This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
Nothing can say"Amazing art!" the way an intricate web with your own name in the center can. I am glorious.
LinkedIn launched a feature called InMaps back in 2011 and they produce visually arresting, zoomable depictions of your network.
Over the last 6 or 7 years, I've developed my LinkedIn network in a mostly casual way. If I see science based artists, I usually add them to my network. And that's why I'm sharing this. From a Glendon-Mellow-centric point of view, I found it fascinating (of course I did) to look at the world of SciArt as it appears in my network.
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The giant blue mass to the right of my InMap are science bloggers, writers, tweeters and journalists. People I know from ScienceOnline, here on Scientific American and the whole #scicomm community. The dense orange mass on the left represents my colleagues at INVIVO Communications.
What I found interesting about the way my network is displayed are the illustrators:
In a very helix-shaped swirl spiralling out from the orange are grey dots of biomedical illustrators & animators, many members of the Association of Medical Illustrators. Which makes sense, since INVIVO employs some of the best medical animators in the industry (you guys rock, come on).
From the grey dots coalesces the upper-center green mass of nature + science illustrators, many from the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators.
In a large vapourous cloud in the center of the visualization are pale pink dots on top and darker magenta on bottom. These are paleontology illustrators (pale pink) and Toronto-based science artists (magenta).
Through just the simple lense of my LinkedIn contacts one can see interrelations between various disciplines or SciArt and illustration, and how distinct they can appear from one another - and from the world of science communication. Science artists, illustrators, animators and cartoonists: we have to work to keep infiltrating that blue cloud!
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I'd love to keep developing this map! If you're a scientific illustrator or science artists, connect with me on LinkedIn.
