Ph.D. Thesis Map
Dr. Keith V. Nesbitt is a lecturer in the School of Information Technology at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst, Australia. This hand-drawn map, based on the London Underground Map, shows interconnecting ideas running through his Ph.D. thesis. Each separate “track of abstract thought” is given in a different color. Related ideas correspond to category stations along that track. Overlapping ideas are shown as connected stations. The thesis concerns the design of multisensory displays of abstract data with the motivation of mining this abstract data. The familiarity of metro maps makes the diagram easy for readers to interpret. The space in which the tracks are laid out has no meaning, so it is possible to read the map in any direction. However, there is a cultural bias for the tracks to be followed from left to right and top to bottom.
Nesbitt, Keith V. 2004. Ph.D. Thesis Map. Newcastle, Australia. Courtesy of IEEE and Keith V. Nesbitt, Charels Sturt University, Australia; ©2004, IEEE. In Katy Börner & Deborah MacPherson (Eds.), 1st Iteration (2005): The Power of Maps, Places and Spaces: Mapping Science.
