On 6/20/08, Andrew Larcombe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:52:38 +0100, Eric Wolf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > So I believe a 3d environment in real time is the minimum starting > >> point. So I could go to something like Second Life, but that lacks the > >> scope and ambition of mirroring reality itself. > > > > Beware the follies of the 1:1 scale map! > > > > Maps convey meaning about reality that is something beyond information. > > Adding more information (mirroring reality) does not necessarily convey > > the > > meaning. > > > > The problem of the red dot and the similar debate elsewhere about the > > quality of "GIS maps" has to do with this lack of meaning. > > > > Humans are very good at communicating meaning (and arguably less good > > about > > communicating information). We are so good at communicating meaning that > > this quality is often overlooked. Computers excel at communicating > > information and there's a tendency among IT people to get so wrapped up > > in > > the information capabilities of the computers that they eschew meaning. > > > Amen to all of that.
Yes, very well said Eric. > Some excellent works that hit on this subject: > Borges, J. L. (1946), "On Exactitude in Science" > De Certeau, M. (1984), "The Practice of Everyday Life" > any of the Situationist Internationalist works on Psychogeography (they > were 'geohashing' - or at least using a mechanistic approach to move > around in and experiencing space - about 50 years ago) > .. And, probably the best I have read (and wish I had written it) "Information and misinformation: an investigation of the notions of information, misinformation, informing, and misinforming by Christopher Fox (Greenwood Press, 1983)" http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=15497.1096832&coll=GUIDE&dl=GUIDE -- Puneet Kishor http://punkish.eidesis.org/ Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies http://www.nelson.wisc.edu/ Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) http://www.osgeo.org/ _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking
