decipherExploring the map and the territory; seeing the forest and the trees; research, strategy and design.Geotagging and the infinite canvas- June 19, 2007 It occurred to me the other day that Scott McCloud's point about the web's infinite canvas applies (and is vastly more important) to annotating physical space. Any given physical location needs both multiple categories of information (e.g. basic information, reviews, history, etc.) and also infinite instances of each. And it's going to get real messy real fast, given both the variety of data (where's the nearest bathroom vs. Mark Twain slept here vs. I love this place vs. danger: asbestos!)...http://www.decipher.org/archive/2007/06/geotagging_and.html Congratulations, Alex!- June 13, 2007 The brilliant Alex Wright has just published his first book, Glut: Mastering Information Through the Ages. In Alex's words: The book is about, roughly, the history of information: exploring the ways people have collected, organized and shared their intellectual capital over the years. It delves into, among other things, early oral traditions, the invention of writing, classical libraries, medieval alchemy, Victorian bibliography and early computer networks. Ultimately, the book is about the.http://www.decipher.org/archive/2007/06/congratulations.html For when you gotta go on the go- June 13, 2007 I've been bothered by the raft of mobile informational services that don't take into account the real context of use. When would I ever want to find something as generic as "pizza" in a given location OK, maybe ice cream, but still while walking around a city I either want something really specific (e.g. where's the nearest Blue Bottle coffee) or something more general but of an editorially (or socially) vetted quality (e.g. show me a cool place to read for an hour near here). So, I have to...http://www.decipher.org/archive/2007/06/for_when_you_go.html |