April, 2018
HALSHS : archive ouverte en Sciences de l’Homme et de la Société - notices sans texte intégral
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info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1162/POSC_a_00273
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess
Julie Jebeile, « Explaining with Simulations: Why Visual Representations Matter », HALSHS : archive ouverte en Sciences de l’Homme et de la Société - notices sans texte intégral, ID : 10.1162/POSC_a_00273
Computer simulations are often expected to provide explanations about target phenomena. However there is a gap between the simulation outputs and the underlying model, which prevents users finding the relevant explanatory components within the model. I contend that visual representations which adequately display the simulation outputs can nevertheless be used to get explanations. In order to do so, I elaborate on the way graphs and pictures can help one to explain the behavior of a flow past a cylinder. I then specify the reasons that make more generally visual representations particularly suitable for explanatory tasks in a computer-assisted context.