text+images+data: a more complex way to convey results of scientific research

Text + Images + Data: A More Complete Way to Convey

Results of Scientific Research

Carol TenopirUniversity of Tennesseectenopir@utk.eduweb.utk.edu/~tenopir/

In science, images visualize data or are data…

Text, data, and images together convey scientific meaning

Spatio-Temporal Exploratory Model identifies factors affecting patterns of migration

Diverse bird observations and environmental data from 300,00 locations in the US integrated and analyzed using High Performance Computing Resources

Land Cover

Meteorology

MODIS – Remote sensing data

• Examine patterns of migration

• Infer how climate change may affect bird migration

Model results

Occurrence of Indigo Bunting (2008)

Jan Sep DecJunApr

And…together with models can enable scientific discovery

4

Granularity in the Journal World

Granularity=

Divisible: Made up of conveniently small and independent parts

1. JournalTitle 2. Issue

3. Article

4. Objects (figures, tables, pictures)

ProQuest Illustrata: Tables and Figures

Objects DatabaseRecord includes:

• Full image • Captions• Index terms• Link to full text• Other metadata

The Article can also be a starting point to expand…

Data Repositories like Dryad help link datasets to journal articles

ICE Collectors

ICE Users

Information Center for the Environment (ICE) UC Davis

ICE Collects Water Data

ICE Users

agencies

citizens

faculty

Other repositories exist without journals…

ICE Collectors

ICE Users

Information Center for the Environment (ICE) UC Davis

ICE Collects Water Data

ICE Users

agencies

citizens

faculty

Investigator Toolkit

ICE Collectors

ICE Users

DataONE Users

Information Center for the Environment (ICE) UC Davis

ICE Collects Water Data

ICE Users

agencies

citizens

faculty

Investigator Toolkit

Reading patterns may vary with purpose …

Sometimes you need an entire article or most of one (catching up or writing)

Sometimes you need just a part like a paragraph or picture (teaching or to check a fact)

Sometimes you need citations or data beyond the article (research)

Deep Indexing Study of 60 scientists in 7 universities and 2 institutes in US and Europe

Observing 350+ Searches

Pre and Post Surveys

Search Diaries

What scientists currently do

to “be inspired by how other researchers set up figures and tables”

Potential uses: finding, comparing, learning

“Sometimes tables, figures, maps, etc. are ‘hidden’ in other papers.”

“comparing data from other researchers to your own findings.”

Potential Use: To retrieve and use images for Research and Teaching

2005

2007

2009

50%

70%

90%

Test 1Test 2Final

Potential Use: To compare their work with others’

Potential Use: To support analysis

Participants anticipate using the objects retrieved : for review articles to “be inspired by how other researchers

set up figures/tables” to “expose me to different areas in

which similar methods are used”

Potential to change practice

“I discovered some new

publications in areas where

I thought I knew all.”

“…made me think about different ways that data is conveyed…I’ll design my own future graphs and figures to better ‘stand alone’ as a result.”

“I actually did a few

successful searches

where unexpected and

interesting information

came up.”

Suggestions for Success

Images must be of high quality with ability to enlarge thumbnail images

The context of the whole article is very important—in fact it may be dangerous to see images without the context

Allow table contents to be searchable and support extraction of data from tables

Others can access my data easily

Place all of my data into a central data repository

I share my data

Place at least some of my data into a central data repository

0% 50% 100%

36%

41%

75%

78%

Gap Between Willingness to Share and Accessibility

I would use other researchers' datasets if easily accessible

Lack of access to data has restricted my ability to answer scientific questions

Lack of access to data is a major impediment to the progress of science

0% 50% 100%

78%

84%

50%

27%

50%

Consequences of Lack of Access to Other Datasets

In conclusion… Providing access to visual material can help

scientists in many ways Sometimes scientists need just a part of an

article and systems that help them find parts Sometimes they need to read an entire article Sometimes they need data (and many are

willing to share) Think at many levels of granularity—journal

issues AND whole articles AND parts of articles AND extensions to articles such as data

Thank you

Carol Tenopir

ctenopir@utk.edu