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Places and Spaces is a decade long project to promote the creation of maps depicting science (scientometrics) and the next iteration of the exhibit focuses on science maps and activities for science center audiences. If you or your institution have developed compelling examples, please submit them to the exhibition. These exhibitions travel widely. For more information about the exhibit and past activities go to http://www.scimaps.org


Stephen Miles Uzzo, PhD.
VP, Science & Technology
New York Hall of Science
47-01 111th Street
Flushing Meadows Corona Park, NY 11368 USA
V +1.718 595.9177
F +1.718.699.5227


Call for Maps for the 8th Iteration of the Places & Spaces: Mapping Science Exhibit on "Science Maps for Kids" (2012)

http://scimaps.org/call

Background and Goals
The Places & Spaces: Mapping Science exhibit was created to inspire cross-disciplinary discussion on how to best track and communicate human activity and scientific progress on a global scale. It has two components: (1) physical exhibits enable the close inspection of high quality reproductions of maps for display at conferences and education centers and (2) the online counterpart (http://scimaps.org) provides links to a selected series of maps and their makers along with detailed explanations of how these maps work. provides links to a selected series of maps and their makers along with detailed explanations of how these maps work.

Places & Spaces is a 10-year effort. Each year, 10 new maps are added, which will result in 100 maps total in 2014. Each iteration of the exhibit attempts to learn from the best examples of visualization design. To accomplish this goal, each iteration compares and contrasts four existing maps with six new maps of science. Themes for the different iterations/years are:

1st Iteration (2005): The Power of Maps
2nd Iteration (2006): The Power of Reference Systems
3rd Iteration (2007): The Power of Forecasts
4th Iteration (2008): Science Maps for Economic Decision Makers
5th Iteration (2009): Science Maps for Science Policy Makers
6th Iteration (2010): Science Maps for Scholars
7th Iteration (2011): Science Maps as Visual Interfaces to Digital Libraries
8th Iteration (2012): Science Maps for Kids
9th Iteration (2013): Science Maps for Daily Science Forecasts
10th Iteration (2014): Science Mapping Standards
Places & Spaces was first shown at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers in April 2005. Since then, the physical exhibit has been displayed at 190 venues in 19 countries, including twelve in Europe, as well as Japan, China, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, Canada, and the United States. A schedule of all display locations can be found at http://scimaps.org/exhibitions.


Submission Details
The 8th iteration of the Mapping Science exhibit is devoted to science maps that kids aged 5-14 can use to gain a more holistic understanding and appreciation of science and technology. Each map should be engaging and fun to peruse yet should have at least one concrete learning objective. Among others, the maps might depict:

A concept map telling a science story,
Famous adventures, encounters, or discoveries in science history,
Zooms in-out of the world of science,
Surprising, scary, wonderful, and exciting scientific activities,
Timelines of science and technology development and inventions,
Exhibit holdings at different science museums (location, subject matter, or both),
A map of school science curricula, projects, or science textbook contents,
Career trajectories in science, or
Science maps drawn by kids analogous to Children Map the World
Maps are intended to give children the exciting opportunity to immerse in, explore, or navigate the landscape of science and to find their own place.

We invite people of all ages to submit maps that show a visual rendering of a dataset together with a legend, textual description, and acknowledgements as required to interpret the map. These maps should be aimed at the understanding level of kids rather than college students or college graduates. Maps can be abstract, geographical, or feature-based, but are typically richer than simple x, y plots. Data can be used to generate a reference system over which other data, e.g., career trajectories, are overlaid. Data can also be projected onto an existing reference system, e.g., a map of the world. Maps should present fully formed ideas and analysis; they should not be simple sketches of “what we plan to do”. See http://scimaps.org/exhibit/docs/all-maps-poster1-7_2011.pdf for an overview of the 70 maps already featured in the exhibit.

Each initial entry must be submitted by January 10th, 2012 and needs to include:

Low resolution version of map
Title of work
Author(s) name, email address, affiliation, mailing address
Copyright holder (if different from authors)
Description of work: Learning objectives addressed, data used, data analysis, visualization techniques applied, and main insights gained (100-300 words)
References to publications or online sites in which the map appeared
Links to related projects/works
At least three keywords
Entries should be submitted via EasyChair at https://www.easychair.org/account/signin.cgi?conf=sciencemapsforkids20. Submit map as pdf file. Enter author info, a title, and three keywords. Submit all other information via the ‘Abstract’ field.


Review Process
All submissions will be reviewed by the exhibit advisory board and children aged 5-14. Submissions will be evaluated in terms of

Scientific value – quality of data collection, analysis and communication of results in support of clearly stated learning objectives. Appropriate and innovative application of existing algorithms and/or development of new approaches.
Value for kids – what major insight does the map provide and why does it matter? Is the map easy to understand by kids? Does it inspire them to learn more about science and technology?
Final Submission
Authors of winning entries will be contacted early February and invited to submit final entries by April 10th, 2012. Each final entry should consist of:

Title of Work
Author(s) name, email address, affiliation, mailing address
24 x 30 inch, 300 dpi, landscape version of map using provided template at http://scimaps.org/exhibit/images/Matte_300DPI.psd (13.9 MB)
Official map description (200 words)
Biographies and photos of all authors (100 words each)
Signed copyright and reproduction agreement
Map makers are welcome to use the expertise and resources of the exhibit curators and designers when designing and producing high resolution versions of final maps. The layout and production of the 8th iteration maps are expected to be ready for display by mid-June, 2012.


Important Dates
Submit initial entries: January 10th, 2012
Notification to mapmakers: February 10th, 2012
Submit final entries: April 10th, 2012
8th Iteration ready for display: June, 2012


Exhibit Advisory Board

Gary Berg-Cross, SUNY Stony Brook
Bob Bishop, ICES Foundation
Kevin Boyack, SciTech Strategies, Inc.
Donna Cox, Illinois eDream Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Bonnie DeVarco, Media X, Stanford University
Sara Irina Fabrikant, Geography Department, University of Zürich, Switzerland
Marjorie Hlava, Access Innovations
Peter A. Hook, Law Librarian, Indiana University
Manuel Lima, Royal Society of Arts, Microsoft Bing, VisualComplexity.com
Deborah MacPherson, Accuracy&Aesthetics
Lev Manovich, Visual Arts Department, University of California at San Diego
Carlo Ratti, Professor and Director of SENSEable City Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Eric Rodenbeck, Stamen Design
André Skupin, Associate Professor of Geography, San Diego State University
Moritz Stefaner, Freelance Designer
Stephen Uzzo, New York Hall of Science
Caroline Wagner, Batelle Center for Science and Technology Policy and John Glenn School for Public Affairs, Ohio State University
Benjamin Wiederkehr, Founder, InteractiveThings.com
Please feel free to send any questions you might have regarding the judging process to Katy ([log in to unmask]) keep subject header



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