Network&Society

MIT SENSEable City Lab‘s urban demos and beautiful visualizations have often overshadowed the research works produced behind the scene (see Below the Tip of the Urban Data Iceberg). The Network&Society project aims at presenting the lab’s different research agendas for understanding cities with investigation on urban traces, visualization tools, eigenplaces, public transportation, digital footprinting and urban gravity.

This constant stream of 0s and 1s allows unprecedented research opportunities. Through phone calls we can see cities making bold ‘handshakes’ during business hours, and then becoming introverted during the evening. With SMS texts, we capture crowds cheering and sharing their emotional highs in special events. These digital traces also reveal the migratory magnetism of coastal city hotspots and the drudgery of a gridlocked commute.

The ‘Network & Society’ project at the MIT Senseable City Lab employs these large-scale digital datasets to explore physical mobility, social networks and urban places.

Visualization of mobile phone users locations, points of interest and events in Boston, USA

Why do I blog this: Demos and beautiful visualizations are part of the practice of data science. But they should not overshadow the many research outcomes from the experience and data generated during these urban demos.