7.7.1 The most common organisational pattern identified in all systems is networking. All living systems are arranged in a network fashion. Since the 1920's when ecologists began studying food chains, recognition of networks became essential to many scholars, in different forms. Cyberneticists in particular tried to understand the brain as a neural network and to analyse its patterns. The structure of the brain is enormously complex, containing about 10 billion nerve cells (neurones), which are interlinked in a vast network through 1,000 billion junctions (synapses). The whole brain can be divided into sub-networks that communicate with each other in a network fashion. All this results in intricate patterns of intertwined webs, networks nesting within larger networks. (Varela, 1991, pg. 94)

7.7.2 The foundations for the dynamical system theory were laid at the turn of the century by one of the greatest mathematicians of the modern era, Jules Henri Poincare (accent on e). Poincare introduced visual mathematics that are based on patterns and relationships known as topology. Topology is a geometry in which all lengths, angles, and areas are distorted at will. Because of these continuous transformations, topology is known popularly as "rubber sheet geometry." Among the problems he analyzed in this way was the three-body problem in celestial mechanics - the relative motion of three bodies under their mutual gravitational attraction, which no one was able to solve. When one tries to depict the figure formed by these two curves and their infinity of intersections... [one finds that] these intersections form a kind of net, web, or infinitely tight mesh; neither of the two curves can ever cross itself, but must fold back on itself in a very complex way in order to cross the links of the web infinitely many times. One is struck by the complexity of this figure I am not even attempting to draw. (Capra, F. 1996. pg. 127.)

7.7.3 When making the analogy to communication networks driven by computers, one can easily see how self-regulating systems can emerge. Indeed, it is possible that the Internet as we know it is an organism that emerged out of people connecting to each other. Self-regulation is a key concept to consider when envisioning design of online environments. In order to understand how these networks function, it is necessary to look at the patterns that develop on these communication network and the best way to do that is to look at network topologies.

7.7.4 There have been a growing number of researchers who are working on visualising the network geographies, mapping data use. As the networks continue to expand with unbelievable speed, systems administrators increasingly look more to visual representation of data to give them a quick overview of the status. Martin Dodge at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College, London, has put together an impressive array of various research efforts to visualise the net. [8] Network topology maps typically show things such as traffic information flow; however more and more scholars are recognising the value of visualising network topologies for analysing social, demographic, and political information flow. In my mind, this is the beginning of the art and science of visualising and analysing the patterns of communication networks. This is the beginning of mapping our online societies and viewing ourselves as a particular organism, and here we have rich territory for artists working on the networks.

7.7.5 One of the first and most memorable images mapping Internet traffic emerged just before the introduction of the World Wide Web. This was a result of a visualisation study by NSFNET undertaken by Donna Cox and Robert Patterson in 1992 at the National Centre for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. The visualisation was a high-definition computer animation spanning a two-year period and representing the rapid growth of networking traffic in the US that exceeds tens of billions of bytes per day. It was presented for the first time publicly at SIGGRAPH ¹92. Incidentally, I was co-ordinating a networking art project at the same conference and happened to see this memorable presentation. [9]

7.7.6 Since the NCSA visualisation, attempts to map the information flow of the net has grown tremendously. Martin Dodge categorises the large number of such attempts into the following categories: conceptual, artistic, geographic, traceroutes, census, topology, information maps, information landscapes, information spaces, ISP maps, Web site maps, surf maps, and historical maps. The conceptual maps show the key information domains and the interrelationship between them. The artistic category covers the literary, art, film, television, and game representation of cyberspace, which strongly influences how these spaces are imagined or mapped in our minds. [10] Geographic maps of cyberspace include the NCSA visualisation as well as many more that are truly striking such as the SaVi (satellite visualization) system [11] that show the orbital patterns satellites create around the earth. Dodge himself has developed a system that analyses the geography of address space on the Internet.

7.7.7 As the Internet grew, it became more difficult to read the endless list of "hops" information takes along the way, and graphical representations became a practical need for "quick reads" of how information travels. Visual trace routes follow paths that data packets take on the Internet and are particularly fascinating. Census maps are statistical maps of connectivity levels in countries around the globe. For instance, Mark Jensen is tracking the growth and development of the Internet in Africa. Visual topologies of the net are also concerned with network traffic. The Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA) specialises in mapping and analysing large scale Internet traffic path data. Information maps are analogous to conventional land-use maps used in city planning. The aim of these maps is to help in the search and retrieval of information. A fascinating example are "satellite" maps of Alphaworld, a large 3D multi-user virtual worlds run by Active Worlds. Maps of Internet Service Providers (ISP) and Internet Backbone networks are mostly created for promotional purposes‹to demonstrate the large bandwidth and good connections available. Web site maps are created by web masters to help users navigate and search complex web sites. Perhaps the most impressive example to date is the Site Manager from SGI, which visualises the entire hyperlink web structure in a 3D sphere that can be easily rotated and zoomed into. Surf Maps are dynamic tools for visualising Web Browsing, tracing visually the movement through the hyperlinked information space. Finally, there is the historical section showing the first few drawings of the ARPANET drawn at UCLA in 1969. It is truly amazing to see how much the Internet has grown in thirty years. But just as the original network was not designed for people but rather for the machines, so again we see most visualisation efforts of the networks based on disembodied information. What about the people who are creating this vast network? [top]