Discrete and continuous conceptualizations of science: Implications for knowledge domain visualization

被引:24
作者
Skupin, Andre [1 ]
机构
[1] San Diego State Univ, Dept Geog, San Diego, CA 92182 USA
关键词
Visualization; Conceptualization; Spatial concepts; Geographic information science; Knowledge domain visualization; Geography; GEOGRAPHY; LITERATURES;
D O I
10.1016/j.joi.2009.03.002
中图分类号
TP39 [计算机的应用];
学科分类号
081203 ; 0835 ;
摘要
Visual depiction of the structure and evolution of science has been proposed as a key strategy for dealing with the large, complex, and increasingly interdisciplinary records of scientific communication. While every such visualization assumes the existence of spatial structures within the system of science, new methods and tools are rarely linked to thorough reflection on the underlying spatial concepts. Meanwhile, geographic information science has adopted a view of geographic space as conceptualized through the duality of discrete objects and continuous fields. This paper argues that conceptualization of science has been dominated by a view of its constituent elements (e.g., authors, articles, journals, disciplines) as discrete objects. It is proposed that, like in geographic information science, alternative concepts could be used for the same phenomenon. For example, one could view an author as either a discrete object at a specific location or as a continuous field occupying all of a discipline. It is further proposed that this duality of spatial concepts can extend to the methods by which low-dimensional geometric models of high-dimensional scientific spaces are created and used. This can result in new methods revealing different kinds of insights. This is demonstrated by a juxtaposition of two visualizations of an author's intellectual evolution on the basis of either a discrete or continuous conceptualization. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
引用
收藏
页码:233 / 245
页数:13
相关论文
共 39 条
[1]  
[Anonymous], 1983, SPATIAL ORIENTATION
[2]  
[Anonymous], 1992, Cartogr. Perspect, DOI DOI 10.14714/CP13.1000
[3]  
[Anonymous], 2006, WHAT IS DOCUMENTATIO
[4]  
Barthes Ronald., 1977, Image, Music, Text
[5]  
BORNER K, 2003, ANN REV INFORM SCI T
[6]  
BOYACK K, 2000, WORKSH NEW PAR INF V
[7]  
Chen Chaomei., 2003, Mapping Scientific Frontiers: The Quest for Knowledge Visualization
[8]  
COUCLELIS H, 1992, LECT NOTES COMPUT SC, V639, P65
[9]   Knowledge mining with VxInsight: Discovery through interaction [J].
Davidson, GS ;
Hendrickson, B ;
Johnson, DK ;
Meyers, CE ;
Wylie, BN .
JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS, 1998, 11 (03) :259-285
[10]  
de Solla Price DJ, 1963, Little Science, Big Science