In an increasingly multi-disciplinary world, artists and art historians find themselves collaborating with scholars in science and technology. Many contemporary artists are inspired by, or incorporate into their work, scientific research and technological developments from the applied sciences like engineering and medicine, the natural sciences like biology and physics, or mathematics and computer science. The following list of multidisciplinary scientific databases and indexes is intended as a starting point for artists and art historians seeking journal literature of the sciences. It is by no means comprehensive, and we welcome additions to the list! The list is followed by several research scenarios as well as citation examples from a selection of the following databases.

Multidisciplinary Databases and Indexes for Science Literature:

Indexes and databases with a + are represented in the list of user scenarios below.

+Agricola. Provides citations to a variety of materials, from journal articles to conference proceedings, about agriculture, forestry, and animal science.
+Biology Digest. Provides access to abstracts in the life sciences.
+Biological and Medical Sciences. Offers access to journal articles, technical reports, conference proceedings, monographs, and other materials.
+BIOSIS Previews. Contains literature of the life sciences and includes access to nomenclature and taxonomic resources.
+Computers and Applied Sciences Complete. Contains computer science and engineering literature.
+Earthscape. Provides access to literature of the earth and environmental sciences, including literature on social, economic, political aspects of these fields.
Engineered Materials. Contains journal articles and other resources concerning ceramics, polymers, and composites.
GEOBASE. Provides citations to literature on geography, geology, and ecology.
GeoRef. Contains over 2 million records for articles, maps, and other materials related to geology and earth sciences.
+INSPEC. Indexes literature for information technology, physics, and electrical engineering.
+Scitation. Offers access to science and engineering literature, with an emphasis on the journal literature from scientific societies and technical publishers.
Social Sciences Citation Index. Indexes literature of the social sciences from 1956-present and calculates the impact factors of journals and authors.
+Neurosciences Abstracts. Offers citations to abstracts in neurosciences.
Web of Science (Science Citation Index). Indexes science literature from 1945-present and calculates the impact factors of journals and authors.



Research Scenarios

Scenario 1: Dance in Virtual Worlds.
The dance department at a prestigious research university desires to create a new annual dance festival, which will take place in virtual reality. The faculty dreams of using virtual spaces to attract a greater number of dancers and to make use of virtual reality and computer animation as educational tools. Furthermore, the department wishes to record the virtual festival to preserve the dances and their instructions in the hopes of creating electronic dance instruction archives.

To investigate the pairing of computer science and computer animation with dance and also to investigate performing artists’ developing use of virtual reality as a performance space, the faculty members search two multi-disciplinary science databases, Computers & Applied Sciences Complete and Inspec. Searching with subject terms such as “dance,” “dance education,” “humanities computing,” “virtual reality,” “computer-aided instruction,” and “computer animation,” the student assistant finds many relevant and interesting articles.

From EBSCO’s Computers & Applied Sciences Complete <http://search.ebscohost.com/>:

Vasilakos, Athanasios V., et al. "Interactive theatre via mixed reality and Ambient Intelligence." Information Sciences 178.3 (Feb. 2008): 679-693.

Wilke, Lars, et al. "From dance notation to human animation: The LabanDancer project." Computer Animation & Virtual Worlds 16.3/4 (July 2005): 201-211.

From EBSCO’s Inspec <http://search.ebscohost.com/>:

Davcev, D., et al. "Augmented reality environment for dance learning." Proceedings. ITRE 2003. International Conference on Information Technology: Research and Education (IEEE Cat. No.03EX647). Piscataway, NJ: IEEE New Jersey Inst. of Technology, 2003.

Gromala, D., et al. "Dancing with the Virtual Dervish: Virtual Bodies." Virtual Reality Software and Technology. Proceedings of the VRST '94 Conference. Singapore: World Scientific ACM., 1994.

Hachimura, K., H. Kato, and H. Tamura. "A prototype dance training support system with motion capture and mixed reality technologies." RO-MAN 2004. 13th IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (IEEE Catalog No.04TH8759). Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, 2004.

Neagle, R.J., K. Ng, and R.A. Ruddle. "Developing a virtual ballet dancer to visualise choreography." AISB
2004 Convention: Motion, Emotion and Cognition. Symposium on Language, Speech and Gesture for Expressive Characters. Leeds, UK: AISB, 2004.

Zhenyu Yang, et al. "A study of collaborative dancing in tele-immersive environments." 2006 8th IEEE International Symposium on Multimedia. Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society, 2006.

Scenario 2: Music Composition and Acoustics.

I’m a composition student working on my master's degree, and I’m composing a piece of music for my final graduation requirement. The way sound--both electronic and acoustic--behaves in different spaces fascinates me, and I plan on giving acoustic elements high priority in my composition. I’m looking for sources that offer information on the subject, both generally and in regard to specific compositions.

From Scitation <http://scitation.aip.org>:
I implemented the following search: “music and acoustics and composition,” and recieved 4041 hits.

Begault, Durand R. "Compositional Spatial Sound Manipulation: Historical Overview and Analyses." The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 109, 2460 (2001).

Malham, David G. "Fully Immersive Audio Environments—Musical, Aesthetical, and Computational Considerations." The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 105, 1357 (1999).

Rhea, Thomas L. "Soundtrack: Focus on Electronics." The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 110, 2625 (2001).

Tutschku, Hans. "Different Space Conceptions in Two Electroacoustic Compositions: Rojo and Human-Space-Factory." The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 119, 3315 (2006).

From EBSCO’s Computers & Applied Sciences Complete <http://search.ebscohost.com/>:
I implemented the following search: “music and acoustics and composition,” and recieved 26 hits.

Austin, Larry. "Sound Diffusion in Composition and Performance Practice II: An Interview with Ambrose Field." Computer Music Journal 25.4 (Winter 2001): 21-30.

Jones, Evan. "An Acoustic Analysis of Col Legno Articulation in Iannis Xenakis's Nomos Alpha." Computer Music Journal 26.1 (Spring2002): 73+.

It is interesting to note that the followingterms are indexed in Computers & Applied Sciences Complete:
*COMPUTER music
*COMPUTER composition
*COMPOSITION (Music)
*ELECTRONIC composition
*ELECTRO-acoustics
*ELECTRONIC music
*SOUND recordings
*COMPUTER sound processing
*COMPUTER software
*MUSIC


Scenario 3: Sculpture and Environmental Studies.

A sculptor living in southern Florida is intrigued and inspired by the natural beauty of the nearby Florida Everglades, a subtropical marshland located in the southern portion of the state. He lives within driving distance of the Everglades National Park, and visits the park frequently to sketch and photograph the plant and animal life of the marsh. The images he creates of the Everglades inform his sculptures, and the sculptures have proven successful in local art galleries and shops. Through his visits to the National Park and stories in the news, the artist has grown increasingly troubled by the encroachment of urban development on the Everglades, and the effects of pollution on the Everglades wildlife. He wishes to learn more about biodiversity of the Everglades, and the effects of climate change, pollution, and urban sprawl on the delicate balance of the Everglades ecosystem. He hopes to incorporate what he learns into his art so that he can inspire others to care for this important natural resource.

From Columbia Earthscape Online, Columbia University Press. <http://www.earthscape.org/>:

This is an interdisciplinary resource that “connects the earth and environmental sciences with their social, political, and economic dimensions.” The database includes journal articles and abstracts, regional studies, lectures, video and image banks, environmental legislation, conference literature and white papers, full-text monographs, and online data sets. Subjects range from biodiversity to energy and technology, pollution, sustainability and land use, geology, meteorology, and water resources. Columbia Earthscape Online also includes a daily news section, so that the artist can stay up-to-date on the latest events and legislation surrounding the Everglades.

A basic keyword search for “Florida Everglade*” limited to “Research” yields 250 hits.

Results include:

Doyle, Thomas W. “Predicting Future Mangrove Forest Migration in the Everglades Under Rising Sea Level.” USGS, Mar 2003.

Milano, Gary R. “Restoration of Coastal Wetlands in Southeastern Florida.” Wetland Journal.
Dec 1999. 11(2): 15-24.

Sargent, F.J., and T.J. Leary, and D.W. Crewz, and C.R. Cruer. “Scarring of Florida's
Seagrasses: Assessment and Management Options.” Florida Marine Research Institute Technical Reports. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Jan 1995.

Tsihrintezis, Vassilios A., and Hector R. Fuentes, and Rao K. Gadipudi. “GIS-Aided Modeling
of Nonpoint Source Pollution Impacts on Surface and Ground Waters.” Water Resources Management June 1997. 11(3).

Scenario 4: Landscape Design and Horticulture, Geology, and Ecology

I'm a landscape designer looking to develop aesthetically pleasing gardens which are also water-conserving. I'm interested in any information I can find on ornamental plants which tolerate desert or low-water environments well. I also need to know what techniques willl accomplish good ecological impacts, and any other pitfalls I need to be aware of in designing these spaces. The technical term for low-water landscaping is "xeriscaping", so I use the truncated "xeriscap*" as my primary search term.

From OCLC FirstSearch's Agricola <http://firstsearch.oclc.org/>:

Lopez, J.; Gonzalez, A.; Fenandez, J.A., et al. "Ornamental use of labiates for xeriscape in Mediterranean area." Acta horticulturae. November 2006. 723: 459-464.

Zollinger, N.; Kjelgren, R.; Cerny-Koenig, T., et al. "Drought responses of six ornamental herbaceous perennials." Scientia horticulturae.July 2006. 109: 267-274.

From ISI Web of Knowledge's BIOSIS Previews <http://isiknowledge.com/biosis>:

Mrozek, Stephanie A.; Buck, Brenda J.; Drohan, Patrick J., et al. "Decorative landscaping rock as a source for heavy metal contamination, Las Vegas, Nevada." Soil & Sediment Contamination. 2006. 15 (5): 471-480.

Sovocool, Kent A.; Morgan, Mitchell; Bennett, Doug. "An in-depth investigation of Xeriscape as a water conservation measure." American Water Works Association Journal. February 2006. 98(2): 82-93.

From CSA Illumina's Biological & Medical Sciences <http://www.csa.com/>:

Thompson, AE; Lee, CW; Gass, RE. "Development of Hybrid Baccharis Plants for Desert Landscaping." Hortscience. December 1995. 30(7): 1357-1362.

Scenario 5: Music and the Brain

A visual/installation artist with a music background has been commissioned to produce a series of exhibits for a New York City arts organization dedicated to increasing visibility and funding for the arts in its public schools. She has been asked to create both static and interactive public exhibits for a year-long installation at a performance art space. The exhibits will be part of a campaign by this arts organization to document the link between increased brain function and participation in music programs. The organization is appealing not only to corporate arts sponsors such as the Jerome Foundation and Carnegie Corporation who fund new artistic endeavors, but also to organizations that fund science research. The artist, therefore, wants to become more knowledgeable about the connection between the brain and music. The artist is aware of a phenomenon called the "Mozart effect" from a 1991 book Pourquoi Mozart whose thesis posited that listening to Mozart enhances intellect. She decided to start her research there and then expanded her inquiry to include music in general.

A basic keyword search of "Mozart" and "brain" yielded 6 relevant hits from Biological &Medical Sciences and 60 hits from Biology Digest. She broadened her keyword search to "music" and "brain" which yielded 186 hits from Neurosciences Abstracts.

From CSA Illumina's Biological & Medical Sciences <http://www.csa.com/>:

Aoun, Peter, et al. “Long-term enhancement of maze learning in mice via a generalized Mozart effect.” Neurological Research 27.8 (2005): 791-796.

Bodner, M., et al. “fMRI study relevant to the Mozart effect: Brain areas involved in spatial-termporal reasoning.” Neurological Research 23.7 (2001): 683-690.

From CSA Illumina's Biology Digest <http://www.csa.com/>:

Motluk, A. "Can Mozart Make Math Add Up?" New Scientist 153.2073 (1997): 17.


From CSA Illumina's Neurosciences Abstracts <http://www.csa.com/>:

Milovanov, R., et al. "Musical aptitude and second language pronunciation skills in school-aged children: Neural and behavioral evidence." Brain Research 1194 (2008): 81-89.

Sluming, Vanessa, et al. "Broca's Area Supports Enhanced Visuospatial Cognition in Orchestral Musicians." Journal of Neuroscience 27.14 (2007): 3799-3806.