The Experiment: a New Tool for Old Data

This visualisation is a further development of the Risk Cartography on food supplements, which analysed a number of substances in terms of the varying risk associated with them and the variance of scientific and public opinion about their safety. It has been previously explored through the “Risk Cartography” Tool, as developed by the Munich Institute for Social and Sustainability Research, at LMU-Munich. This collaboration between University of Manchester and Munich has sought to create an animation that helps give a dynamic and integrated approach to the visualisation of this case study by adapting the visualisation techniques created for the Manchester “London 2012 Olympic Stadium Controversy".

Figure 1- Screenshot of the Risk Cartography website

In the Risk Cartography tool, developed by the Munich team, the dietary supplements can be analysed from the perspective of either: "Akteure" (actors), "Stoffe" (things), and “Streitfragen” (concerns). When navigating the case study, it can be seen which concerns are linked to which things, and so forth, such that expanding “beta-carotene” in the Things sections shows three relevant concerns. Yet, it is impossible to see if the concerns are of import for the other Things in the controversy. Similarly, selecting Actors for beta-carotene will show “Consumer Organisations”, the “Federal Institute for Risk Assessment”, and the “Bund für Lebensmittelrecht und Lebensmittelkunde”. It is hard to see how these actors relate not only to the beta-carotene, but also to the specific concerns.

The parametric mapping developed by the Manchester team in collaboration with the Munich team, aims at connecting the data from the blue folder (Actors) with the data from the green folder (Things), and the orange folder (Matters of Concerns) by showing simultaneously how the different food supplements become issues of controversy and relate to actors. We use the same data from the Risk Cartography and even the same colour diagram - blue, red and green to produce the parametric mapping. We seek at visualising how a particular matter of concern mobilises actors and things differently so as to offer a dynamic picture of the process of enrolment.

The Animation

The animation is rendered in 3ds Max and outputted to a standard video file format. It is viewable from the Risk Cartography website.

Phase 1 - Worldview

The animation begins with a worldview containing the 12 concerns located in a 2D space. Actors are then introduced and connections are made to concerns. As mentioned before, actors are weighted by the amount of quotations they have given, and are positioned around the concern with which their quotes are associated. Actors, which share similar statements about a particular concern are grouped closer together. This is not so apparent in the initial world-view section, but becomes more visible as the animation progresses.

Figure 2 - Phase 1 with a worldview of food supplements controversy with all 12 concerns and actors

Phase 2 – Concerns

Subsequently, the map begins a sequence of reconfigured spaces, allowing each concern to become the central object of concern in turn. Actors are weighted in the same fashion as in the previous section, only with the concern against which they are measured. There are 12 concerns, as provided on the compiled datasheet, which are mapped for about 10 seconds each, before once again returning to the world view as presented in Phase 1.

The weightings are as follows:

1. Positioning of actors: The distance of a given actor from the centre of the screen is determined by the amount of quotations linked to a given concern. Those with converging statements are positioned closer to each other rather than the centre.
2. Thickness of connecting line: also determined by the quantity of quotations linked to a given concern.
3. Size of actor text: Adjusted in accordance with the number of quotations linked to a given concern (as per line thickness).

Figure 3 - Phase 2 with actors located around concerns

There is no time component in this animation, as the data is derived from an overall study of the controversy based on perspectives. Sources are timestamped in the database, but the use of these would be largely irrelevant for the visualisation, as the original study was not planned with a significant time component in mind. Positioning actors according to their common concerns and statements provides an additional element to the Risk Cartography website by showing how actors converge in opinion around a given concern. This is about as much as could be added in terms of the data available, but perhaps shows that there is scope for further exploration with other case studies.

Results

The parametric mapping of the food supplements controversy offers:

1. A concern-oriented mapping illustrating the particular configuration of actors and the nature of their connections. Every concern is able to enrol.
2. By revisiting the source data of the controversy, the animation provides weighted distances and actor node sizes. That is, a slightly more quantitative approach.
3. A dynamic presentation of how matters of concern generate debate spaces with different capacities of enrolment.

We believe the animation makes a step further towards a meaningful and informative display of controversies for a public of non-experts.

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Gerald Beck, Liam Heaphy, Cordula Kropp, Albena Yaneva
Animation: Danny Richards

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Attachments of PlatformFoodSuppl