Robert Kosara and the fields of Visual Complexity Information Design and Complexity Art

Robert Kosara, an Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, wrote a very good review of the burgeoning field of visual complexity, including a review of two of the current top books: (1) Visualize This  and (2) Visual Complexity.

The title of the article, which was published in SCIENCE is The Art and Craft of Portraying Data.

It is a very good quick read and essential to getting a sense of this new field.

Check out Kosara's other writings on the topic as well--CLICK HERE

Complexity Art and Visual Complexity

 In a previous post--CLICK HERE--I mentioned a recent article in In the March 2012 (No 29) Special Issue of the Complex Systems Society on the aesthetic and pragmatic aspects of complexity art.

Another example of the intersection between complexity art and complexity science is a network of scholars, artists, designers, scientists, engineers and computer scientists working in a field known as INFORMATION DESIGN.

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Wikipedia defines Information design as the skill and practice of preparing information so people can use it with efficiency and effectiveness. Where the data is complex or unstructured, a visual representation can express its meaning more clearly to the viewer.
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In terms of this definition, there is a smaller network of scholars in information design focused on the second sentence: exploring visual tools when dealing with complex data.

One example is Manuel Lima.  On his website it states that he is a "Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, nominated by Creativity magazine as "one of the 50 most creative and influential minds of 2009", Manuel Lima is a Senior UX Design Lead at Microsoft Bing and founder of VisualComplexity.com - A visual exploration on mapping complex networks."

Lima refers to his work as Visual Complexity. 

On the website for his book, it states the following: "Several researchers, scientists and designers across the globe are trying to make sense of a variety of complex networks using different technological tools at their disposal. They employ a mix of colors, symbols, graphics, algorithms and interactivity to advance cognition and deepen knowledge in each subject of analysis. By doing this they are in many ways creating the syntax of a new language. This book can be seen as the first dictionary of this new lexicon. The book will showcase and thoroughly analyze the variety of contemporary visual depictions of complex networks. It will cover its historical predecessors and grounds for recent popularity, and explore the ramifications of a new age of infinite interconnectedness. It will also include a set of recommendations and future predictions on the progress of Network Visualization."

Even more exciting than the book, which is very good, is Lima's website, which provides hundreds of examples of visual complexity that have been culled from a variety of internet and world wide web sources.  These images, which cross the entire field of complexity science, are incredible.  

Also available is an incredible set of links to a variety of blogs, software, projects, etc.

If one did not think that complexity art was a real burgeoning network of scholars involved in a myriad of projects all around the world being influenced by and influencing not only complexity science but culture, business, economy, science and so forth, this website and, more important, the global art-information-science-business-datamining-cyberinfrastructure-cultural network society it connects to should leave you without a doubt.

 

Complexity Art and the Complex Systems Society

In the March 2012 (No 29) Special Issue of the Complex Systems Society, to which I belong, they actually discussed the topic of complexity art.  CLICK HERE to read the Issue in its entirety.

The title of the piece is Art and Complex Systems Science.
It addresses two key issues in complexity art: the inherent beauty and aesthetic aspects of complexity science and the various images it generates and the ability of complexity art to contribute to empirical insight, through the images it creates or the way it appropriates various complexity science tools or images, such as networks.

Check it out.

Complexity as an Alternative Possible Reality

A new exhibition on the American Dream and alternative realities--organized by the CCC Strozzina in conjunction with the Hudson River Museum (Yonkers, New York, USA) and curated by Bartholomew F. Bland--got me thinking about the role of alternative realities in art and complexity science.

Here is how they describe the show on their website:

Does the “American dream” still exist? The exhibition (9 March–15 July 2012) comprises a reflection on the work of artists who use fantasy, imagination and dreams to build alternative worlds to the increasingly complex reality of life today. Some condense the essence of reality into miniaturised systems while others expand outwards into space, and yet others feed on fantastic, dreamlike images or reflect on such symbolic themes as the home and the family, or the mass media imagery, which play even today a central role in the construction of the myth of the American way of life.

Looking at the fantastic art in this show made me realize that there has always been a tradition within art (literature, plastic arts, music) for those who find joy, solace or comfort in creating alternative worlds to the one's in which they live--such a tradition ranges from Jean-Jacques Rousseau to fantasy comic books to J.R.R. Tolkien to Warhol and the surrealist movement.    In many ways, for most of us at least, such an alternative universe is the world of childhood, days spent lost in fantasy.  (And, for some of us, like myself, a conscious decision is made to live there permanently--ha! ha! My family and friends--smiling--still tell me that if my head was not attached i would have lost it a long time ago.)

The creation of alternative universes and realities is, however, not an entirely benign activity.  In the hands of visionaries, it can lead to profound advancement, as in the case of Einstein or Martin Luther King.  In the hand of ideologues, it can end in fascism or political violence, as in the case of Hitler.  Still, in the hands of others, such as Foucault or Derrida, it becomes mostly private, an inside joke, if you will, that is not meant for everyone.

Complexity has its alternative realities and visionaries as well.  One example is the theoretical physicist, Fritjof Capra, who uses complexity to create an alternative vision for the planet grounded in deep ecology.  Another is Francisco Varela, who grounded his study of cognition and life in Zen buddhism.  Yet another is James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis's Gaia theory, an alternative view of the mother earth as one big network of interconnection, human beings included, alive and interdependent.

In my recent art work I have likewise been interested in using complexity science to explore and create an alternative fantasy world.  The focus of this world is my exploration of a new artistic cosmology, one grounded in new ideas about eco-architecture (including the work of Hundertwasser and, more recently, Tomás Saraceno), painting (from Michelangelo and Da Vinci to Picasso and Hockney to Benjamin Edwards and Matthew Ritchie), and the link between individuals, societies and ecological environments.    

Here, for example, is my First Dinner Party for the 21st Century, as an example.  This is the photograph I developed, which I am currently turning into a painting.  I am still developing the cosmology surrounding it, but Click Here to see a previous post i had on an earlier version of this photo assemblage.

Tomas Saraceno Complexity Art and Networks

In 2010 my family and i were on tour (our term for vacationing) in Scandinavia, en route to Gothenburg, Sweden for the International Sociological Association Meetings.  During our stay in Copenhagen I came across the work of Tomás Saraceno--internationally recognized architect and artist.


Saraceno's work melted my mind.  He presented a possible future, grounded in a global complexity and ecology, exploring the usage of networks in three-dimensional form; along with other various organic-geometrical forms.

Recently, again, I saw his work, now in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where my brother Warren lives.  WOW!  I will definitely have to blog more on Saraceno's work and how it connects with the complexity art movement I have been blogging about.  But, for now, I just wanted to get a post published on this guy.

Here are a few links to some of his work:

http://www.coolhunting.com/culture/14-billion.php

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/06/09/saraceno/

Art Cares Event was a Success

It is hard to believe that this year's ArtCares 2012 took place three weeks ago--the art auction and party to benefit the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland.  

For the benefit I submitted my photo-assemblage of the West Side Market (as recently part of the Cleveland Hopkins Airport Art Show).  It was great to see that my work sold--CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTO.  Thanks to everyone who put together and supported the event!

Here are a couple pictures of the event, including art by a few friends:

Dante Rodriguez

Linda Ayala

Deborah Pinter

 

Lakeland Community College Art Show and the Ohio City Bike Co-op Art Show

Last night was both the 3rd Annual Juried Art Show at Lakeland Community College and the

Pedaling Art 2012 Ohio City Bike CO-OP Art Show. Both were a great success.  We sold some of the jewelry and, if you are interested in my painting, it is at the Lakeland Community College Gallery until

Here are some pictures of Maggie (my wife), Ruby (my daughter) and me and my art at the two shows.

The 3rd Annual May Show at Lakeland Juried Art Exhibition

It is time for the 3rd Annual Juried Art Show at Lakeland Community College.  

I will be showing TWO DOUCHE-BAGS, OR TOAST THIS!  

Medium: oil painting
Size: 48X36 inches
It is listed for sale at $2,500.  

Come out and support the event and the art scene in Cleveland, Ohio!!!!!

Here are the specifics about the show:

Date: Friday, May 18, 2012 - Friday, July 20, 2012
Email: murbas@lakelandcc.edu
Location: The Gallery at Lakeland, Building "D", first floor

The 3rd Annual May Show at Lakeland Juried Art Exhibition
May 18 - July 20, 2012

Awards Ceremony and Artist Reception, Friday, May 18, 2012, 7-9 PM, Awards start at 7 PM. Artist Reception to follow.

Gallery Hours: M-F, 9-9, Sat-Sun, 9-5
This event is free and open to the public.

Gallery Coordinator and Installation Designer: Mary Urbas 440-525-7029 murbas@lakelandcc.edu

Cash Mob in Ashtabula

In my Introduction to Sociology course at Kent State University at Ashtabula, students are regularly encouraged to become more engaged citizens and to embrace the diversity of their economic, political, cultural, and community-based backgrounds to make the world they live in a better place, working together in the true spirit of democracy.  A group of students decided to support the hard work of local merchants in Ashtabula Ohio to keep the community alive with great food, drink, local spirit and material goods.  So, they held a cash mob on the Harbor Area down on Bridge Street.

Here is a fun video of the event put together by Tina Bihlajama and Frank Vaccariello--CLICK HERE

Pedaling Art 2012 Ohio City Bike CO-OP Art Show

Hello everyone!  It is time for the annual Pedaling Art Show to benefit the awesome Ohio City Bicycle CO-OP.  As the poster below explains, any art dealing with or using bicycles is welcome to be submitted for possible showing! 

This year, as shown below, my daughter and I went down to the CO-OP to search through all the wonderful recycled parts and decided to make bicycle jewelry. 

We call our works Wheels & Gears Jewelry.  We made over 20 pieces of bicycle jewelry--rings, bracelets and necklaces--all made from recycled bicycle parts.  They will all sell for $15 to $20 dollars.  What makes the pieces super cool is that they were all assembled entirely of bicycle parts.  No welding or soldering involved.

ArtCares 2012 Benefit and Art Auction for the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland

This Friday is ArtCares 2012, the annual art auction and party to benefit the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland.  I have submitted my photo-assemblage of the West Side Market (as recently part of the Cleveland Hopkins Airport Art Show) to be auctioned--CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTO.  Come along and join the event!

Case-Based Modeling and the SACS Toolkit: A Mathematical Outline

Over the last year Rajeev Rajaram and I finished our article mathematically outlining the SACS Toolkit, our new case-based method for modeling complex systems, particularly complex social systems.

It was published with the Springer journal, Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, an excellent journal run/edited by Kathleen M. Carley Carnegie Mellon University, with a great editorial board.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ARTICLE

Much thanks to Jürgen Klüver and Christina Klüver for allowing us to present an earlier version of this paper during their session at the 8th International Conference on Complex Systems, hosted by the New England Complex Systems Institute.

Case Based Method and Complexity Science, Part II (The SACS Toolkit)

In my previous post for February 2012--CLICK HERE TO SEE--I introduced the concepts of case-based complexity science and its methodological extension, case-based modeling--the twin concepts I use to describe the approach being developed by David Byrne, Charles Ragin and others for modeling and studying complex systems.

My goal here is to introduce the case-based complexity science method my colleagues and I have developed for modeling complex systems.  Our case-based modeling technique is called the SACS Toolkit--which stands for the Sociology and Complexity Science Toolkit.

For a more thorough overview of the SACS Toolkit, including the papers and book chapters we have written on it, CLICK HERE


THE SACS TOOLKIT

The SACS Toolkit is a case-based, mixed-method, system-clustering, data-compressing, theoretically-driven toolkit for modeling complex social systems. 

It is comprised of three main components: a theoretical blueprint for studying complex systems (social complexity theory); a set of case-based instructions for modeling complex systems from the ground up (assemblage); and a recommend list of case-friendly modeling techniques (case-based toolset). 

The SACS Toolkit is a variation on David Byrne's general premise regarding the link between cases and complex systems.   Byrne's view is as such: 
  
Cases are the methodological equivalent of complex systems; or, alternatively, complex systems are cases and therefore should be studied as such. 

The SACS Toolkit widens Byrne's view slightly.  For the SACS Toolkit:  

Complex systems are best thought of as a set of cases--with the smallest set being one case (as in Byrne's definition) and the largest set being, theoretically, speaking, any number of cases.


More specifically, for the SACS Toolkit, case-based modeling is the study of a complex system as a set of n-dimensional vectors (cases), which researchers compare and contrast, and then condense and cluster to create a low-dimensional model (map) of a complex system's structure and dynamics over time/space. 

Because the SACS Toolkit is, in part, a data-compression technique that preserves the most important aspects of a complex system's structure and dynamics over time, it works very well with databases comprised of a large number of complex, multi-dimensional, multi-level (and ultimately, longitudinal) factors. 

It is important to note, however, before proceeding, that the act of compression is different from reduction or simpli fication. Compression maintains complexity, creating low-dimensional maps that can be "dimensionally inflated" as needed; reduction or simplifi cation, in contrast, is a nomothetic technique, seeking the simplest explanation possible.

The SACS Toolkit is also versatile and consolidating. The strength, utility, and  flexibility of the SACS Toolkit comes from the manner in which it is, mathematically speaking, put together.  The SACS Toolkit emerges out of the assemblage of a set of existing theoretical, mathematical and methodological techniques and fi elds of inquiry--from qualitative to quantitative to computational methods. 

The "assembled" quality of the SACS Toolkit, however, is its strength. While it is grounded in a highly organized and well defi ned mathematical framework, with key theoretical concepts and their relations, it is simultaneously open-ended and therefore adaptable and amenable, allowing researchers to integrate into it many of their own computational, mathematical and statistical methods. Researchers can even develop and modify the SACS Toolkit for their own purposes. 

For a more thorough overview of the SACS Toolkit, including the papers and book chapters we have written on it, CLICK HERE  

 

Case Based Method and Complexity Science, Part I (Byrne, Ragin, Complexity and Case-Based Method)

Back in May of 2009 I interviewed David Byrne, who, along with Charles Ragin, has championed the usage of case-based method for modeling complex systems.  (CLICK HERE TO SEE INTERVIEW).  

Ragin's work is generally referred to as case-comparative method, or, more specifically qualitative comparative analysis.  It comes in two general forms, a crisp set and fuzzy set form.  Byrne's work builds on Ragin.  Over the last several years, Professor Byrne has emerged as a leading international figure in what most scholars see as two highly promising but distinct fields of study: (1) case-based method and (2) the sociological study of complex systems.  An example of the former is Byrne’s Sage Handbook of Case-Based Methods (1)—which he co-edited with Charles Ragin, the most prominent figure in case-based method.  An example of the latter is his widely read Complexity Theory and the Social Sciences (8).   

What scholars (including myself and several of my colleagues) are only beginning to grasp, however, is the provocative premise upon which Byrne’s work in these two fields (including his development of Ragin's ideas) is based.  His premise, while simple enough, is ground-breaking:

Cases are the methodological equivalent of complex systems; or, alternatively, complex systems are cases and therefore should be studied as such. 

With this premise, Byrne adds to the complexity science literature an entirely new approach to modeling complex systems, alongside the current repertoire of agent (rule-based) modeling, dynamical (equation-based) modeling, statistical (variable-based) modeling, network (relational) modeling, and qualitative (meaning-based) method.

The name of this new approach, I think, is best called case-based complexity science.  My goal here, and in the next few posts for February 2012, is to discuss this new approach.  I begin with a few definitions:

My colleagues, Frederic Hafferty and Corey Schimpf and I just finished a chapter that outlines the field of case-based complexity science for  Martin and Sturmburg's forthcoming book, Handbook of Systems and Complexity in Health, Springer.  CLICK HERE to read a section of a rough draft of the paper.

I am truly an embodied mind, a socio-biological concert of self

In my Individual and Society course I typically spend the first couple weeks (amongst other things) grounding our understanding of human symbolic interaction in a wider scientific frame, by examining the scientific 'wonder' of how life emerged and how human beings came into existence--or, at least, our best current ideas on how things happened.  From my perspective, it is hard to understand social interaction without an appreciation of its connection to our biological and environmental existence and the larger and smaller eco-complex systems in which we operate.

Anyway, to prepare for these lectures I often read general summaries of the latest developments in science, which give me useful ways to frame a lot of material in a quick way that focuses on the bigger picture.  In preparation, one of my favorite books is Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything.

One of the chapters that always gets me is on the emergence of life (Ch19) and its discussion of the incredible complex and self-organizing dance done by the mind-numbingly wide number and variety of living organisms that come together to make up the human body.  I so easily forget that, as human beings, we are actually a collection of millions of smaller living and nonliving forms, from amino acids and proteins to mitochondria and bacteria and so forth.

Reading this material also reminds me that our conscious, brain-based cognition--that thing that calls itself I--has a certain astigmatism.  Living daily life engaged in symbolic interaction, we forget that this thing we call our self (this self-reflexive, conscious I) is actually a small part of a very complex system that is comprised of millions of living organisms which, when combined in the right way, allow us to exist as a symbol making complex living system.  In other words, i forget that a person, as a distinct form of structural organization, as a distinct type of living being, emerges out of, in part, a collection of smaller living beings.   

I am truly an embodied mind, a socio-biological concert of self.

50 Years of Information Technology

 I recently ran across an excellent online historical overview of the last 50 years of information technology that I think is very well done.  It was put together by Jacinda Frost.  Check it out!


OnlineITDegree: 50 Years of Information Technology.

Proceedings of the Complexity in Health Group

The Center for Complexity in Health announces today the launching of their new white-paper outlet, the Proceedings of the Complexity in Health Group. 

The PCCH is an annual publication designed both to showcase and provide a publication outlet for some of the main avenues of research being conducted in the Complexity in Health Group, Robert S. Morrison Health and Science Building, Kent State University at Ashtabula.  These areas include medical professionalism, community health, allostatic load, school systems, medical learning environments and case-based modeling—all explored from a complexity science perspective. 

The studies published in the PCHG are generally comprehensive, in-depth explorations of a topic, meant to provide a wider and more complete empirical and theoretical backdrop for the specific studies that scholars involved in the Complexity in Health Group (CHG) regularly publish in various disciplinary journals.  Such an outlet as the PCHG is useful given the conventions (e.g., page constraints and narrowness of focus) typical of most research periodicals, which make it very difficult to publish relatively complete statements on a topic in complex systems terms.  While PCHG studies augment, acknowledge and cite CHG work published in other venues, each PCHG study is an original, distinct manuscript.  Finally, PCHG studies are peer-reviewed.  Prior to publication each study is sent to colleagues for review and criticism to ensure the highest quality of published proceedings possible. 

PCCH and all of its studies are the copyright © property of the Complexity in Health Group, Kent State University at Ashtabula.  Manuscripts published in the PCHG should be cited appropriately, as in the following example:

Castellani, B., Rajaram, R., Buckwalter, JG., Ball, M., and Hafferty, F. 2012. “Place and Health as Complex Systems: A Case Study and Empirical Test.” Proceedings of the Complexity in Health Group, Kent State University at Ashtabula, 1(1):1-35.

Our first publication is an in-depth exploration of several key issues in complexity science and its intersection with the study of community health--CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD. First, how does one determine the empirical utility of defining a community as a complex system?  What unique insights emerge that could not otherwise be obtained?  Second, how does one conduct a litmus test of one’s definition of a community as a complex system in a systematic manner—something currently not done in the complexity science literature?  Third, how does one use the methods and techniques of complexity science to conduct such a litmus test, in combination with conventional methods such as statistics, qualitative method and historical analysis?  In our study we address all three questions, as pertains to a case study on the link between sprawl and community-level health in a Midwestern county (Summit County, Ohio) in the United States and the 20 communities of which it comprised.