Scholars Award: Visualization at the Nanoscale: The Uses of Images in the Production and Promotion of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

本项目由科学、技术与社会计划资助；纳米尺度探索性研究；土木，机械和制造创新部门是纳米级现象可视化的研究。可视化是一个用于科学技术研究（STS）的术语，用来描述使研究对象可见、可分析和可传播的物质和社会过程。可视化的研究包括对公开呈现的图像和文本插图的分析，但也包括从数据中创建图像的实验室实践和仪器。因此，研究可视化的一个要求是回溯数据转换为图像的路径，并为特定目的选择候选图像。纳米级现象的图像（“纳米图像”）特别令人感兴趣，主要有两个原因。(1)纳米图像据说是通过操纵产生的，它们与独立可观察的实体没有明确的关系。然而，它们是由形状和颜色的可见配置组成的，唤起了熟悉的景观和可识别的模式，同时声称未来可以在纳米尺度上看到和/或建造。(2)纳米图像和图片库作为科学和工业中广泛运动的一部分，似乎在促进纳米科学和技术方面起着主导作用。这就提出了一个问题：如果有的话，普及的图像与研究前沿的纳米级现象的可视化有什么关系？选定的科学和工程实验室主要在康奈尔大学进行研究，目的是了解如何为不同的目的和受众制作图像。与实验室研究人员和相关技术人员的开放式访谈侧重于特定图像和图像处理工作的顺序。不同种类的图像的例子被收集和检查的方式，他们部署视觉修辞为特定的分析和呈现目的。这项研究有助于STS在科学可视化方面的学术研究，以及对纳米科学和纳米技术中图像的使用和显示的快速增长的兴趣。该项目强调了视觉现象和物质文化在实践和认知上的重要性。它揭示了各种类型的纳米图像，并研究它们是否以及如何代表与研究对象和不同受众的新关系。该项目补充了康奈尔大学正在进行的关于新兴技术的伦理、法律和社会方面的研究和培训。这项研究还为一本为历史、STS、视觉研究和其他领域的本科生和研究生教学设计的书（暂定名为《科学中的图像》）做出了贡献。

This project funded by the Science, Technology, and Society Program; Nanoscale Exploratory Research; and the Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation is a study of the visualization of nanoscale phenomena. Visualization is a term used in science and technology studies (STS) to describe the material and social process of making research objects visible, analyzable, and communicable. The study of visualization includes the analysis of publicly presented images and textual illustrations, but it also includes laboratory practices and instruments that create images from data. Consequently, a requirement for studying visualization is to retrace the pathways through which data are transformed into images, and candidate images are chosen for specific purposes.Images of nanoscale phenomena ("nano-images") are of particular interest for two principal reasons. (1) Nano-images are said to be created through manipulation, and they have no clear relation to independently observable entities. Nevertheless, they are composed as visible configurations of shape and color that evoke familiar landscapes and discernable patterns, while laying claim to a future of what can be seen and/or built at the nanoscale. (2) Nano-images and image galleries appear to have a leading role in the promotion of nanoscience and technology as part of a broad-based movement in science and industry. This raises the question of what, if any, relation the popularized images have to visualization of nanoscale phenomena at the research front. Selected science and engineering laboratories are studied primarily at Cornell University for the purpose of learning about how images are produced for different purposes and audiences. Open-ended interviews with laboratory researchers and relevant technical staff focus on specific images and sequences of image-processing work. Examples of images of different kinds are collected and examined for the way they deploy visual rhetoric for specific analytical and presentational purposes. The research contributes to STS scholarship on visualization in science, and to a rapidly growing interest in the use and display of images in nanoscience and nanotechnology. The project emphasizes the practical and epistemic importance of visual phenomena and material culture. It sheds light on the various types of nano-image, and examines whether and how they represent novel relations to objects of study and to different audiences.The project supplements ongoing research and training at Cornell University on ethical, legal, and social aspects of emerging technologies. The research also contributes to a book (tentatively titled Images in Science) designed for undergraduate and graduate level teaching in history, STS, visual studies, and other fields.