Mapping the Scientific Landscape
| Описание события | Our topic is "Mapping the scientific landscape". We will see that science is not only a collection of texts. Science is a network of people, papers, words and ideas. And a network can be drawn as a map. |
|---|---|
| Тип события | Мастер класс |
| Начало | 2026-11-12T13:00:06.000Z |
| Окончание | 2026-11-12T16:00:00.000Z |
| color | orange |
| Адрес события | |
| Видео запись события | |
| Среды и средства, которые использовались в рамках события | VOSviewer, Lens, OpenAlex, OpenRefine, PlantUML |
| Формируемые в рамках события компетенции | |
| Область знаний | Социология, Образование, Картография |
| Местоположение | |
| Формат реализации | On-line |
- Before the lesson, check
- Internet access to app.vosviewer.com, lens.org, openalex.org.
- VOSviewer desktop is installed (it needs Java or comes with it, depending on the version).
- OpenRefine is installed and opens in the browser at `http://127.0.0.1:3333`.
The file `ai-game.csv` (exported from Lens.org) is ready, as a backup in case Lens is slow. - A saved VOSviewer JSON file made from `ai-game.csv`, also as a backup.
Opening
Today we will open real data, make real maps, and you will be able to repeat every step now and later at home.
Our topic is "Mapping the scientific landscape". We will see that science is not only a collection of texts. Science is a network of people, papers, words and ideas. And a network can be drawn as a map.
First, a short story about maps and science. Then three tools: VOSviewer in the browser, the Lens.org library, and then VOSviewer and OpenRefine on our own computers. If we have time at the end, I will show you one more small tool, PlantUML.
Part 1. What is Science of Science?
Story 1. Reading an old map
Let me start with a novel. Arturo Perez-Reverte, a Spanish writer, wrote a book called La carta esferica. In English it is The Nautical Chart. In this book, an old sea chart from the 18th century is the key to a lost ship, the Dei Gloria, which sank near the Spanish coast in 1767.
What I like in this story is this: a map alone tells you nothing. You need to know the context. Who made the map? When? With what instruments? What did people know at that time? When you know the context, you can read the map, find the meaning, and rebuild the chain of events.
Sometimes I feel like an old professor of cartography. Students come to me with a map of their research field, or with a guess, and together we try to remember the context and find the story behind the map. This is exactly what we will do today with maps of science.
Story 2. Science grows by making maps
The French sociologist Bruno Latour, in his book Science in Action (1987), shows that science grows when people learn to make new kinds of maps and bring them back to one place. He calls these places "centres of calculation". He tells the story of the French navigator La Pérouse, who came to Sakhalin in 1787. Local people drew the island for him in the sand. La Pérouse wrote it down, and this drawing travelled to Europe and became part of a big map.
Look at the history of science as a history of maps:
- Sea maps of navigators — the map of the Earth.
- Star maps — made with telescopes.
- Maps of cells and molecules — made with microscopes, in biology and biochemistry.
- Maps of economic processes — trade, money, markets.
And now: maps of science itself — made from data about papers, authors and citations.
- What instrument do we need to see science as a whole? A telescope? A microscope?
