“Making Visible the Invisible” is a commission for the Seattle Central Library, situated in the Mixing Chamber, a large open 19,500 sq ft space dedicated to information retrieval and public accessible computer research.

“The installation consists of 6 large LCD screens located on a glass wall horizontally behind the librarians’ main information desk. The screens feature real-time calculated animation visualizations generated by custom designed statistical and algorithmic software using data received each hour. This data consists of a list of checked-out items organized in chronological order. The item may be a book, a DVD, a CD, a VHS tape, etc. and from the list we can collect and aggregate titles, checkout time, catalog descriptors such as keywords, Dewey classification code if they are non-fiction items. There are approximately 22000 items circulating per day. Items with Dewey Decimal System labels provide for a way to get a perspective on what subject matters are of current interest at any given time as the Dewey system classifies all items according to 10 major categories:000 Generalities;100 Philosophy & Psychology;200 Religion;300 Social Science;400 Language;500 Natural Science & Mathematics;600 Technology & Applied Sciences;700 Arts;800 Literature;900 Geography & History. These are then subdivided into 100 segments.There are 4 visualizations at this time.”【1】

【1】http://www.mat.ucsb.edu/~g.legrady/glWeb/Projects/spl/spl.html