Connections: The Nature of Networks

To represent the span of networks throughout human experience, we provided both graphical and interactive exhibits for the public. Connections included social and biological networks, but also human made networks and underlying concepts such as emergence. It was designed by a team led by Eric Siegel and myself at the New York Hall of Science and opened as part of a major expansion project commissioned by the City of New York. It consisted of a series of curated topical exhibits that were commissioned by artists and designers, brought together into the luminous North Wing project Designed by Todd Schliemann of Polshek Partners (now Ennead). Connections explores the fundamental structures of networks and how they manifest themselves in what we see around us, providing visitors with tools to understand similarities and differences among various kinds of connected systems as diverse as the World-Wide Web, neuronal networks, metabolic and social networks, ant colonies, rivers, and earth systems. Because complex networks have the attribute of emergent behavior, the theme of emergence, the emergent nature of networks, and how they form and function in natural and human systems is an important part of the exhibition. The exhibition includes experiences on network structures and patterns of behaviors: such as how nodes, links, and hubs form in dynamic networks; in particular the scale-free behavior of hubs in accumulating links and isolating nodes. An important educational goal of the exhibition is to provide visitors with an opportunity to learn that there is a way of looking at the world in terms of interactions and behaviors which can provide valuable insights into social and biological structures and relationships, which are otherwise invisible.

Topology

Since topology is at the core of how we visualize and understand networks, We created a rich environment of large scale annotated color graphics of a number of network examples, including the Internet, Al Queda, the New York Subway system, Air transportation networks, neuronal networks, intracellular networks and a variety of others. These are integrated into large vinyl wall panels, and even printed onto the carpet, with labels describing what each network diagram represents. 

We also included information panels defining the components of networks such as links, nodes and hubs. 

More research is needed in how to extend this idea through research in scientific visualization and how imagery and immersion in primarily visual vocabulary of networks affects science understanding.

There are also topology puzzles available for visitors to manipulate, both in the exhibit itself and in activity centers. In these we try to emphasize important fundamental network concepts. 

We did visitor studies to understand what kinds of metaphors best communicated network concepts. Metaphors tested included hub and spoke, ball runs, and gear tables. Interestingly, the most effective method for communicating network ideas was through ball runs in which a structure of tubes and routing chambers are assembled and balls sent through them to observe their path through the assembly. 

An important idea to get across to visitors is that complex networks are dynamic, evolving systems. that they follow time's arrow and because of their complexity do not return to repeatable ground states. This large-scale rope and pulley system allows users to turn a series of wheels which make the relationship amongst the pulleys change in ways that create features such as clusters and isolated nodes. The complexity of the system prevents patterns from repeating. Energy created through the turning of the wheels traverses the system in ways that depend on the initial condition, which depends on how the wheels were turned in the previous session: the topology evolves. We believe this helps to bridge evolving network graphs with emergence. It's extremely popular with families and groups.

Anthropogenic/Social

We provided images showing graphs of such things as protein interactions in yeast and Internet topology to provide a sense that topology possesses common features between the cultural and natural realms. While we think of the Internet as a technological network, it is used primarily for communication among people. Thus the emergent nature of the Internet reflects how social systems emerge and the kinds of interactions they entail. Increasingly, they are also used by people to control machines. Sometimes known as telehaptics, the ability to control and gain feedback from connected robotic systems, and internet of things devices is demonstrated through a national network of Internet arm wrestling kiosks. We installed them in six locations around the United States, including Alaska. Since telehaptics is something visitors were unlikely to encounter in their homes for some time to come, hopefully it provides a useful overview of the various ways we extend our social networks through the Internet.. 

Near, a nearest neighbor interactive, allows visitors to pile onto a "dance" floor as glowing lines are drawn between them according to a nearest neighbor algorithm applied to a real-time 3D map of visitor’s vectors on the white surface. It demonstrates how simple relationships can become complex very quickly as the numbers of interactions are scaled. An interesting byproduct of this way of presenting nearest neighbor, is that the participants modify their behavior based on their status and the displayed topology, indicating that graphs may help people understand networks in ways that affect the ways that behavior shapes the network topology, perhaps an area for further research. Another advantage of this kind of whole body interactive is that it attracts visitors of all ages. We calibrated it to be able to function even with toddlers who only walk part of the time. 

A simulation of the interaction of musicians in an ensemble, demonstrates how musical parts work together to create a coherent pattern of sounds we associate with music: a kind of social network most visitors would not think of when they listen to their favorite orchestra or band. 

Utility networks are taken for granted, but without them, the character of social systems in urban areas would be very different. We provide an interactive map display that allows visitors to navigate their neighborhoods and look at how the infrastructure for transportation, electricity and communication flows in their urban setting. We then show them how complexity can affect such networks using the power grid as an example, we demonstrate how a cascading power failure affected their power in the large-scale outage of 2003. They help the visitor understand the kinds of ways they are connected in their local environment.

Connections: The Nature of Networks is supported through NSF Division of Education and Human Resources Award Number 0229268. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.