Below are four visualisations of the SNA graph mapping the context in which Italian writers, interested in computer culture between the 1950s and 1970s operated. The visualisation focus on these four aspect:
- Arts and science distribution
- Discipline distribution
- Countries distribution
- Gender distribution
Map 1: Arts and science distribution
Legenda
General description
This visualisation of the graph shows the nodes coloured according to the most general descriptor (Descriptor 1). The categories are listed in the table of the left. The majority of the nodes are marked as Artist/Creative (45.25%), followed by the nodes marked as Scientist (20.38%). The other nodes do not indicates people, but rather events, companies, or institutions.
Notable elements
All the nodes are organised around in 6 main clusters: 1 artistic group (Gruppo 63), 1 company (Olivetti), 2 short events (the exhibition Cybernetic Serendipity; the philosophy Conference ‘L’uomo e la Macchina’), 2 event series (Macy Conferences; Nove Tendencije). This reflects the major events and groups contributing to computer culture in Italy between the 1950s and 1970s. Of these clusters, the ones attracting a more mixed range of nodes (Artist/Creative and Scientist) are Olivetti and Cybernetic Serendipity. Gruppo 63 and the Conference L’uomo e la Macchina attracts mostly Artist/Creative, while Macy Conferences mostly Scientist nodes.
Map 2: Disciplines distribution
Legenda
General description
This visualisation of the graph shows the nodes coloured according to the descriptor indicating the specific field to which each node belongs (Descriptor 2). The categories are listed in the table of the left. The majority of the nodes are marked as Visual art (26.71%), followed by the nodes marked as Theory (9.97%), which includes all peoples and institutions in the Humanities. The nodes marked as Literature (9.35%) are the third most numerous. As expected, the majority of the nodes which have Scientist as Descriptor 1, are Information science (4.72%).
Notable elements
Two main aspects are emerging from this visualisation. First, the surprising majority of nodes marked as Psychology and neuroscience linked to Macy conferences and almost absent everywhere. This shows a clear cognitivist approach to cybernetics peculiar the US environment. Secondly, the graph shows how diverse were the people collaborating with publications compared to other means of collaborations. Except for the exhibition Cybernetic Serendipity, which attracted people from any field, the most variegated groups of artists are the ones collaborating with the magazines Civiltà delle Macchine and Bit International.
Map 3: Countries distribution
Legenda
General description
This visualisation of the graph shows the nodes coloured according to descriptor (Descriptor 5) indicating the country in which the person represented by the node mainly operated (not necessarily the country of birth), or the location of an event/ company/ institute. The categories are listed in the table of the left. Expectedly, the majority of the nodes are marked as Italy (38.43%), as this is the focus of this project.
Notable elements
Beside Italy, are the United States the country that features the most in the graph. This is due to the fact that the pivotal Macy Conferences were hold and organised in New York, and that many tech companies are also American (IBM, Bell, Burroughs). Among the European countries, UK and Germany are the most represented, followed by France and Croatia. The UK was extremely active in computer technology (Ferranti) and computer art; Germany was a central hub for computer aesthetics and design (Ulm, Stuttgart); Croatia was very well connected because of Nove Tendencije. Spain, perhaps because of the Francoism, remained quite isolated.
Map 4: Gender distribution
Legenda
General description
This visualisation of the graph shows the nodes coloured according to the gender descriptor (Descriptor 6). The categories are listed in the table of the left. False refers to males, True to females, and Null indicated to nodes that are not people, therefore without gender. The high majority of the nodes are marked as male (70,55%), with only a 5.96% of nodes being women.
Notable elements
While it was expected that the majority of people working in the field of programming and computer science between the 1950s and 1960s were men, it was less expected the degree of women’s underrepresentation in the arts and humanities. Indeed, from this visualisation it is clear that women were equally excluded from both fields. Two things need to be underlined though. First, that some of the women appearing in this graph had a central role in shaping computer culture. This is the case of Jasia Reichardt, the main organiser of Cybernetic Serendipity and founder of the Computer Art Society in London, and of Marisa Belisario, programmer of the Olivetti’s computer Elea 9003 and later top manager of the company. Also, women’s lack of representation might be overstated because of bias in the datas: many sources, included academic publication, often forget to mention them even when they contributed to projects and events.