Aesthetics and Digital Image Processing

Representational Craft in Contemporary Astronomy

Bibliographic Data

ID3950988
AuthorsMichael Lynch (0000-0002-8635-6547), Samuel Y Edgerton
Year1987
Volume35
Issue1_suppl
Pages184-220
Publication date1987-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0261 • E-ISSN: 1467-954X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-954x.1987.tb00087.x
OpenAlexW2102995247
LanguageEN
Citations received29
References cited17

This paper examines whether 'aesthetic' considerations play a part in contemporary scientific work, and focuses on a scientific field undergoing rapid transformation through the introduction of digital imaging and image processing technologies. Interviews with astronomers at two image processing laboratories indicate that they orient explicitly to the 'aesthetic' judgments of their audiences when preparing images to promote and popularize their research. Although they acknowledge no such 'aesthetic' pretensions for their 'scientific' work, further analysis shows that a more ancient aesthetic, that of perfecting nature through a crafting of resemblances, is deeply a part of routine image processing work

Aesthetics · Art · Craft · Epistemology · Field (mathematics) · Sociology · Visual arts · Work (physics) · Aesthetic Perception and Analysis · Engineering · History and Developments in Astronomy · Museums and Cultural Heritage · Philosophy

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