Vetenskapsteoretiska och metodologiska perspektiv på tidsgeografiska visualiseringsmodeller. -En fallstudie i samhällsvetenskaplig visualisering
Interdisciplinary studiesTidsgeografiVetenskaplig visualiseringVetenskapsteoriTorsten HägerstrandSamhällsvetenskaplig visualiseringDatorgrafikMetodutveckling Time geographyScientific visualizationScience and technology studiesTorsten HägerstrandSocial science visualization techniquesComputer graphicsTVÄRVETENSKAP
In the history of scientific visualization techniques there is a lack of social science practices and methodologies. The advent of modern computer graphics brought the use of visualizations into a whole new era, but even though the tools by which such modern visualizations are created become easier to access and use, the lack of social science researchers harvesting the benefits of such tools still remain. This ease of use, increase in power and accessibility plus the ever growing need within the natural sciences to augment the human senses has further complicated the relationship between scientific methodologies, validity, reliability and the use of visualization techniques. This relationship must be explored, demystified and understood in order to fully grasp the impact of visualization practices when incorporated into any given scientific method. Within the social sciences there is one example of a tradition that has since its conception carried within it a graphical notion and a visualization practice. Time geography, a theory/method from the field of human/cultural geography has at its core a set of visualization techniques that encapsulate the very framework of time geographical analysis. Since it has been an integral part of the method trough out its history, it provides the perfect example for the study of the relationship between graphical visualization techniques and methodological development. The essay uses time geography as a case to construct and try out a set of scientific and methodological perspectives on the use of modern visualization techniques in social science practices. It is not an attempt to critically deconstruct this relationship within time geography, rather it points to a possible approach to the study of visualization techniques and their impact/role in the development of social science practices.