Ludwig Wittgenstein

“The problems are solved, not by giving new information, but by arranging what we have known since long.”
― Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations

“Imagine we had to arrange the books of a library.  When we begin the books lie higgledy piggledy on the floor.
Now there would be many ways of sorting them and putting them in their places.  One would be to take the books one by one and put each on the shelf in its right place.
On the other hand we might take up several books from the floor and put them in a row on a shelf, merely in order to indicate that these books ought to go together in this order.
In the course of arranging the library this whole row of books will have to change its place.  But it would be wrong to say that therefore putting them together on a shelf was no step towards the final result.  In this case, in fact, it is pretty obvious that having put together books which belong together was a definite achievement, even though the whole row of them had to be shifted.  But some of the greatest achievements in philosophy could only be compared with taking up some books which seemed to belong together, and putting them on different shelves; nothing more being final about their positions than that they no longer lie side by side.
The onlooker who doesn’t know the difficulty of the task might well think that in such a case that nothing at all has been achieved. – The difficulty in philosophy is to say no more than we know.  E.g., to see that when we have put two books together in their right order we have not thereby put them in their final places.
When we think about the relation of the objects surrounding us to our personal experiences of them, we are sometimes tempted to say that these personal experiences are the material of which reality consists.”
― Ludwig Wittgenstein

Source: http://activephilosophy.wordpress.com/2009/12/20/wittgenstein-on-philosophy/

arranging the bookshelf

letterpress practice

just to see how it will look in letterpress

first - gil sans
second - tahoma (google chrome address bar uses)

arranging books

As a mean of mapping, since it is the printed form I want to symbolise information, I decided to make something that mimicks conceptual internet map. And to do that, arranging a bookshelf seemed the most rational thing to see how internet functions.
The aspect I initially chose of internet was the "link," and I am sticking to that. After steady experiments on "links" from book craft to the abtract booklet guide, I decided to settle at a bookshelf. I am still deciding whether to choose a keyword soon for the arrangement, but since it will be an portray of internet, it will never be exact nor beneficial for users. I will instead communicate in a way that users notice and be aware of unrelated links-covered search result and soon find their way of sorting and using the internet. I briefly researched on URL shortner early in this project, which resulted unused because it was a bit off the idea, but I still like the error symbols such as @£$%$^&*/ which is pretty relevant to the idea of "misleading."
What I need to do is,
1. measure the size of spines of my bookshelf,
2. print symbols according to the size in acetate paper or plain white paper,
3. place them on books and put them in the shelf,
4. take a photograph of it,
5. make a booklet guide.
Easy! I'm not sure whether i can use computer in this project, but I will believe I can. If not, that means I need to go to archway to do letterpress. that will make it look more organic, but its about time now! :(

mapping the internet - development1

 

experimenting on colour coding the right information and irrelevant information. images are drawn just to see the whether it'd work in real paper coding. Red is used for irrelevant infomation for "warning." Arranging them in more logical order needs to be sorted out. but I quite like the composition of white and red, mimicking the bookshelf/books.  

mapping the internet - research6

Book creators

Wikipedia has enabled the book creator tool for the reader to now create their own book by adding a chapter, saving in PDF and sharing with others. Customozing information in user's own convinience.

This is a book creator application that was designed also for user's own convinience. This is more useful for children making their own picture book.

mapping the internet - research5

I've decided to use books/print copies as the mapping tool. Library and Internet have a complex relationship too and since papers are flexible and easily editable, thought playing with them would be a fun way to start.

They both act as information storage, also as platform for social gathering. I support physical books. I value the activity of holding a book, turning a page and feeling the texture of it. Internet is after all more convinient in terms of "accessing information" but prints are more efficient in "absorbing knowledge."

Another good aspect of library is that you have a full set of books in a shelf of a topic, and even if you don't know what to read, the whole set will give you an inspiration. With internet, you have to click a link of a keyword you typed in search engines, choose what to read, and they often turn out to be advertisements or scribbles from undefined source. This type of method of search stops you moment by moment, by confusing you with unnecessary pop-ups and advertisements.

Conversely, with library books, is it only the spine of books in the shelf and the titles of books that inspires me? Then, is it the whole related keywords that cheers me up?

When you type in a word in search engine, related keywords also appear above the list of search results. But they are limited, obvious and shortened, since they are really "key" words. However with book titles, book titles can be as imaginative as the editor.

The information stored both in internet and in library is vast, it's about choosing the right information from bunch of decaying source. And I concluded that the way of listing is the key to the appropriate method to access of information. 

Then how do I distinguish and cut off unneccessary information and efficiently lead users to the right place? Do we need a whole new arrangement of web searches?

First of all, I established what goes in the way.
1. Hyperlinks
(1) inline links - may display a modified version of the content. e.g. instead of an image a thumbnail low resolution preview, cropped section
(2) anchor - anchor links embedded in the content

mapping the internet - research3

Interim crit - ideas add on/feedback
science+business
disk drive - storage device
search engines - services they offer
dead websites
"like" showing an attachment
emotions or meaning ignored/misinterpreted


endless links
text formed with links/references
knowledge - network
historical dimension
interrelatedness
books - categorised topic
hyper text
Rayman Queneu : exercise in style
Borges : library of babel
Tom Phillips : Humanet

mapping the internet - research2

Here are key ideas that I felt intriguing from the discussion.

/

1. correct/incorrect (cprrect/incorrect) : errors [!@#$#$^&*^()]

2. easy access to information/copyright - intellectual property. 

3. communication technology that's disused - are books dead media?

4. photocopy

5. creation of emoticons/internet language

6. business aspect - physical media selling rate falling (books)

 /

1. correct/incorrect information errors.

- too many information from undefined source taking up the space.

- technical errors [!@#$#$^&*^()]

- trust issue/ selecting what to read

2. easy access to information/copyright - intellectual property.

- copyright/revealing

- free, loaded information

- "Technology of the internet depends on copying at every stage." - John Quiggin

3. communication technology that's disused - are books dead media?

- “Right now, a paper book is undeniably more comfortable to read than a computer display. Furthermore, the physical book and the library are emblematic of and loved by a literate and informed society. The library is also a gathering place and social venue." source

4. photocopy

*parts that are disappearing and disused.

- still being used for fast job done, but are print-outs surviving over internet?

- are print-outs handy in storing information?

- quality in doubt. distorted images/text

5. creation of emoticons/internet language
- how to interpret them

6. business aspect - physical media selling rate falling (books)

mapping the internet - research1

keywords/

dead media
mistakes of media
organic & hand-driven
manual & physical
correct/incorrect (cprrect/incorrect) : errors [!@#$#$^&*^()]
internet language developed
safety - is error page panicking you?
transformation of space/time - fast paced discussion/feedback, saving more physical space at the same time distanced feeling from the platform
usefulness - quick search, wikipedia, not so much/not-free professional source.
complexity - links from one to another. understanding the platform.
effects on specific field e.g. books, music, visual
easy access to information/copyright - intellectual property. 

communication technology that's disused - are books dead media?

parts that is disappearing or unreachable
symbols

photocopy, collage, woodcut, print

photogtaph

creation of emoticons/internet language

digital natives - generations that has been using internet from their very young age
attitude of the user
business aspect - physical media selling rate falling (books, magazines, CD albums etc.)
colour/quality/character of information difference from the screen to physical prints - different character
use of system - ergonomics
citizenship, globalisation - information-wise, is there a meaning in citizenship?
difference in online or offline social role. implication of technology
evolving complexities/contiuously changing map
disused/dead websites
clicking, typing - sensory in use