Abstract:
The severity and impacts of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century tornadoes are known primarily through written descriptions, maps of affected areas, and photographs or other illustrations. Visual representations (maps, photographs, drawings) generally describe these events in terms of what the tornadoes left behind in the hours, days, or weeks after a storm’s most intense moments. Post-event survey drawings indicate felled trees, torn roof shingles, and flooded streets. How can digital visualization tools call attention to the limits of data visible in these archival documents? As a digital artist, I examine and re-animate archival storm data. Using the 3D modeling and animation programs Rhinoceros 3D and Blender, I translate archival documentation of tornado paths of destruction into digital space–including tornadoes near New Harmony, Indiana, in 1852; in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in 1890; and in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1913. By transforming archival maps, texts, and photographs into 3D landscapes and dynamic digital objects I highlight the idiosyncrasies of various historical mapping and recording techniques while also exploring the potential of archival materials for spatial extrapolation and imagination. Can immersive digital visualizations reorient our relationship to events that took place in the distant past?
Areas of STS Scholarship: Environmental/Multispecies Studies, Information, Computing and Media Technology, Data and quantification
Authors/Participants: Kristine Ericson, Yale University
