# EPFL Data Monolith _The university from above_ Published: 2016-11-04 The EPFL Data Monolith presents an immersive data perspective on the complex microcosmos that constitutes university life. It is on display at the Data Square exhibition in the ArtLab building at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne ([EPFL](http://epfl.ch)). Structured along three main themes, visitors can explore the university “superorganism” from a variety of data angles in an interactive data experience. ## Key visuals - Data Square exhibition room with the IMPACT monolith screen and network patterns projected on the walls - Two visitors at a touch panel controlling the research collaborations burst shown on the monolith screen - Visitor touching the monolith panel to explore the research collaborations visualization - Visitors gathered around the exhibition table with brain and neuron models and the PEOPLE screen behind - Visitors in the exhibition with the French-language PEOPLE monolith screen and projected network walls - Visitor silhouetted before the research collaborations screen showing a University of Lausanne tooltip - Topic connections network with Optics highlighted, linking to Physics and Neurosciences - Research collaborations in Psychiatry and Psychology, EPFL linked mainly to Swiss and French institutions - Alumni map with a glowing globe and zoomed Switzerland, highlighting Bern with 300 alumni - EPFL startups by field and founding year 2000 to 2016, with Information Technologies most frequent - EPFL students by age in Bachelor, Master, PhD and postgrad bands, peaking around ages 20 to 25 - Topic network highlighting professor Jean-Claude Bolay, connected to Architecture, Urban studies, Business and Economics - Full topic connections network of EPFL research fields with Engineering, Materials science and Physics clusters - Research collaborations in Clinical Medicine, a bright burst from EPFL toward Switzerland and the US - Research collaborations in Materials Science radiating from EPFL to the US, France, Germany and China - MOOC online course registrations across Europe, highlighting Bremen with 76 registrations - World map of MOOC online course registrations per city, densest in Europe and North America - EPFL staff by country of origin as dot clusters, Switzerland and France the largest groups - EPFL student count by year, showing 10124 students in 2015 - World map of MOOC video views over 24 hours, highlighting 298 plays in New York at 09:00 - Dimmed overview of the topic connections network with EPFL research fields labeled across a starfield - Topic connections network with Architecture highlighted, links reaching Software and Civil engineering - Topic connections network highlighting the Robotics subfield connected to eight EPFL researchers - Research collaborations across all fields, a plasma-like burst from EPFL to the US, France, Germany and Japan ## Monolith ![Rendering of the Data Monolith installation showing PEOPLE, TOPICS and IMPACT views on tall vertical EPFL data screens]() The monolith comprises a 4,60m high vertical display space — with ambient animations on top, a large, high resolution screen on eye height, and two multitouch panel for interacting with the installation. The experience is structured along three main themes — PEOPLE, TOPICS, and IMPACT: ## People ![EPFL students by age in Bachelor, Master, PhD and postgrad particle bands, peaking around ages 20 to 25]() PEOPLE, the first theme, is all about the individuals that constitute EPFL as an organization. Who are the students, who the researchers and teachers? How many online students are participating in MOOC online courses, all over the world, every day? Where did the alumni go? And how many start-ups are founded based on EPFL research outputs? All of these questions can be explored in a playful series of interactive graphics, where each new view on the data unfolds in swarm-like particle flows. ![Alumni map with a glowing globe and zoomed Switzerland, highlighting Bern with 300 alumni]() ![EPFL startups by field and founding year 2000 to 2016, with Information Technologies most frequent]() ![EPFL students by country of origin as dot clusters, Switzerland and France by far the largest groups]() ## Topics The second theme, TOPICS, relates to the scientific themes EPFL researchers are investigating. ![Topic connections network of EPFL researchers with Optics highlighted, linking to Physics and Neurosciences]() We analyzed the top three keywords of each researcher, based on their scientific writings. This results in a dense network of topics and researchers, revealing how cross-connections in research interests transcend department and faculty borders. The visualization is based on an energy metaphor: analogous to neural activation in the brain, nodes that receive an energy input (e.g. by user interaction), pass it on to their neighbors, thus illuminating their neighborhood in the network. In ambient mode, the network visualization is activated by two random walkers, which traverse the network and rhythmically highlight the shortest path between them — whichever two researchers or topics you pick, there is always a connection. ![Topic network with the Architecture node highlighted, links fanning out to researchers and Civil engineering]() ![Topic network highlighting professor Jean-Claude Bolay, connected to Architecture, Urban studies, Business and Economics]() ## Impact ![Research collaborations in Space Science radiating from EPFL to CNRS, NASA, CERN and other institutions]() IMPACT, finally, looks outside EPFL itself. What is EPFL’s international research impact? Which international partners is EPFL collaborating with the most, and in which fields? A cloudy, plasma-like visualization, based on physical simulations and a geographic layout of research institutions reveals how the weights shift, as we cycle through different scientific fields — from Astrophysics over Electrical Engineering to Social Sciences. ![Research collaborations across all fields, a plasma-like burst from EPFL to the US, France, Germany and Japan]() ![Research collaborations in Psychiatry and Psychology, EPFL linked mainly to Swiss and French institutions]() ## Animation and transitions The transitions between views are smoothly animated and emulated camera zooms and pans on the otherwise 2D graphics:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGQRafLXOEY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGQRafLXOEY)
When nobody is interacting, the monolith starts to "dream" and creates random associations between its contents. This smart idle mode makes sure there is always something exciting to see, even for bystanders. This is a key difference when designing interactive installations, as compared to websites or apps: There is a much wider range of attention and social situations to design for — as reflected both in the hardware as well as the software design for this project. ![Visitor touching the monolith panel to explore the research collaborations visualization at the exhibition]() ## Connected displays Internally, the monolith runs on four full screen Chrome instances on two computers. We used [d3](https://d3js.org), [react](https://react.dev/), [pixi.js](http://www.pixijs.com) and [gsap](https://greensock.com/gsap) to implement the smoothly animated, high resolution WebGL graphics. The web apps sync their application state through a node.js server application in real time. This setup can be replicated and extended for a variety of settings, where large display spaces are to be remote controlled by visitors, a moderator or a guide. ## Credits Creative direction, data visualization, design: Moritz Stefaner UI development: Dominikus Baur Project coordination at EPFL: Luc Meier Scientific support: Tony Clavien, Bradley Fetter, Adrien Lawrence, Hervé Lebret, Alexander Nebel, Francisco Pinto, Lionel Pousaz Exhibition concept and design: Olga Subirós Studio Exhibition production: Mediapro Exhibitions General coordination: Marta Gimeno --- [View on truth-and-beauty.net](https://truth-and-beauty.net/projects/epfl-data-monolith)