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The monitoring of Earth ecosystems by digital technologies extends far beyond scientific research and meteorological forecast to constitute the main way we control our world today. Our increasing reliance on digital technologies occurs while climate change is dramatically accelerating. As humans, we are facing a paradoxical equation: the data and machines we use to monitor and regulate ecosystems constitute also an important ecological threat to the planet.
The digital sphere is formed by the connection to the network of zillions of very different entities, from the tiniest sensors to the largest data centers, from individual smartphones to large intermediation platforms connecting billions of users. This complex system interacts with various socio-economic dynamics, creating a metabolism where positive and negative feedback loops favors or impedes the collection, exchanges and use of data.
The mechanisms of interactions between socio-technical systems and the ecospheres are so complex that we lack the ability to form useful mental images. Still, we urgently need useful representations to conceive what is happening - and how we should act. With the Atlas of Data, we hope to contribute tools and experiences that help understand similarities, centrality, periphery or boundaries of such complex structures.
The Atlas of Data invites designers, artists, and visualisation practitioners to explore the frontiers of representation by producing maps, objects, performances, or installations. We provide recent and reliable scientific sources as a basis for these creative and artistic works.
The Atlas of Data produces new knowledge and collects existing ones. Everything we produce is available in the public domain. Therefore, it is particularly suited for the development of pedagogical outcomes and curricula.
The Atlas of Data is a non-profit initiative.
- Clément Renaud (EPFL, ENS de Lyon) - Founder
- Stéphane Grumbach (INRIA, ENS de Lyon) - Scientific advisor
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Reach out by email at contact@theatlasofdata.earth
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