Dario Rodighiero is an Assistant Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the University of Groningen, where he is involved in 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 design, Dario investigates how complex information can be revealed. Grounded in Science and Technology Studies, his research focuses on the mapping of science: he is the author of Mapping Affinities: Democratizing Data Visualization, which proposes new ways to design organizational charts. His work further engages with digital cultural archives, exploring questions of representation, interpretation, and self-identification. Visualization is approached as a method for knowledge design, bridging critical inquiry and design practice to foster reflection and dialogue by opening new visual modes of understanding.
Dario holds a PhD from the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), where he attended the doctoral program Architecture and Sciences of the City. He 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. He lectured at venues such as CERN and Ars Electronica, and exhibited his work at the MAXXI and Harvard Art Museums, reflecting a sustained commitment to public engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Linking Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries
2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-72437-4_8
2024
Mapping Techniques for an Automated Library Classification: The Case Study of Library Loans at Bibliotheca Hertziana
Casey, Hannah Laureen, Alessandro Adamou, and Dario Rodighierohttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-72437-4_8
This paper introduces an innovative analytical method for visualising research libraries, overcoming the limitations of the assumptions made by their classification systems. The approach combines user loan data with deep mapping techniques to graphically display usage patterns and thematic clusters. Dimensionality reduction is used to visualise the catalogue by book loans, and prompt engineering with large language models is used to describe loan clusters with detailed summaries and titles. This approach was applied to the library collection owned by Bibliotheca Hertziana, a renowned research institute for art history based in Rome. The final output was assessed by a group of experts through interviews supported by an atlas providing statistical information on clusters. This yielded promising results towards a more general framework for visually mapping textual collections and capturing their transformation and usage from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Hypertext and Social Media
2023
https://doi.org/10.1145/3603163.3609066
2023
Orchestrating Cultural Heritage: Exploring the Automated Analysis and Organization of Charles S. Peirce’s PAP Manuscript
Picca, Davide, Antonin Schnyder, Eri Kostina, Alessandro Adamou, Dario Rodighiero, and Jeffrey Schnapphttps://doi.org/10.1145/3603163.3609066
This preliminary study introduces an innovative approach to the analysis and organization of cultural heritage materials, focusing on the archive of Charles S. Peirce. Given the diverse range of artifacts, objects, and documents comprising cultural heritage, it is essential to efficiently organize and provide access to these materials for the wider public. However, Peirce's manuscripts pose a particular challenge due to their extensive quantity, which makes comprehensive organization through manual classification practically impossible. In response to this challenge, our paper proposes a methodology for the automated analysis and organization of Peirce's manuscripts. We have specifically tested this approach on the renowned 115-page manuscript known as PAP. This study represents a significant step forward in establishing a research direction for the development of a larger project. By incorporating novel computational methods, this larger project has the potential to greatly enhance the field of cultural heritage organization.
Information Visualisation
2020
https://doi.org/10.1109/IV51561.2020.00097
2020
Drawing Network Visualizations on a Continuous, Spherical Surface
Rodighiero, Dariohttps://doi.org/10.1109/IV51561.2020.00097
Despite the great literature regarding network visualizations, their graphic representation is hardly an object of investigation. Sometimes it deserves more attention, especially when individuals are represented. Visually translating communities in networks, for example, implies that some individuals are always situated at the borders of the representation. This assumption is clearly unfair, especially if each individual in the community is connected with everybody else. To address this lack of design justice, the community is represented on a spherical network where the surface is continuous. In that space, individuals can be situated in a sparse area, but never on the edges. The spherical network is then projected onto a flat surface to improve readability by making use of cartographic projections.
