Peter Happel-Christian
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Work from Ground Truth.
“In the context of meteorology, ground truth is information gained by a meteorologist about an extreme weather event from an eyewitness in close proximity to the actual event. The meteorologist learns the ground truth while viewing radar generated graphics of the event on a computer screen. The eyewitness account can confirm, discredit or complicate the digital information, but action, such as issuing a tornado warning, is rarely taken with a ground truth assessment. Within this specific social interaction between meteorologist and eyewitness is a metaphor about human perceptions of and experiences in the natural world as well as the value of empiricism within the realm of representation.” – Peter Happel-Christian