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

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