Science Visualization: Principles for an emerging animation community to consider

Alongside the huge succes of animation in the entertainment and artistic industries, the last two decades has also seen a rise of so-called functional animation - animation used to portray factual information, through the creative lens of the animator. Using animation for other purposes than art and entertainment is not new, but ties back to some of the earliest uses of animation in e.g. propaganda films of the 1930’s and later, and has been used for decades to make persuasive messages in the advertising industry. What is new is an increased focus on the very fundamental, and more relevant than ever, question of how we can conceive, communicate, and debate the scientific knowledge to a broader audience through animation?