Tag Archives: Nanotechnology: Size Really is Everything

Visualizing nanotechnology data with Seed Media Group and GE (General Electric)

University of Washington (UW) researchers have uploaded a number of nanotechnology infographics on the visualizing.org website, from the UW Division of Design 2010: Nanotechnology Infographics webpage,

There are more than 1/2 dozen of these nanotechnology-themed infographics available on the page. This particular infographic, Nanotechnology:  Size Really is Everything,  has the following credit line,

By Kim Shedrick. Faculty: Karen Cheng, Marco Rolandi. Part of a series of infographics explaining nanotechnology through scale, how it has integrated into society, and what products it is being used in today.

Cheng and Rolandi have been mentioned here before in a Feb. 22, 2012 posting about their University of Washington Design Help Desk and their effort to match up scientists with designers in the interest of producing better science graphics.

I have nothing against better science graphics but I would like to know what information/data is supporting this and their other visualizations. I did resize the graphic to look more closely at the text but there were no references or citations.

Btw, The website handles ‘zooming’ in to see details clumsily. Rather than a click on the zooming tool resulting in a larger image, you are presented with an infographic which is now held within an Adobe PDF reader before you can magnify the image.

For those generally interested in infographics and visualizing date, there’s a lot to choose from on the Visualizing.org website. For those who like to dig a bit deeper, this site is a public relations ploy by General Electric and Seed Media Group. From the About Visualizing.org webpage,

Visualizing.org was created by GE and Seed Media Group to help make data visualization more accessible to the general public; to promote information literacy through the creation, sharing, and discussion of data visualizations; and to provide a unique resource to help simplify complex issues through design.

Seed Media seems to be an outgrowth (pun intended) of SEED Magazine. The magazine, which was founded by Adam Bly when he lived in Montréal, Canada, has always been focused on science and culture.  Headquarters for the magazine were moved to New York and, either at the same time or later, the magazine became a strictly online publication. From the Wikipedia essay (Note: Links have been removed),

Seed (subtitled Science Is Culture; originally Beneath the Surface) is an online science magazine published by Seed Media Group. The magazine looks at big ideas in science, important issues at the intersection of science and society, and the people driving global science culture. Seed was founded in Montreal by Adam Bly and the magazine is now headquartered in New York with bureaus around the world. May/June 2009 (Issue No. 22) was the last print issue. Content continues to be published on the website.

(I first mentioned SEED magazine in a Sept. 18, 2009 posting.) Interestingly, Seed Media which publishes the magazine makes no mention of it (that I could find) on its website. From Seed Media Group’s Learn webpage,

Scientific ThinkingTM

It’s a different way of looking at the world. It’s about using data to uncover patterns and design to confront complexity. It’s about connecting things to reveal systems. It’s about traversing scales and disregarding disciplines, applying neuroscience to economics, math to global health, virology to manufacturing, and genetics to law… It’s about experimenting all the way to understanding. It’s about changing your mind with new evidence – and getting as close to truth as humanly possible.

Getting 7 billion people to think scientifically has never been a small mission. And it has never been more important.

Since 2005, we have offered ideas and stories to help people think scientifically. Now we’re taking the next big step in this journey by creating tools and services to help institutions – companies, governments, and international organizations – do the same. We’re taking our way of seeing and thinking to parliaments, courtrooms, hospitals, construction sites, boardrooms… around the world – to catalyze scientific thinking at scale.

I’m not sure how one would go about trademarking ‘scientific thinking’ as this is  a very commonly used phrase and I’m pretty sure a case could be made that it has been common language for centuries.  This oddity had me going back to the Visualizing.org for their terms and conditions, which are largely unexceptionable,

These are the general terms of use. For terms and conditions regarding the uploading of work, please read the Visualization Submission Agreement.

This Web site is owned by General Electric Company (“GE”) and operated by Seed Media Group, LLC (“Seed”). Throughout the site, the terms “we,” “us” and “our” refer collectively to GE and Seed. We offer this Web site, including all information, tools and services available from this site, to you, the user, conditioned upon your acceptance of all the terms, conditions, policies and notices stated here. Your use of this site constitutes your agreement to these Terms of Use.

When you submit material other than a Visualization, you grant us and our affiliates an unrestricted, nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute and display such material throughout the world in any media. You further agree that we are free to use any ideas, concepts, know-how that you or individuals acting on your behalf provide to us. [emphasis mine] You grant us and our affiliates the right to use the name you submit in connection with such material, if we so choose. All personal information provided via this site will be handled in accordance with the site’s online Privacy Policy. You represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all the rights to the content you post; that the content is accurate; that use of the content you supply does not violate any provision herein and will not cause injury to any person or entity; and that you will indemnify us for all claims resulting from content you supply.

Interesting, non? This has me wondering if it’s possible that  these folks (GE & Seed Media) might decide to use a concept from the visualization without any permission needed. If I understand this rightly, the promise is the visualization won’t be used, all they need is the idea or concept and either company (GE/Seed) or their affiliates can find someone else to illustrate or visualize it.  I find a company (Seed) that’s trying to trademark ‘scientific thinking’ might have some credibility issues regarding their stated terms and conditions for this visualizing.org website.

For the icing on this visualization cake, here’s a video from Visualizing.org’s About page where there is much discussion about the importance of design and visualization of data but not one single scientist is featured,