“High-energy physics, for example, ‘observes’ many phenomena that cannot be readily seen in nature. Some particles exist for only a tiny fraction of a second and can therefore be observed only under strictly defined laboratory conditions. But what, exactly, does it mean to say that phenomena generate data? When, for example, we look at the moon, are we seeing the moon or the data of the moon? As we go about our daily business, the distinction hardly matters, but when looking, say, for, subatomic particles, the link between the data we observe—a track on some substrate in a detector—and the phenomena that we infer from the data—a given type of particle—may be quite indirect. The issue is a subtle one but quite relevant toour analysis”.
(Images and text from Boisot (2012), Collision and Collaboration, Oxford University Press)
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