Emerging+Narratives+(what+you+think+is+going+on)

As data modeling and visualization become increasingly prevalent, the focus of its users shifts away from the data itself and becomes increasingly centered on the models and visualization technologies themselves. As a result, scientific and technological practices become less about the creation of knowledge through the study of empirical, observable phenomena and more about the creation of models that create a virtual representation of a particular understanding of nature and reality.

Along with this transformation comes another one in scientific practice. Data collection practices becomes increasingly standardized and narrow in numbers in order to make them machine readable and analyzable. This standardization leads to 1) an increase in the accessibility of scientific data and practices, 2) an increase in the scientization of the public sphere, and 3) an increase in the authority of modeled and visualized data.

A final narrative involves the creation of particular technoscientific subjectivities. As technoscientific practices become geared increasingly towards providing data for particular models, technoscientific subjectivities become increasingly connected to these models. This phenomena allows for potentially greater interdisciplinary collaboration by creating communities and subjectivities of practice revolving around the models themselves as opposed to being defined by particular disciplinary traditions.