Dario Rodighiero is an Assistant Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the University of Groningen, where he coordinates programs that bridge data science with society. Based at the interdisciplinary faculty Campus Fryslân, he coordinates the minor Data Wise and teaches data and visual literacy within the Data Science and Society Bachelor’s program. He maintains active collaborations with Harvard University, where he is a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society and a principal at metaLAB—a research and teaching laboratory dedicated to experimenting with digital technologies in the arts and humanities.
Combining computational techniques with critical design, Dario investigates how complex information is structured and communicated. Grounded in Science and Technology Studies, his research focuses on the mapping of science, visualizing scholarly networks and institutional dynamics. Such research further engages with digital archives and digital humanities, exploring questions of representation, interpretation, and self-identification. Visualization is approached as a method for knowledge design, bridging critical inquiry and design practice, fostering the development of visual tools that encourage reflection, support dialogue, and open new modes of understanding.
He is the author of Mapping Affinities: Democratizing Data Visualization, which proposes new ways to visualize organizational charts. Dario holds a PhD from EPFL and has held research and teaching positions at MIT, the European Commission, Paris-Sorbonne University, and Sciences Po. The collaboration with Bruno Latour at the médialab shaped his engagement with digital platforms as tools for philosophical inquiry and collective exploration. His work has been shared in venues such as CERN and Ars Electronica, and exhibited at the MAXXI and Harvard Art Museums, reflecting a sustained commitment to public engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Zoomland
2023
Weather Map: A Diachronic Visual Model for Controversy Mapping
Rodighiero, Dario, and Jean Daniélou
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111317779-017
2023
Weather Map: A Diachronic Visual Model for Controversy Mapping
Rodighiero, Dario, and Jean Daniélouhttps://doi.org/10.1515/9783111317779-017
The Weather Map is a visual model to investigate public debates onmedia. Relying on the Media Cloud archives, the visual model transforms a simplequery into a sophisticated visualization by employing the visual grammar of synop-tic weather charts. Peaks of pressure and clashes between airmasses are used to de-scribe the conflicts in media through the temporal dimension, diving into thehuman and non-human dynamics that make the controversy alive. The WeatherMap was conceived as a digital tool to help students and scholars analyze publicdebates, according to the controversy mapping field founded by Bruno Latour. Inparticular, the visual model pushes the boundaries of network visualization, explor-ing advanced techniques of graphic design. The outcome is a web-based applicationdeveloped in JavaScript and Python at the disposal of education and research.
“Alongside Daniele [Guido] and Donato [Ricci], Dario is part of the ‘Little Italy’ that has set up shop in the AIME offices. Apart from sharing his enthusiasm and insatiable curiosity, Dario has brought along ten years experience in designing digital interfaces. With the others on the team, he has given life and form to the daring insights of both himself and his compatriots.”
— Bruno Latour, Paris 2013