| dc.description.abstract | The consultation of internet databases and the related use of computer software to retrieve,
visualise and model data have become key components of many areas of scientific research.
This paper focuses on the relation of these developments to understanding the biology of
organisms, and examines the conditions under which the evidential value of data posted
online is assessed and interpreted by the researchers who access them, in ways that underpin
and guide the use of those data to foster discovery. I consider the types of knowledge
required to interpret data as evidence for claims about organisms, and in particular the
relevance of knowledge acquired through physical interaction with actual organisms to
assessing the evidential value of data found online. I conclude that familiarity with research
in vivo is crucial to assessing the quality and significance of data visualised in silico; and that
studying how biological data are disseminated, visualised, assessed and interpreted in the
digital age provides a strong rationale for viewing scientific understanding as a social and
distributed, rather than individual and localised, achievement. | en_GB |
