inherent in our ordinary lives. This is the beauty that is often hidden in secret, due to our unseeing eyes. This project converts the photographs beauty back into three dimensional architecture.</p>

3. Do you believe in models? Simplicity and complexity

2018 ◽  
pp. 34-47
Author(s):  
Alain Goriely
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Modelling ◽  
Mathematical Models ◽  
Applied Mathematics ◽  
Abstract Representation ◽  
The World ◽  
Insight Into

Models are central to the world of applied mathematics. In its simplest sense, a model is an abstract representation of a system developed in order to answer specific questions or gain insight into a phenomenon. In general, we expect a model to be based on sound principles, to be mathematically consistent, and to have some predictive or insight value. Models are the ultimate form of quantification since all variables and parameters that appear must be properly defined and quantified for the equations to make sense. ‘Do you believe in models? Simplicity and complexity’ discusses the complexity of models; the steps involved in developing mathematical models—the physics paradigm; and collaborative mathematical modelling.

Masculinity and moral licensing in the locker room: a critical analysis of culture, gender, and leisure.

2021 ◽  
pp. 24-35
Author(s):  
Kate E. Evans ◽  
Dorothy L. Schmalz
Keyword(s):  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Gender Norms ◽  
The Other ◽  
Female Empowerment ◽  
Related Research ◽  
Moral Licensing ◽  
Locker Room ◽  
The One ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract Men's leisure has long been considered a 'male preserve' in which male purview is the norm, and women are relegated to subordinate roles. Current research and events indicate that masculinity continues to dominate leisure settings and impinges on women's leisure via factors ranging from social gender norms to overt acts of violence. Drawing on current research, cultural trends, and feminist theory and philosophy, this chapter examines the juxtapositions in culture and rhetoric that on the one hand promote female empowerment, and on the other provide footing for a contrary argument that men and masculinity are under threat. Related research also provides insight into a possible path forward including men's engagement in leisure violence prevention and implications for women's leisure and the leisure field.

scholarly journals The Influence of Repressor DNA Binding Site Architecture on Transcriptional Control

mBio ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan M. Park ◽  
Patricia J. Kiley
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Dna Binding ◽  
Binding Site ◽  
Information Content ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Carbon Oxidation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Architectural Features ◽  
Recognition Elements ◽  
Insight Into

ABSTRACTHow the architecture of DNA binding sites dictates the extent of repression of promoters is not well understood. Here, we addressed the importance of the number and information content of the three direct repeats (DRs) in the binding and repression of theicdApromoter by the phosphorylated form of the globalEscherichia colirepressor ArcA (ArcA-P). We show that decreasing the information content of the two sites with the highest information (DR1 and DR2) eliminated ArcA binding to all three DRs and ArcA repression oficdA. Unexpectedly, we also found that DR3 occupancy functions principally in repression, since mutation of this low-information-content site both eliminated DNA binding to DR3 and significantly weakenedicdArepression, despite the fact that binding to DR1 and DR2 was intact. In addition, increasing the information content of any one of the three DRs or addition of a fourth DR increased ArcA-dependent repression but perturbed signal-dependent regulation of repression. Thus, our data show that the information content and number of DR elements are critical architectural features for maintaining a balance between high-affinity binding and signal-dependent regulation oficdApromoter function in response to changes in ArcA-P levels. Optimization of such architectural features may be a common strategy to either dampen or enhance the sensitivity of DNA binding among the members of the large OmpR/PhoB family of regulators as well as other transcription factors.IMPORTANCEInEscherichia coli, the response regulator ArcA maintains homeostasis of redox carriers under O2-limiting conditions through a comprehensive repression of carbon oxidation pathways that require aerobic respiration to recycle redox carriers. Although a binding site architecture comprised of a variable number of sequence recognition elements has been identified within the promoter regions of ArcA-repressed operons, it is unclear how this variable architecture dictates transcriptional regulation. By dissecting the role of multiple sequence elements within theicdApromoter, we provide insight into the design principles that allow ArcA to repress transcription within diverse promoter contexts. Our data suggest that the arrangement of recognition elements is tailored to achieve sufficient repression of a given promoter while maintaining appropriate signal-dependent regulation of repression, providing insight into how diverse binding site architectures link changes in O2with the fine-tuning of carbon oxidation pathway levels.

scholarly journals Adding an Extra Dimension to What Students See through the Light Microscope: A Lab Exercise Demonstrating Critical Analysis for Microscopy Students

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 430-435
Author(s):  
Ashley Garrill
Keyword(s):  
Extra Dimension ◽  
Light Microscope ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Growth Data ◽  
Constant Rate ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Biology Curriculum

This article describes an undergraduate lab exercise that demonstrates the importance of students thinking critically about what they see through a microscope. The students are given growth data from tip-growing organisms that suggest the cells grow in a pulsatile manner. The students then critique this data in several exercises that incorporate aspects of a problem-based learning approach, envisaging growth not just in two dimensions, but in three dimensions. For some cells, what appears to be pulsatile growth could also be explained by growth at a constant rate up and down in the z-axis. Depending on the diffraction pattern generated by the tip of the cell, this movement in the z-axis could go undetected. This raises the possibility that pulsatile growth seen in some species may be an artifact generated by the limitations of the light microscope. Students were subsequently asked to rate their awareness of the need to think critically about what they see through a microscope, using a scale of 1 (unaware) to 5 (very much aware). Prior to doing the lab exercise, the mean rating was 2.7; this increased to 4.4 after the lab. The students also indicated a likelihood of being more critical in their thinking in other aspects of their biology curriculum.

scholarly journals Volatility drivers on the metal market and exposure of producing countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sven Renner ◽  
Friedrich W. Wellmer
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Dynamic Reaction ◽  
Security Of Supply ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Mineral Production ◽  
Metal Market ◽  
Demand Patterns ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract The paper focuses on minor metals and coupled elements and aspires to understand individual incidents of imbalance on the mineral markets during the last 100 years and gain insight into the acting dynamics—those dynamics are commodity-specific but remain largely unchanged in their nature to date—and to identify the factors in play. The conclusions allow for a critical analysis of the widespread security-of-supply narrative of industrialized countries. They point at a market that is mostly a buyers’ market, in which prices and their volatility are largely dictated by shifting demand patterns and much less by supply constraints. Neither high country concentration nor poor governance seem to have a substantial or lasting impact on market balance. Short-term market imbalances are generally neutralized by a dynamic reaction on the demand side via substitution, efficiency gains or technological change. The paper also assesses the impact of those quickly shifting demand patterns and the related price volatilities on producing countries. It shows how mineral price volatilities can expose developing countries’ economies to significant economic risk, if their economy is heavily dependent on mineral production. Two cases that illustrate country exposure are explored in detail—the saltpeter crisis in Chile and the tin crisis in Bolivia. Both led to state bankruptcy. The paper concludes with an attempt to quantify economic exposure of producing countries to price volatilities of specific metals and suggests policies that adapt to the characteristic challenges of highly volatile demand.

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