The Visibility of Knowledge [#DH]

That's the title of a new research project involving Andrew Piper, Chad Wellmon, and Mohamed Cheriet:

Our aim is to study how scientific knowledge became visible to readers over the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries using new computational techniques in image detection. The project is based on previous work that was part of a Digging into Data Challenge Grant.

The nineteenth century is traditionally understood as the great age of scientific popularization, when scientific knowledge moved from a specialized writing practice to one that was increasingly engaged with by a broader public. Bringing together a team of humanists and computer scientists, we are interested in understanding how visual techniques, such as the use of footnotes, diagrams, tables and mimetic representations of objects, were used to engage the public and make new ideas accessible. Rather than focus exclusively on language, we want to know more about the different cultures of scientific representation that accompanied this writing.