Preliminary Art610 Research proposal

I'm interested in learning more about how data is "mapped" in space and how data that doesn't have an inherent link to a physical place still may be mapped either in relationship to other data or in relationship to some objective external measure. In at least one of my projects I will be using a literal interpretation of mapping data by plotting purchase locations on a map. But I'm also interested in mapping relationships among the data themselves.

I want to explore three aspects of how researchers, scientists and artists represent data relationships visually. The first, is mapping of data so that data users can navigate among related information -- that is, they can find "neighborhoods" of related data and move within them, between them, etc. This is data mapping as a navigational aid. It's allows a stream-of-conscious movement through data following a path that is meaningful to the data user, perhaps revealing new ideas that have some relevance to them given where they are coming from (both literally and subjectively).

Second, I am really fascinated with how people derive "meaning" from data. In particular, I would like to understand better the ideas of Edward Tufte about visualizing data and learn both about other like-minded researchers as well as their detractors.

And finally, I am interested in what can be done artistically using data that has been mapped or quantified in some way that it can feed into some kind of generative system to create art that reveals the patterns or character of the data rather than the meaning of it.

For example, pieces by George LeGrady use commuter patterns to generate graphics that reveal nothing about the underlying data other than mirroring the frequencies of commuters through waveforms represented on pieces mounted in LA Subway entrances. Other pieces, like those commissioned by the new Seattle Public Library, tell a story about the movement of materials from the library out in to the public. What subjects, titles, topics are being checked out? How many people have borrowed books? How do those texts map to standard Dewey Labeling systems? All of these are represented graphically in such a way as to convey something about the borrowing public.