Finding a framework is proving very difficult without the guidance of my supervisor due to my extension over the christmas break. Below was my previous thoughts on it, suggesting that if I could find a diagram and then also create the same but more visually, then I could create a set of defining qualities that set them apart. Maybe how the visualisation was more dynamic versus the simple line diagram.
Learning Styles Again: VARKing up the right tree!. Educational Developments
However, I was starting to doubt that it would suffice. So following research and journal reading I have come across the 3 learning styles that were developed by Neil Fleming(2006). He came up with the theory that “The use of learning strategies that are aligned with a modality preferences is also likely to lead to persistence learning tasks, a deeper approach to learning, active and effective meta-cognition ” Meaning that if more visual leanring aids to text based work then it could be very beneficial to the visual learner themselves. This goes hand in hand with the theory created by Kolb that after experiencing classroom experiments or viewing visual stimuli student “create concepts that integrate their observations into logically sounds theories”. These concepts or models could then be tested and built upon leading me to think that this could be a great place to build upon my framework,
The
Lewinian Experiential Learning Model (Kolb 1983)
Here is the diagram adopted by Kolb to describe the process explained above, using this in tandem with how Fleming created the framework to denote a visual learner could really give me something to measure my work against.
The Art of looking sideways is a fantastic book by A. Fletcher the delves in to just about everything. I researched the book endeavouring to find some more abstract material. It has a narrative throughout the book, and initially I did read it from the beginning for the first few 100 pages. I then resorted to using the chapter listing to find the relevant topics. I found a lot of interesting images and thought provoking quotes
The first image that I thought was the one above. The accompanying chapter was on abstraction itself, talking about how there must of been a point in history when a man was sitting next to a fire, and within the flickering flames he sees shapes or shadows that look like a face. It would of been events like these that differentiated us from other animals, the ability to see shapes and build connections though abstract thought. And its what all allows you to see the face in the bag above.
I really liked this image, showing different fonts to represent the scene and where they are placed, not showing any other images other than the table itself..
I like the visual connotations that the words show, conveying their definitions. I think it makes them seamless to their purpose. .
Trying to carve out a general plan for my proposal and how I would like to structure it:
Natural thinking and how we think – more natural to think in imagery vs text > thought process and how we learn thought new connections old data> learning styles visual > could this work? > social/ educational benefit.
Below are quotes and snippets that stood out to me as I found them really inspirational, making me think a lot more about how things are connected or just unseen.
“Thinking is drawing in your head” P 139
“we don’t think in words. The temptation to equate thinking with language is because words are more palpable than thoughts.”
“Logic is the art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacitates of the human misunderstanding “ - Ambrose Bierce 142
“Imagination forms mental pictures of things not present
Imagination conceives of situations not yet in existence
Imagination conjures up correspondences and analogies” p159
“Unless we can Visualise something then was are unable to think about it” p156
“It has been held that the world is a tangible phenomenon slowly being unravelled by science. An alternative view us that it’s a mirage, a construct of the imagination. A web if ideas, a fabric of our own making” p197
“A picture is a representation or an interpretation. A symbol is the fruit of marriage between the two” p333
“By using one way of saying two things, we can understand the unfamiliar by analogy with the familiar, conveyer the inexpressible by the expressible “ P450 picture play
“ A newly invented metaphor assists through evoking a visual image” p 453 George Orwell
“Art is I… Science is we” Claude Bernard p 12
“Science disembodies, art embodies” John Fowls p 13
On creativity “ a leap across a chasm that is not bridgeable by reason” p 31
“ the Mind thinks with Ideas not information” p 92
Found some good BBC learning videos that were a good reference of what the standard was for animations and abstract visualisation learning. This could be an important reference for curriculum learning as well as the bitesized guides to get a rule of thumb as to what age students are exposed to topics Framwork? This would be invaluable to my demographic study, and thus how it would effect the visual style/ complexity of the topics.
I have also struck gold in my research of journals! After a lot of tracking down I finally paid a small fee and gained a copy of Metaphor and Thought by United States of America: Cambridge University Press. The Chapter "The shift from metaphor to analogy in western science" was especially useful with great insigtits into how the mind processes information.
A Find that has proved very useful as its one of a few sources that has done experiments within the educational system to see if analogical or metaphorical learning aids can help with the absorption of information.
Fun-Analogy Train
The imagery uses concrete images (train cars) were used to represent abstract ideas” (Spezzini, 2010) (see figure 1) therefore by “bridging from the known (train cars) to the unknown (phonological concepts)” I think that despite the lack of high-end visuals the train is a great notion on account of two reasons:
1. The train, is procedural as is speech and its a direct connection
2. the carriages are also directly connected, though not to the degree of the first point.
I feel that there is still coding of information within the image that will need to be remembered and not as natural as a source concept and target concept that have more accessible commonalties.
From this I would like to take the core of the idea, and see if I can create my own concept that has these more natural communicates This could really visually form a solid base for recall of information. If this was proved to be true then it would hold up to the requirements of the framework, in that it would be a highly emotive viusal image with information embedded within it.
Spezzini, S. (2010). Fun-Analogy Train [digital image]. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. 4 (2), pp. 7.
Following all the research into metaphors and a more abstract aim for my project, I have been unsure that the piratical work and concepts are as relevant as before. I will keep them in mind as I work on my proposal as they may come back into focus as time goes on. Here are some tutorials I have bookmarked as useful depending on the direction of the project.
With the Ancient light concept, I could make it more conceptual, even trying to think about the internal workings of a sun, creating the same concept but in a more abstract manner. Below is a really good atmosphere tutorial that would be useful in creating glow and the right lighting if I did choose to carry on with the sun project.
The below tutorial would be handy for making my atom model more artistic and eye catching, I am still interesting in creating the hydrogen model, I have had some concepts about using flowers as the elements versus the traditional 'solar system' approach.
Elemental Flowers
The concept of using flowers is to represent the elements with a memory based aim. This coincides with some journals that I have sound suggesting that lifelong learning being liked to the mental models we do form when reading and absorbing. Its these abstract visuals that we can call upon to remember how things work or interact with each other. There is some more information in my sketch book.
Th basis is that the petals represnt the electrons and the seeds represent the neutrons and protons
The stability of elements is reflected in how easily the flowers fall apart.
More work is needed on this concept, as I find that is is more coding the information or projecting onto know it rather than finding closer commonalties that link them visually.
The final tutorial that I have found would again be useful for the Ancient light concept, I will leave it here for now untill the direction is more clear, I feel that doing the proposal is turning up new sources and I would like to keep the practical experiments relevant to save on time that is so precious after not being well.
Still trying to get on top of these journals, I have been given an extension so should be able to lock down my proposal and where my project is going. My next worry is how it will effect my practical progress.
This journal is really interesting and exactly what I'm looking for there are sections discussing how " mental models have been outlined as internal representations of concepts and ideas."
This is my main focus, to create something that can be drawn upon when thinking of the topic such as the rough atom animation that I did. These mental models can then be used as memory structures that can be used to "extrapolate beyond a surface understanding of presented information, to build deeper comprehension of a conceptual domain". Also this could tie into freeing up mental capacity mentioned in the previous post, used in tandem could really create a more visual, efficient and long lasting model for the reader. This would be especially helpful in the realms of using visualizations as educational methodologies.
looking into how they create the curriculum could be great for maybe incorporating into a framework?
The Art of Visualisation: Understanding metaphors.
Lynn Baker talks about the tactics frequently employed by teachers
whereby they “employ the use of metaphors to assist students to develop their
understanding, moving from concepts already familiar to them, to unknown areas
and perhaps more abstract concepts”. This can be especially
useful for faster information retention when the target new concept is complex. So in context to my own work, looking into genetics and the elemental table are perfect domains where the concepts are all hidden to the naked eye, meaning the mind needs a reference or model to grapple with the information, creating a foundation to be build upon as you learn more.
Analogy, dialectics and lifelong learning BAILEY T. International Journal of Lifelong Education
I am in the process of reading this but it seems to be on the same train of thought, in that he suggests that complexity of topics plays a big role in how we take them in, the harder and complex the topic - the more necessary a visual aid is
Recently I have been locking down my Key texts for my proposal and trying to find good quotes and notes on what I can gather. The selection is so wide and varied that is can be hard to not get lost in it all and find yourself in a realm of information that is too far from the reality of your topic.
The visualisation chapter of this journal really focuses on the point that by using visualisation in tandem with other inputs such as text, it frees up 'cognitive space' of the working memory. This means that when consulting text or a visual learning aid, your eyes can take in more than decoding everything in text form. For example if you are reading an article and there is an image that represents its core concept, you can consult the image as you read allowing the words to form meaning in your head a lot faster, as you have a rough mental image of it already.
"When readers construct mental images during reading it enables them to form strong links with personal meanings and develop deeper levels of reading engagement"
Following this younger reader will be more active in reading sessions where relevant imagery is used as:
"It follows that children will be more engaged in the reading process when they use visual imagery because it relies on prior experiences to construct mental pictures."
Its all about them building up on what the text and words represent, then they can make connections and observations about what they are reading. This will create a foundation and mental library for them to consult when reading pages that have no images, or speeding up thought processes if there is imagery.
This could be woven into the DNA bunny concept, very watered down genetics, or at least the mental modal for genetics. Would be an interesting topic to challenge the typical demographic age for learning about complex topics.
2 Visualization
Scientific information is spread out over disciplines which, to the outside observer, may seem to have little in common. It is like trying to complete a puzzle and not knowing where to put the piece held in the hand, not seeing which puzzle pieces it fits in with.which is not visible to the eye, or to create a mental image of something that is not obvious (e.g. an abstraction)” (Owen, 1999) is the definition of the word “visualization” that point to the intrinsic need to represent information in a non-traditional manner.
To visualize is a task of the communicative process, through which abstract data and complex phe that
cannot be directly retrieved from a hidden body of knowledge.visible to the human eye that which is small and very difficult to perceive, only exists in our minds, information science resorts to the diffuse realm of
the so-called virtual reality.
Computerized visualization techniques can beused to make manifest phenomena that are not visible on their own, such as the implicit relationships among component elements (Araya, 2003).
What is visualisation? - Lev Manovich
This article is focused on what visualisation is and how it can about, from points, straight lines, curves and simple geometric shapes to stand in for objects and relations between them. It also includes sections on position, size, shape and, movement to convey the differences in information and their relationships. I'm still in the process of reading this journal, but it seems as it would be useful in conveying how and why we see things as they are, and how we build these relationship. All of this in turn could effect how i create my work and how I present it .
A little post! I found this you tube video of the making of DNA very similar to the work of David Bolinski and his visualisation of the cell. After looking a lot into metaphors I realise that even animations like this are metaphorical of what they represent. You could even stretch and say that photographs of people are metaphors and not actual representations, they are only just implicitly said to be someone despite being a piece of photo paper and ink. Its the connections and what they mean to us that form the link to the ideas.
After seeing a lot of visualisations and animations that represent something it occurred to me that they are no more that metaphorical representations of what they stood for. With this in mind I began to look for works that were more abstract and thought provoking, that would take more than a quick look over to understand them
Above is a picture of ‘Chromosome book’ by French student Avril de Perthuis (2011) who metaphorically broke down and visualised natural selection. The book is comprised of many pages that can be arranged in many different possible combinations. Some combinations make the book more readable, but there is only one combination that enables the viewer to read the whole book. This reflects and draws similarities to natural selection in that there are many different possible gene combinations, some are better than others; however there is one that supersedes the rest and is the most effective. I found the piece highly intriguing as it is very interactive and though experimenting with the pages, you become more informed about the process of natural selection and its concept. Interactivity I think is a key area that would grant looking further into, if more than one sense is involved in learning a topic the more information there is connected to it.
Above is a live posters that animate while you are waiting in line, I thought that this was a great example of an animated 'poster' that already existed. I would think that they would be the next big thing, with corridors in school lined with different ones. If i was to develop the Ancient light project or even the hydrogen atom project then either could be used as digital posters.
It has also lead me to think about interactivity in a tactile sense - I recently had a meeting with two specialists at the university, Adam Sampson who was coding based, and James Bown who focused on the visualisation side of things. They were currently creating a system to represent and visualise how cells and chemicals would be affected by different kinds of cancer treatment, as well as past works where they would break down biological hierarchy's and make codded models of how they interact with each other. I initially had a meeting with Adam where he showed me the models of he was working on and how they could be programmed to show different behaviours and reactions. I found this really interesting as I could see the benefits of making it and how it could be used to map behaviour of a lot of things from bird flocks to bacteria. The viewer could then see how they would react in certain situations visually, enabling them to try and predict outcomes/ make observations.
Following this I had a meeting with James Bown where he showed me a recent presentation on the work he was doing on the cancer research and visualisation. It was very insightful for me to see how they were using the models they had made of cell hierarchy and how the cancer effected them, and then incorporated that into visualisation of the whole process. You could then take one chain of the cell, add a chemical reaction and see what effect it had on the cancer and the rest of the chain of command. Highly complicated stuff, but with the use of the visualisation and the body's capability of taking in so much visually it was a lot easier to take in than it would of been if it were text based.
Jonathan Harris' magical new media projects redefine storytelling from PopTech on Vimeo.
I saw this video the other day, and it made me think of the connections we have between everything, from people to objects and memories. Made me think about my work and the works of other being more like bridges to get people to connect A with B.
Another artist who strives to do the same is Ronald Forbes creates abstract artwork bringing together different aspects of some ideas and merging them with others. His work seems very poetic and metaphorical bringing mostly science and art together in abstract manners that challenge us to see where one begins and he other ends. Some images have collages of different images to define microbes or scientific ideas, yet the imagery is almost nonsensical at first glance with layer of meaning and literal layers in the paining. I want to maybe corporates more abstract models into my own work.
Ronald Forbes
I have had some ideas of abstract ways to visualise some scientific topics these include:
Elemental Flowers
looking at how i could relate the elements to different types of flowers, with petals denoting their electron number and seeds to represent their protons/neutrons
Pair of Chromosome Hares
While looking at different scientific concepts on genetics i came across a picture of Chromosomes
After a long day working I squinted at the picture and thought that they looked very much like bunny ears, so I started thinking about if you could create a concept to teach younger children about genetics using simple Bunny or Hare metaphors . This would challenge normal constraints of age demographics and when you would be taught genetics. It may be too much abstraction for very young children, but could merit looking into.
Following experiments with the particle emitter in Maya I decided to see if I could create a shell or electron field that was more reflective of its ambiguous nature of it not existing at any specific point.
These were some experiments where i was altering the diffusion and spread of the gas and creating hollows in the middle for the quarks.
Instead i decided to go with a shader, and after a few tests decided to go with the one on the bottom right with a grey mist like feeling around the edges, and hollow middle. I thought that it would give a orb like feeling at the same time as giving a sense of cloudiness near the edges.
I also did experiments with the connection editor using it to animate the colour or the orbs depending on their positions so that the colour of the animation would be more dynamic changing as you moved it around the axis's.
Above are the first two renders of the models, the coloured materials inside are made out of animated 3D particle effects giving them a swirling motion representing the mysterious quarks inside any atom.
Above is the first animation I did showing the glowing quarks and the shader orb, i created motion paths for the 3D emitters to follow and set the animations to repeatedly follow that. This was to represent how the quarks interact with each other, the next level would be them exchanging colours perhaps related to where they were on their motion path. I wanted to slow it down a bit and get rid of the jitter as it seemed to erratic.
Here is the final animation for now, much smoother than before. I also added a representative photon that flies in from the top right passing thought the electron layer and exciting it to another level, which then drops back down to its base line after a duration. This in real life would create an emission of a photon, which if continued i will add in later.
All of these animations are proof of theory and aim to get a basic model in there to work upon. I would like to see what my lecturers thing and then take it from there following crit.
This Crit post has been long long overdue with notes on my feedback resting in my notebook. Overall I think I got good feedback on my progress, after all my meeting with the scientists and really focusing on practical work after comments in Pitch.
Some key point were to explore more abstract idea and to get more of my artistic stamp on the practical work. I think this is a fair point as my practical work was mostly test done in maya as proof of concept and to know that I could do it. However, I think there is a lot to say artistically about how people see imagery and form connections to other things. I would like to explore this more as I have seen it cropping up in work I find. I would like to try to stay loyal to a practical based project, founded on education and learning vs a more exploratory art endeavour, though I'm not opposed to elements of this in my work.
So to summarise I will be looking more into HOW we see things and form connection and HOW the use of metaphor can make things easier to understand, and if it is applicable visually. My main focus these next few week will be to get my proposal materials all rounded up such as key texts etc.
