30 June 2004

The Electronic Frontier Foundation named the top 10 patents it wants killed, or at least redefined (all 10 patents are in some way illegitimate and are being used to limit free expression) ... http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,64038,00.html?tw=newsletter_topstories_html The EFF's Schultz hopes this process will help get rid of some bad patents, educate the public about the process of challenging them and protect Internet-based expression technologies. "The consensus is that a lot of bad patents are leaking through the cracks of the examination process," he said. "We feel ... the ones that we've targeted here are not only invalid, but are being abused."

Stereoscopic 3D video displays can provide significant benefits in many areas... http://www2.electronicimaging.org/shortcourses.cfm?sc_no=SC060

A Smart(er?) Graphics conference agenda; http://www.aicml.cs.ualberta.ca/banff04/icml/pages/schedule.htm

... McHugh's (damaged frontal lobes, a region of the brain associated with high-level functions such as planning) art reveals some aspects of his altered thought processes. He often draws images of faces within faces, which he describes as representing two parallel lines of thinking that seem to run through his brain simultaneously
http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v430/n6995/full/430014a_fs.html Patients seen by Miller since 1990 also have a new and sometimes compulsive artistic interest or skill. In this set of patients, the damage is predominately to the left side of the brain. Perhaps, speculates Miller, damage to the left lessens this inhibition and causes patients to become more interested in art.

29 June 2004

Geospatial Web Portals (article); http://www.geospatial-online.com/geospatialsolutions/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=101549 Instead of an index of hyperlinks, Web portals now act as a dashboard that consolidates multiple applications and datastreams served from both local and remote domains into a single Web page.

28 June 2004

The most important part of map creation is the distinctly human decision of what the map needs to 'say' - what data should be integrated, or left out, or reconfigured. Deutinger’s argument is that architects are now using maps to justify their ideas on the basis of climate, topography, politics, or demographics. These maps allow the architect to construct his or his own world vision, to illustrate emergent trends and to identify new opportunities. http://www.archis.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23

Wall proposes ‘metageography’, a term coined by Lewis and Wigen (1997) to describe a new possible geographical model, through which people can organise their knowledge of the world. To enact a consistent and coherent metageographic model, not only depend on an understanding of how the global urban system works, but just as importantly conceptualizing, instigating and manipulating future metageographies. http://www.archis.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24&sid=85726c31e2527faa7f4e9f153a243efb

Learning Flash is a great way to investigate and explore the use of interaction and animation in cartography. When SVG becomes an accepted web format, I will be able to apply my findings to its full potential in SVG. - http://www.webmapper.net/archives/2004/06/

The Creative Freedom Defense Fund is raising money to defend artists who run afoul of the corporations that take offense at having their products used in socially critical ways. http://creativefreedomdefense.org/

Discussion on syntopical approach to knowledge transfer http://www.thegreatideas.org/204w/TGIO280.pdf"One has to solve problems by practical thinking, not by understanding ideas. I think the more understanding you have, the better you can think, the more likely you are able to deal intelligently with life’s difficult, practical problems. But there is no assurance."
- Adler. ADLER: Read in part, not in whole...A million dollars and eight years later, I finished the job. It took a large extent of persons reading the Great Books. In fact, it was
an investment of 400,000 man-hours of reading to put 165,000 references to the Great Books into 3,000 topics in the Syntopicon...the Great Ideas provide access to understanding and wisdom...

"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs" - Karl Marx, Manifesto.
“If all of the wisdom of the world were brought to bare on it, it would still be a problem.” - Abe Lincoln

25 June 2004

Launch the net art locator at http://www.low-fi.org.uk/commissions/ to see 4pane split window example in action.

Binoculars Site Preview presents a "sneak preview" of a web page when you mouse over a Binoculars icon next to a search result. Many people believe "a picture is worth a thousand words", and here at Jeeves we feel the same way http://sp.ask.com/docs/about/binoculars_faq.html#iconprev

overLIB is a JavaScript library created to enhance websites with small popup information boxes (like tooltips) to help visitors around your website. It can be used to provide the user with information about what will happen when they click on a link as well as navigational help... http://www.bosrup.com/web/overlib/

Possible FibZoom (window resizing)javascript http://javascript.internet.com/miscellaneous/resizing-window.html
http://javascript.internet.com/bgeffects/full-size-image.html

"The field is marked by a juxtaposition of new technology and old pedagogy." Consistent with his previous work, Levy proposes a dymanic workplace model of learning. "The learning resources are dynamically assembled by each knowledge worker in the context of what they know and the work they are performing at the moment." from http://www.global-learning.de/g-learn/cgi-bin/gl_userpage.cgi?StructuredContent=m130506
..."meet its growth objectives by adopting smart, extensible and perhaps even revolutionary ways of rapidly deploying knowledge to a large number of workers." such as Knowledge Mapping (?)

24 June 2004

"From Unstructured Data to Actionable Intelligence: Operational effectiveness demands quick, accurate access to relevant information. Yet most of us rely on only the smallest fraction of the information available to us... The key is to "Connect the Dots" by mining the most important details - the relationships among people, places, things, events, activities and other facts hidden in your information. Text mining and visual data exploration can place the right information at the fingertips of employees, customers, and partners -- enabling faster, better informed decisions." - Inxight

Map resources; http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/guides/maps/linkfrme.htm

Some pundits to claim the global patent system is approaching a state of farce...
He believes challenging the data visualisation patent could cost $100,000. Mr Corrick says IPONZ appears to grant patents with little scrutiny, leaving it up to the courts to adjudicate in the event of a dispute. http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2946742a6022,00.html ... most such controversial patents have not been enforced and so remains untested in court.

Hyper-individualizing a commercial print publication; http://www.reason.com/0406/pubnote.shtml

Definition of Bohemian ; bo·he·mi·an n. A person with artistic or literary interests who disregards conventional standards of behavior.

23 June 2004

Idea to use this type of rollover effect with Visual Index Line on Edmontonians Map http://www.art-tube.com/panels.html
(ImageReady slices)

Innovative map/art project http://www.peeruk.org/projects/arrhen1.html or www.tfl.gov.uk/tube ..." large scale version of the familiar London A-Z map. This intricate graphic wall piece comprises 18 characters in scenarios that evolve through more than 250 illustrations. The narratives traverse and intersect across the map horizontally, vertically and diagonally in a web-like formation reminiscent of the underground network." As with any map, the reading of Arrhenius¹s A-Z differs markedly if it is presented as one continuous flat sheet or as a collection of bound pages. Essay at http://www.peeruk.org/projects/arrhen2.html

According to a survey released by FIND/SVP, 84% of business executives feel that Web searches -- using the generally consumer-centric search engines now available --take longer than they should due to poor results. It is estimated that the loss of productive time using search engines to conduct online research cost businesses $31 billion last year. http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?1002877

Traditional "timeline" ; http://www.cafeshops.com/cp/browse/?Ntt=Timeline&Nao=1&Ntk=All&pp=3&pv=kcomposite.9914769&No=1&N=0&zoom=yes#zoom

Victoria and Albert Museum (online); http://www.vam.ac.uk/sitemap/

22 June 2004

Dynamic queries, starfield displays, and the path to Spotfire, Ben Shneiderman,1999 ;
http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/spotfire/
description of a visualization project.

Court found that as long as digital versions placed photographs and articles within the context of their original purposes then there was no infringement of copyright. The fact that articles and photographs appear in a new medium, CD-ROM (that includes keyword search abilities and other features), makes no difference to the case. Judge Kaplan found that, "media neutrality is a fundamental principle of the Copyright Act." Also http://news.com.com/Tech+heavies+support+challenge+to+copyright+law/2100-1028_3-5242774.html?type=pt&part=inv&tag=feed&subj=news

"Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people." - William Butler Yeats

21 June 2004

Old Dominion University researchers have devised a way to organize large bodies of information based on the way the human brain organizes information. The method could eventually allow information repositories like the Internet to self-organize based on the way users access information, and in the process cut search time, make searching more intuitive, and preserve information about the relationships among data.. http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/rnb_060104.asp?trk=nl

Only web analytics (counter+) products and vendors worth considering:
(according to http://www.sherpastore.com/store/page.cfm/2146
24/7 Real Media
Insight XE, Insight SE
Atlas DMT/NetConversions, True Usability
ClickTracks Analytics, Inc., ClickTracks Analyzer ClickTracks Professional
Coremetrics, Coremetrics Online Analytics
Datanautics, Inc., Datanautics G2
Elytics, Inc., Elytics Analysis Suite - Enterprise license, Elytics Analysis Suite - ASP
Fireclick, Inc., Netflame
Implix, HyperTracker
IndexTools.com, IndexTools E-Business Web Analytics
Intellitracker Limited, Intellitracker VRS
IBM Corporation, IBM SurfAid Analytics Services
iPerceptions Inc., webValidator
Kowalick, Inc., MR2 (Maximized Response Rate)
Loyalty Matrix, MatrixOptimizer
Mach5 Enterprises, Mach5 Analyzer
Manticore Technology, Virtual Traffic Master, Virtual Commerce Master, Virtual Touchstone
Maxamine, Inc., Maxamine Knowledge Platform
Maximized Software, Inc., FlashStats
Mondosoft, Mondosoft BehaviorTracking
NetIQ (WebTrends Business Unit), WebTrends 7 (Software and On Demand)
Omniture, Inc., SiteCatalyst
Opentracker, Opentracker
Overture Services Inc., Marketing Console
Owl Marketing, Inc., AdWatch
Pilot Software, Pilot HitList
Quotech Ltd., Clickstream Data Collection & Site Intelligence Visitor Behavior Info Sys.
Red Eye International Ltd., RedEye
RedSheriff/Nielsen/NetRatings, Customer Intelligence (Site Census)
Sane Solutions, LLC, NetTracker http://www.kdnuggets.com/news/2004/n12/20i.html
Site Meter, Site Meter
SmartPlans LLC, Profit Smart DM(R)
speed-trap Limited, Prophet & OV Prophet
SPSS Inc., NetGenesis
SteelTorch Software, Inc., Caliper
Think Business Services Ltd., InSite
Touch Clarity Ltd., iO(TM) Enterprise Web Analytics
Urchin Software Corporation, Urchin 5
Vincera Software, Inc., Sales Alert for User Activity Intelligence
Vividence, Vividence XMS
Watchfire, WebXM
WatchWise Inc., WatchWise — The Intelligent Web Analytics
WebAbacus Ltd, WebAbacus
webHancer Corp., X-Path Web Analytics
Websidestory, Inc., HBX
Web Site Traffic Report, Inc., Web Site Traffic Report
WebtraffIQ, WebtraffIQ
WebTrends (See NetIQ Above)
World Market Watch, Inc., VisitorVille
ZY Computing, Inc., 123LogAnalyzer

http://www.1421.tv/maps.asp

Ultra Fractal is the best? tool to create fractal artwork; http://www.ultrafractal.com/

Dave Pollard's How To Save The World Roadmap (already published last year) but now "taken down to the personal, practical, present-day level. It answers the question: What Can I Do Now?"." Here are the key actions to take:
Trust your instincts
Listen, Learn, and Teach Others
Learn and Practice Critical Thinking
Re-Learn How to Imagine
Use Less Stuff
Stop at One
Become Less Dependent
Become an Activist
Volunteer
Be a Role Model
Be a Pioneer
Find or Create a Meaningful Job
Share Your Expertise
Be Good to Yourself
Infect Others With Your Spirit and Passion
http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2004/06/09.html#a766

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives." - Henry David Thoreau

"Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority." - Thomas Huxley

18 June 2004

Information Design Resources; http://www.stcsig.org/id/resources.html

Label-EZ (http://www.maptext.com/faqs.shtml )is a free-standing software system for automatically labeling the point, line, and area features depicted on maps and charts. It derives its input information from the GIS system containing the map data and then automatically places the text so as to assure that:
there will be no text-to-text or text-to-point-feature overlap
text placements will be free from ambiguity
all applicable cartographic specifications and conventions are followed
the finished map will be easy to comprehend and aesthetically pleasing

Art Unfolds in a Search for Keywords ; http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/17/technology/circuits/17info.html
Seconds after the live audio is heard, the news broadcast is surrounded by pertinent photographs and illustrations on adjacent screens, as well as some images completely unrelated. "There's something improvisational about it," said Andrew Alexander, Second City's chief executive. "You're not exactly sure what's going to come out of those other screens." However, "nothing justifies the use of inadequate systems by labeling them as art." - Marvin Minsky, a professor of media arts and sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Streaming visual association project; http://www.n-gon.com/Raygun/#launch

As comic-book theorist Scott McCloud points out, we identify more deeply with simply drawn cartoon characters, like those in Peanuts, than with more realistic ones. Charlie Brown doesn't trigger our obsession with the missing details the way a not-quite-photorealistic character does, so we project ourselves onto him more easily. That's part of the genius behind modernist artists such as Picasso or Matisse. They realized that the best way to capture the essence of a person or object was with a single, broad-stroked detail. http://slate.msn.com/id/2102086

17 June 2004

Ask Jeeves is conducting a limited test of a new search preview feature offering searchers a graphical peek at their results, no clicking necessary. http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3367361
New York-based Viewpoint Corporation is offering similar "graphically enhanced search" technology in the form of a toolbar plug-in. It launched in March 2004, and uses search results from Yahoo! Canada's Smartdevil ( http://labs.thumbshots.com/ ),has long been pushing graphical previews, which it calls Thumbshots, in Web search results.

"(map-making) is the art of the imaginary par excellence - an art free of all limits imposed by words, an art that touches the depth of human existence, an art of images (sounds) that crosses all borders. From/after The Language of Graphics: the lecture by Yuri Engelhardt ( http://www.yuriweb.com/ ); http://www.iua.upf.es/activitats/semirec/LanguageofGraphics/

’An art of sound that crosses all borders’; http://mondediplo.com/2004/06/07barenboim

"When you put a sign on the freeway, people will read it, until someone takes it down".(Depending on its size, content and placement it can be seen by hundreds of thousands of people).
http://www.freewayblogger.com/ When the intellectuals and politicians fail, it's time for the artists to step in.

Colin Ware's "Information Visualization" and Alan MacEachren's "How Maps Work" which are more analytical and better theoretically founded than Ed Tufte's books, and share by some
accident the common project of synthesising cognitive science insights with semiotics.

16 June 2004

Some classic bus map examples http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/bus_maps.shtml

REFLECTING A CULTURE (IN PERU) THROUGH INFOGRAPHICS; http://www.newspagedesigner.com/columnelcomercioe.html

This blog shows how maps can be included in a free, generic blog. Note you can zoom the map and recenter using the controls above the map. The map display technology is called pointMapper and comes from Map Bureau. http://www.donaldasmapblog.blogspot.com/

Map label fonts; http://resources.bravenet.com/free_fonts/

Wayfinding concepts; "Short cut to ...", "No left turns" (only right = correct? ones). "Round trips" provide 2 different ways to get to/back from anywhere.

Information aging by "yellowing" parts of maps to sepia tone.

15 June 2004

Generative Metaphors Uncover New Potential; everyone is operating within a given set of metaphors or mental models that define their reality. A metaphor can be considered a "figure of thought." Because we think in images, helping people become conscious of the images (metaphors) that best represent their collective experience can be very revealing and empowering. This is true because our images define the boundaries of our experience, filtering and allowing in only a subset of all available information. Changing our images or metaphors, changes our filtering system and hence our experience.
Immersion in the Experience. A first important phase consists of people’s immersion in the experience.
Triggering the Generative Metaphor.
Unarticulated Sense of Similarity. It seems important to notice that, at first, we didn’t have a precise idea of where to go with this idea, but we somehow felt it could apply to our situation.
Naming and Framing. An immediate consequence of this new perspective was a change of vocabulary: we ‘reframed and renamed’.
Explicit Account of Similarities: "Mapping.
New Solutions. The result was a new approach, and a solution.

Key Points

Jokes often carry new metaphors: after all the point of a joke is an interruption of the expected line of thought. If the new image is carried further into task strategies however, it tends to open up new options.

Leave the problem. Another way to cope with growing frustration is to take a break. Here again it seems that this interruption is a chance to break with the line of thought the group is getting stuck in as well as with the frustration itself: generative metaphors seem to regularly come up right after breaks.

Metaphors hold possibilities and restrictions. As group members enact their images, they may get stuck in the situation they created. Help them find an image that depicts their dilemma, then a new one that might serve them better.

"Stuckness" as an entry to metaphor change. When people are stuck, they may be more receptive to seeing things differently or to intervention by the facilitator to help them explore new perspectives. Therefore, it's important for facilitators to be sensitive to "stuckness" indicators which might include: disengagement, silences, repetition of events or conversations that don't offer a solution, facial expressions, sighs, changes in voice sound, etc.

"For every person with a spark of genius, there are a hundred with ignition trouble".

11 June 2004

Iconesque web images; http://www.intersmash.com/300images/

Breadcrumb Trailsdiscussion at; http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/52/breadcrumb.htm
http://www.7nights.com/asterisk/archives/whats_your_take_on_breadcrumb_trails.php
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/991114.html

The correct French translation for Information Designer is simply "Graphiste d'information".

"MAP": \Map\, n. [From F. mappe, in mappemonde map of the world, fr. L. mappa napkin, signal cloth; -- a Punic word. Cf.{Apron}, {Napkin}, {Nappe}.]
[n] a diagrammatic representation of the earth's surface (or part of it)
[n] a function such that for every element of one set there is a unique element of another set
[v] to establish a mapping (of mathematical elements or sets)
[v] explore or survey for the purpose of making a map; "We haven't even begun to map the many galaxies that we know exist"
[v] make a map of; show or establish the features of details of; "map the surface of Venus"
[v] depict as if on a map; "sorrow was mapped on the mother's face"
[v] plan, delineate, or arrange in detail; "map one's future"
[v] locate within a specific region of a chromosome in relation to known DNA or gene sequences; "map the genes"
Synonyms: correspondence, map out, mapping, represent
See Also: chart, chart, commute, contour map, contrive, depict, design, explore, function, interpret, locate, mathematical function, permute, picture, plan, plat, plot, project, relief map, render, represent, representation, road map, show, situate, sketch map, transpose, weather chart, weather map



10 June 2004

Maptitude for the Web is the best web mapping software for providing interactive access to maps and data on your web site. http://www.caliper.com/webmaptitude.htm

09 June 2004

Mind Mapping Resource Center; http://www.innovationtools.com/resources/mindmapping.asp

Short paper "Cybercartography : mapping in media art" by Peter Cho (UCLA, department of Design & Media Arts). It is an interesting
read; http://www.design.ucla.edu/~petercho/fall03/cybercartography.pdf

"The successful person is always seeking out the next area for growth, mapping out the next plan, working on the next idea, pursuing the next opportunity, looking for the next challenge, aiming at the next target."- Denis Waitley, from 'Timing is Everything'

"Visual brainstorming invigorates the imagination. Like a Zen painting that begins with a single brush stroke, these visual idea maps are spontaneous creations, snapshots of our associations of the moment. Breaking old patterns and devising new ones releases energy, and lets us see the world in a different way."- Tom Wujec, from 'The Five-Star Mind'

"You can't use an old map to see a new land."- Gary Hamel, in 'Leading the Revolution'

The road map to your destiny is in your heart, you don't need an off road vehicle to get there, just believe you know the road.- Elyse
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/0/7E9797FBEF6F1AA9802567E3005B19EC/


http://www.visitorville.com/visual-visitorville.html
When you have many visitors on your web site, it begins to resemble midtown Manhattan, and it's hard to get your eyes off the screen! Buildings resize and illuminate dynamically based on the number of people inside, their relative popularity, and how many visitors exited through them. Buses, taxis, and limos race around the streets; pedestrians walk across crosswalks; helicopters ply the air.

DONATE/ Help to keep The Great Map online. Donate safely and securely through Paypal using your credit card or Paypal account. Any help is appreciated! Thanks! Just click the Paypal button below...

Continue on ST ALBERT TRAIL - go 4.2 km
Continue on AB-2 - go 55.3 km
Head left on ramp - go 0.3 km
Head left on AB-18 - go 11.3 km
Turn right on AB-44 - go 21.1 km
Continue on AB-44/AB-661 - go 1.6 km
Continue on AB-44 - go 42.5 km
Continue on AB-44/AB-801 - go 1.6 km
Continue on AB-44 - go 39.3 km
Continue on AB-2 - go 42.5 km
Turn left on UNNAMED STREET - go 26.7 km
Arrive at the centre of ALBERTA

08 June 2004

As a certified KnowledgeMap (KMap) provider, ECON provides assessment, research, facilitation and graphic presentation of a subject or project in an organized visual context. KMaps are quickly becoming the standard for organizing complex systems, disparate information sources and communications paths ( http://www.econ-inc.net/What_We_Offer.htm ).

ViewCraft is a management consulting firm that helps organizational leaders understand and leverage the value of context. With our Information CartographySM methods and tools we can accelerate your ability to reach key vantage points, gain insights, and align organizational resources for best outcomes. Simply defined, Information CartographySM is a method through which complex systems are visually rendered to facilitate comprehension. http://www.viewcraft.com/infocartography.html

"The wise only possess ideas; the greater part of mankind are possessed by them." - Samuel Taylor Coleridge

07 June 2004

Making the Ultimate Map http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5092840/site/newsweek/

A 27-by-38-inch map commemorating the city's 150th birthday; http://www.ljworld.com/section/citynews/storypr/159598 Streets are color-coded according to five historical periods, and draped over a realistic rendering of the prairie landscape that greeted the first arrivals from Boston in 1854. A chronology of photographs runs along both sides of the map, illustrating some of the key events and personalities from Lawrence's first 150 years. The map also identifies 242 historical locations... http://www.lawrence150.org/map.htm

The April 6, 2004, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) features nearly 20 articles by some of tomorrow's mapmakers. Sackler publication http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-04/nsf-htb040604.php

Visual User Interfaces Challenges and Opportunities : http://www.ieee-tcdl.org/Bulletin/current/borner/borner.html

Manifold System 6.0; A quick tour of what’s new and different http://www.georeference.org/Forums/boxx/items.asp?iid=23

Ars Magna Sciendi (The Great Art of Knowledge). The Greek inscription, at the foot of the throne on which the Divine Sophia sits, translates as “Nothing is more beautiful than to know the all.”

Globe yo-yo http://www1.bombaycompany.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10051&storeId=10051&langId=-1&topCategoryId=10107&productId=30267&siteId=core

Buy maps at http://www.philaprintshop.com/gallery.html

04 June 2004

http://www.stcsig.org/id/definitions.html

AIfIA (the Asilomar Institute for Information Architecture) defines
Information Architecture as:
1. The structural design of shared information environments.
2. The art and science of organizing and labeling web sites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability and findability.
3. An emerging community of practice focused on bringing principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape.


"Ideas Illustrated" description of what I publish.

Visualization: http://www.louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/images/011014elephant.gif

"Information Architecture (IA) is commonly understood to be the art and science of structuring, organizing, and labeling information so that content owners can better manage it and users can find what they're looking for more effectively. IA can be bottom-up (i.e. analyzing and labeling content chunks) or top-down (i.e developing standardized categorization schemes or taxonomies)." http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=6439&PageNu

Other definitions; http://www.stcsig.org/id/definitions.html

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." - Harold Whitman
"To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream.
Not only plan, but also believe". - Anatole France
"Knowing which way to turn gives you self confidence. Taking a chance and going the opposite way gives you a chance to see what you are made of." - Bob Perks
"Take the most difficult challenge you are now facing and turn it into the greatest opportunity to grow simply by changing how you see it. Dead ends then become turning points." - Bob Perks

Maps for Kids (? A Hundred Years From Now ...it will not matter what my bank account was, ...the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove... ...but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child).

03 June 2004

Navigation of Knowledge Charts using Semantic Browsers: http://www-jime.open.ac.uk/2004/10/

Idea to issue 100 signed Certificates of Authenticity to Edmontonians on the map http://www.mooncertificate.com/buy.html

Do eBayMap http://pages.ebay.com/sitemap.html?ssPageName=h:h:smap:US

Next year map; http://www3.gov.ab.ca/alberta_centennial/default.aspx

http://graphicmaps.com/clipart.htm

Early map imagery; http://www.maphistory.info/webimages.html

"From now on, space by itself and time by itself are doomed to fade away into mere shadows, and only a kind of union of the two will preserve an independent reality." - Minkowski, 1908

02 June 2004

Flash map icons http://www.rivm.nl/vtv/data/atlas/FTEspec/internisten.htm Moving the mouse over the symbol, it changes colour and the name of the hospital organisation is displayed along with the number of staff member in a particular department.
By the way, if you think I have given up on SVG, you're wrong. Learning Flash is a great way to investigate and explore the use of interaction and animation in cartography.

Live XML feed enables you to maximize your earning potential by providing a simple solution to adding real-time links... http://webservice.allposters.com/
Differently from other pirates, Dampier's main reason for joining the profession was not a desire to get wealth, but simple curiosity. “This long overdue biography of William Dampier ( http://www.apirateofexquisitemind.com/ wonderfully brings to life one of the most important explorers of the seventeenth century —a swashbuckling naturalist whose influence on navigation, science, and literature was incredibly far-reaching and profound.” —Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea and Sea of Glory

"The map was the chief part of my plot....It is one thing to draw a map at random, set a scale in one corner of it at a venture, and write up a story to the measurements. It is quite another to have to examine a whole book, make an inventory of all the allusions contained in it, and with a pair of compasses, painfully design a map to suit the data. I did it; and the map was drawn again in my father's office, with embellishments of blowing whales and sailing ships, and my father himself brought into service a knack he had of various writing, and elaborately FORGED the signature of Captain Flint, and the sailing directions of Billy Bones. But somehow it was never TREASURE ISLAND to me". - 'TREASURE ISLAND' by Robert Louis Stevenson

"Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing." - William James

I've learned that there is a fine line between genius and insanity. I've learned that I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy it.

01 June 2004

Re: Copyright and the Net: The argument presented at this site seems to suggest that the collage artist would be far better off to utilize images, textures, etc... that were solely created by him or herself... hence "original". This, however, ignores the fact that in many cases the recognition of the appropriated image is an essential element of the work. The artist's intention is often critical in nature by recontextualizing or dramatically changing the original image in some way. Is this not what Warhol intended with his Campbell's soup cans or Marilyns? And what of Joseph Cornell? Salle? Francis Bacon's use of photographic images? Robert Rauschenberg? Or even T.S. Eliot's "Wasteland"? Perhaps the labyrinthine nature of the current laws with regard to appropriation only prove how far behind the legal system is with regard to the hotbed issue of "intellectual property"... and how relevant collage continues to be? Stlukesguild

The Maps of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge : a publishing history / Mead T. Cain. - In 'Imago Mundi : the international journal for the history of cartography' (London, ISSN 0308-5694), 1994, 46, 151-167 : ill., maps. - ISBN 0-905776-19-4