McCormack, Jon, and Alan Dorin. “Ways of seeing: Visualization of artificial life environments.” Proceedings of Beyond Fitness: Visualizing Evolution, Artificial Life 8 (2002).
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This paper investigates the significance of cultural assumptions associated with the methodology and epistemology of visualization in simulations. Starting with ideas from art theory on ‘ways of seeing’ in the context of painting, we look at the concepts of truth and representation in the visual image. Example images on the subject of evolution and artificial life are examined to reveal the assumptions and implicit knowledge used by the creators and viewers. We use examples of visualization from other cultures to clarify the means by which knowledge influences conventions in representation, and how alternate modes of visual representation may offer new insights for visualization of artificial life systems.