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Aesthetics and Astronomy 1 Running head: AESTHETICS AND ASTRONOMY Aesthetics and Astronomy: Studying the public's perception and understanding of imagery from space
Abstract and Figures
Some 400 years after Galileo, modern telescopes have enabled humanity to "see" what the natural eye cannot. Astronomical images today contain information about incredibly large objects located across vast distances and reveal information found in "invisible" radiation ranging from radio waves to X-rays. The current generation of telescopes has created an explosion of images available for the public to explore. This has, importantly, coincided with the maturation of the Internet. Every major telescope has a web site, often with an extensive gallery of images. New and free downloadable tools exist for members of the public to explore astronomical data and even create their own images. In short, a new era of an accessible universe has been entered, in which the public can participate and explore like never before. But there is a severe lack of scholarly and robust studies to probe how people - especially non-experts - perceive these images and the information they attempt to convey. Most astronomical images for the public have been processed (e.g., color choices, artifact removal, smoothing, cropping/field-of-view shown) to strike a balance between the science being highlighted and the aesthetics designed to engage the public. However, the extent to which these choices affect perception and comprehension is, at best, poorly understood. The goal of the studies presented here was to begin a program of research to better understand how people perceive astronomical images, and how such images, and the explanatory material that accompanies them, can best be presented to the public in terms of understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of the images and the science that underlies them. Comment: 49 pages, 14 figures, Science Communication, in press
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... Lakomý et al.'s (2019) review concluded that knowledge had a weak positive association with public perception of science. Furthermore, Smith et al. (2011) found that people perceived astronomical images differently based on knowledge levels. Experts looked at astronomical images from a data-orientation perspective and nonexperts perceived aesthetic or emotional values of the images (Smith et al., 2011). ...
... Furthermore, Smith et al. (2011) found that people perceived astronomical images differently based on knowledge levels. Experts looked at astronomical images from a data-orientation perspective and nonexperts perceived aesthetic or emotional values of the images (Smith et al., 2011). Cataldo et al. (2019) observed differences between credibility judgments of science news sources and educational stages. ...
Our literature review identified factors influencing public perception of science within the context of science communication. We analyzed 40 studies using an integrative literature review method and found that most research about public perception of science was conducted in developed countries’ contexts. We identified five categories of factors that influence public perception: Type of science, audience beliefs, socio-demographics, source of communication, and environment. We observed the type of science is the fundamental factor that determines the influence of other factors. Audience belief factors are the most influential factor theme. We also noticed that factors act as confounding and/or mediating variables that cannot separate them as a single factor to identify individual influence. To show the factors and their degree of influence on public perception of science, we developed a conceptual framework called the “ring of public perception of science.” The framework highlights the need for a holistic approach to examining the influence of factors affecting public perception of science. The proposed framework is based on a qualitative approach; further research is needed to validate relationships among these factors. Specifically, we recommend further research on context-specific factors because context is important to science communication, emerging environmental factors because of the changing landscape of science communication, and the use of social media to disseminate scientific information.
... Needless to say, it is not the same experience as being literally in space and looking at Earth. Nevertheless, astronomical images alone can create a sense of awe and wonder among ordinary people (Smith et al., 2011). In Interstellar, when we see the tiny spaceship Endurance passing by planets, the movie overwhelms the viewer and makes them feel insignificant relative to the cosmos. ...
Science fiction has almost become a modern-day mythology, and it is a genre that reaches the masses in the field of cinema, in a way that its literature counterpart cannot. The ‘sublime,’ identified as one of the attractive aspects of science fiction literature, is a philosophical and aesthetic concept with a wide semantic application associated with greatness, power, and limitlessness. The expression of the sublime in cinema creates an emotion of ‘awe.’ Awe as a complex emotion has been increasingly explored in theoretical and empirical studies in recent years. In this study, the emotion of awe is examined with the example of Interstellar (Christopher Nolan, 2014). The film has distinctive depictions of the sublime and it suggests two distinguishing features of awe (i.e., vastness and a need for accommodation) through various aspects of science fiction themes and certain affective qualities. It has been concluded that awe as a cinematic emotion is the emotional core of Interstellar. The film embodies the operational structure of awe.
... Second, provided there are reasonably clear and meaningful connections between visual and verbal elements, science calligrams may enhance the public understanding of science in much the same way as infographics (Smith et al., 2011). Given some degree of interpretation is always required when reading and viewing a science calligram (e.g. is Figure 5 a jar or an urn?), such pieces may be celebrated for provoking the imagination and encouraging us all to be deeper thinkers. ...
Visual poetry (vispo) sits across a spectrum between visual art and poetry, offering a means of multimodal communication within the one artform. The calligram – a vispo subtype whereby the shape of text reflects the text’s semantics – may be well suited to communicating scientific topics. This is because science is complex, experimental, and observational: it involves graphs, diagrams, morphology, microscopic images, chemical structures, and more. Contemporary books containing science calligrams include Crystallography (1994) and The Xenotext: Book 1 (2015) by Christian Bök. Throughout these collections, Bök displays intricate calligrams based on chemical structures, astronomy, and fractals. Recently, I have shared my own science calligrams through various outlets including exhibitions, journals, and a chapbook. In this scholarly article, I describe science calligrams in the contemporary context with reference to both my own pieces and works by poets who have inspired me. I explore how science calligrams draw upon scientific concepts and images to communicate science to the general public. In doing so, I argue that blending science, poetry, and visual art may reveal innovative creative directions for contemporary poets, help sustain vispo as a genre, and contribute to the interdisciplinary field of science communication.
... We argue that those who participate in this culture learn the types of awe that are common to its products and practices, and will experience awe in accordance with such cultural meanings. In a study by Smith et al. (2011), for example, professional astronomers and astronomy enthusiasts broke out into focus groups and their responses to astronomical images were analyzed. Whereas professional astronomers showed "interest" toward the images, astronomy enthusiasts expressed their "awe and wonder" at the same objects. ...
Awe is a frequently represented and commonly experienced emotion in science communication. According to a popular account of this emotion, awe is an innate and universal human affective experience that occurs when a person evaluates a target as vast, forcing a shift in their worldview. This shift is portrayed in science communication as resulting in an enhanced interest in the scientific material at hand. Based on the latest research in affective science, however, we challenge this narrow version of awe in science communication and instead advocate a broader account of this emotion in line with a constructionist perspective. We argue that there are a variety of awe types in science communication, each with different forms and functions in relation to the mandates within the multiplicity of contexts in this cultural space. We also contend that people’s awe experiences result from their previous interactions with this emotion and the unique affordances provided by the science communication situation.
This study employed critical analysis of multimodal texts to examine how NASA utilizes multiple modes like text, visuals, font, and sound to communicate space on a modern multimodal platform—Instagram. Four main themes emerged in the analysis of 34 NASA IGTV videos: space as a scientific aim, space as a scientific means, space as a U.S. territorialization effort, and space within the general public’s reach. Multimodal discursive practices enabled NASA to produce institutional discourses and disseminate meanings of space that enacted and reinforced gendered and racial exceptionalism, technological and economic space elitism, and hegemonic territorialization operationalized through space appropriation and commodification. While visuals, text, and auditory mode in many cases worked together to create meanings, the use of visuals communicated that space-related accomplishments are still achieved in white and male environments. Thus, the unpacking of multimodal discursive practices calls for more holistic approaches that address multimodal arrangements and an inclusive approach to the roles of individual modes in meaning-making.
In this article, I explore sensemaking processes associated with the overview effect—a cognitive shift experienced by astronauts who see Earth from space. Analysis of publicly available interviews ( n = 51) with astronauts revealed a common sequence of sensemaking: First, astronauts reported experiencing speechlessness triggered by beauty and awe (a phenomenon I label, awe-mute). Second, during and after missions, most reported attempting to make sense of the experience with others, often resulting in a deepening of their previously-existing worldviews, a process I term sensedeepening. Third, sensedeepening often resulted in astronauts’ (a) admissions of inadequacy to give sense to their experience for others, and despite this, (b) development of messages to communicate their experiences, and (c) engagement in social activism. These patterns were corroborated by additional interviews with astronauts ( n = 5) and an interview with a prolific interviewer of astronauts. Implications for sensemaking theory and organizational change conclude the article.
Space physics is a largely invisible field based primarily on in situ satellite observations. Therefore, unlike many other areas of astronomy, it cannot rely on visually arresting images to engage audiences with the research. However, time series naturally lend themselves to another of our senses-sound. We discuss how time series can be converted into sound, known as audification/sonification, demonstrating the versatility of this sonified data in engaging publics through a variety of different approaches including communicating research, as part of immersive experiences, in the creation of art, and as a tool for (exploratory) citizen science.
Presenting data in visually appealing formats has long been a useful science communication technique. Millions of people around the world have encountered scientific visualizations through documentary films on giant and small screens. Visual effects software from the film industry can increasingly be used to visualize scientific data. Such cinematic scientific visualization should be (a) based on real data, (b) understandable, and (c) entertaining for a public audience. To investigate what is known about how audiences respond to this type of science communication, this essay presents an overview of the literature on this topic, highlighting key findings, gaps, and directions for future research. The sprawling nature of the theoretical and empirical research literature on audience responses to cinematic scientific visualization makes it difficult to achieve comprehensive coverage of relevant studies and theoretical models. Recurring methodological limitations present further challenges to establishing a foundation of reliable knowledge on this topic. Nevertheless, prior research has identified several factors that affect how public audiences respond to cinematic scientific visualizations. Here, we discuss findings relating to intelligibility, film content, and immersion. These results offer a basis for hypotheses to be tested by future confirmatory studies of audience responses to cinematic scientific visualizations.
El objetivo principal del presente estudio ha sido analizar las características de la representación del virus SARS-CoV-2 en los informativos de las televisiones españolas y su evolución, así como su relación con las imágenes científicas en las que se han basado. Para ello se ha estudiado una muestra de imágenes de los informativos de cuatro cadenas (RTVE, Antena TV, La Sexta y Cuatro) en 2020 y 2021, en las que la imagen del virus estuviera presente en los fondos de los informativos. Asimismo, se han analizado las imágenes del SARS-CoV-2 publicadas en las páginas web de dos instituciones científicas, el CDC y el NIAID. Los resultados muestran las televisiones siguen utilizando predominantemente imágenes en 3D y se observa una tendencia al uso de un único virión. Asimismo, se constata una convergencia funcional entre imágenes científicas y mediáticas, que se refleja en la manipulación cromática de los registros técnicos obtenidos por microscopía electrónica, por parte de los creadores de las primeras. El estudio contribuye a la investigación sobre el imaginario visual de las pandemias, así como a demostrar los límites cada vez más difusos entre imágenes científicas y comunicativas.
El objetivo principal del presente estudio ha sido analizar las características de la representación del virus SARS-CoV-2 en los informativos de las televisiones españolas y su evolución, así como su relación con las imágenes científicas en las que se han basado. Para ello se ha estudiado una muestra de imágenes de los informativos de cuatro cadenas (RTVE, Antena TV, La Sexta y Cuatro) en 2020 y 2021, en las que la imagen del virus estuviera presente en los fondos de los informativos. Asimismo, se han analizado las imágenes del SARS-CoV-2 publicadas en las páginas web de dos instituciones científicas, el CDC y el NIAID. Los resultados muestran las televisiones siguen utilizando predominantemente imágenes en 3D y se observa una tendencia al uso de un único virión. Asimismo, se constata una convergencia funcional entre imágenes científicas y mediáticas, que se refleja en la manipulación cromática de los registros técnicos obtenidos por microscopía electrónica, por parte de los creadores de las primeras. El estudio contribuye a la investigación sobre el imaginario visual de las pandemias, así como a demostrar los límites cada vez más difusos entre imágenes científicas y comunicativas.
Although a sizable body of knowledge is prerequisite to expert skill, that knowledge must be indexed by large numbers of patterns
that, on recognition, guide the expert in a fraction of a second to relevant parts of the knowledge store. The knowledge forms
complex schemata that can guide a problem's interpretation and solution and that constitute a large part of what we call physical
intuition.
Conventional wisdom among museum professionals is that art museum visitors do not spend much time viewing works of art. The purpose of this study was to empirically investigate that question as well as to look at the relationship that age, gender, and group size have on viewing times. Visitors to The Metropolitan Museum of Art were observed as they looked at six masterpieces in the Museum's collection. A total of 150 individuals looking at six paintings comprised the sample for the study. The observations were of naturally occurring stops at the works of art. The gender, group size, estimated age, and time spent at the work of art were recorded for each encounter. The mean time spent viewing a work of art was found to be 27.2 seconds, with a median time of 17.0 seconds. Viewing time was not related to gender or age, but was strongly related to group size, with larger groups spending more time. There were also significant differences among paintings. Results are discussed in terms of how different types of looking patterns may be related to the amount of time spent in front of works of art.
Art experts find art more interesting, particularly when it is abstract or complex. These findings are explored in light of a model of aesthetic emotions rooted in appraisal theories (Silvia, 2005b, 2005d). This model attributes emotional responses to art to cognitive appraisal processes (as opposed to collative motivation, prototypicality, or processing fluency). Two experiments examined whether art experts and novices differed in the appraisals that make art interesting. In Experiment 1, people with art training found complex pictures more interesting, and they appraised them as easier to understand. Using multilevel modeling, Experiment 2 explored whether art training involved a qualitative shift in the appraisals that cause interest. Within-person effects of appraisals on emotions were essentially independent of between-person differences in training. People high and low in training make the same emotional appraisals of art, but they reach different answers to the appraisal questions.
Education is a lifelong endeavor; the public learns in many places and contexts, for a diversity of reasons, throughout their lives. During the past couple of decades, there has been a growing awareness that free‐choice learning experiences – learning experiences where the learner exercises a large degree of choice and control over the what, when and why of learning – play a major role in lifelong learning. Worldwide, most environmental learning is not acquired in school, but outside of school through free‐choice learning experiences. Included in this article are brief overviews of environmental learning, the nature of learning, the educational infrastructure, and free‐choice learning as a term. This article provides a framework for thinking about free‐choice environmental learning and sets the stage for thinking about the other articles in this special issue.
