Hi,
FYI, today, i received the following text concerning a workshop to be
held in Brussels next month, on a subject related to OpenStreetMap (and
the graphical engine Mapnik). I surprisingly read within the
contribution list the name of : "Open Streetmap (BE/FR)
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Belgium !"
Is somebody from the present list involved in this organization ?
Regards,
Didier|Linusable
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Collision 1: Badness and Conflict
Maps, schematics and books are complex graphic surfaces where meaningful
elements fight for space in
different dimensions. The potential for elements to collide grows
exponentially whenever their semantic, visual
or functional links are stronger. If we consider typographic and
cartographic objects as “spatial arrangement of
texts and other graphical elements”, than their design is essentially
the work of organising collisions. In a
conventional design practice, many systems are at work to prevent
accidents from happening. Tension is deflated
through erasure, simplification and filtering. What would be ways to
articulate collisions, instead of avoiding
them?
This first workshop in this series is inspired by particular practices
of ‘conflict’ and ‘badness’. ‘Badness’ is a
curious concept introduced by computer scientist Donald Knuth to denote
the level by which an automatically
generated lay-out would stray from the ‘most globally pleasing’ form of
text-justification. It refers to the way a
system can dynamically decide a cut-off point and parametricises
decisions. This process is called ‘optimisation’
when industrial quantities are implied. It might be a bit more complex
when aesthetic and political criteria enter
as decision makers.
Knuths’ confidence in an absolute typographic truth contrasts with the
way a ‘conflict’ is detected and resolved
in software for collaborative code development. Versioning tools such as
SVN or git consider any difference as a
potential for conflict, and blocks the process until the issue is
resolved outside the realm of the software itself.
While collaboration is all about working with tension constructively,
how can such processes be supported by
collaborative tools?
Mapnik, the graphical engine that generates the digital maps in Open
Street Map will be used as a case-study. It
has surprisingly little technical protocols in place for conflict
resolution. If a streetname doesn’t fit, it disappears
from the map; if there is a conflict, contributors are advised that it
all comes down to a simple choice: “yours or
mine”. How can we enrich the way maps are automatically laid out,
specifically when there is a conflict of
space, language, direction? How can we develop visual and typographic
proposals for a kind of cartography that
does not evade the tensions that underly them?
This three day workshop will be a mix of games, exercises, prototyping
and project presentations. We have
invited participants and international guests with backgrounds in
typography, architecture, cartography, art,
collaborative writing, software development and activism. Together we
will explore the potential of collision
through combining computational and physical actions.
With contributions from:
• Lafkon (DE) http://www.lafkon.net/
• The People Speak (UK) http://www.thepeoplespeak.com/
• Open Streetmap (BE/FR)
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Belgium
• OSP (BE) http://ospwork.constantvzw.org/work
• stdin (BE) http://stdin.fr
Practical info
Address: Constant Variable, Rue Gallaitstraat 80, Brussels
Dates: 21-23 February 2013, 10:00-18:00
Maximum 20 participants
Participation is free, but you need to sign up by sending an e-mail to
pie...@speculoos.com
The Collision-workshops are an initiative of Pierre Huyghebaert in
collaboration with http://lgru.net and
Constant. Made possible with support from the Flemish Community.
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