In praise of visual representation: an inquiry into text analysis and network visualization for charting scientific communities

Abstract

This article provides a visual investigation into scientific communities through the lens of language. Inspired by actor-network theory, the study examines how individuals establish connections through shared vocabularies and, consequently, how communities organize themselves into linguistic groups. Using scientific texts to map the lexical dimension, the premise posits that research communities can be visually represented by their members and the words they employ, favouring the comprehension of social structures. The research draws from a decade-long personal experimentation with language-based visual models, to explore how research communities appear according to their lexicon, in which each individual is intricately intertwined. Employing cutting-edge techniques of text analysis and network visualization, the study analyses, organizes and maps scientific communities, clustering individuals into thematic groups based on their language use. The findings are presented through a series of projects that delve into the analytical power of images and unveil novel visual methods to better understand the spatial dynamics of language and communities.