<p>The drawings I've been making by tracking myself over GPS makes a kind of map; however it does not display scale, or landmarks, or street names. It doesn't show which way is north, south, east or west. What it does show is some kind of graphic representation of the path I took by following my nose.</p>
<p>The drawings I've been making by tracking myself over <ahref="please_to_wijnhaven.html#gps">GPS</a> makes a kind of map; however it does not display scale, or landmarks, or street names. It doesn't show which way is north, south, east or west. What it does show is some kind of graphic representation of the path I took by following my nose.</p>
<p>After I return back to the studio at Wijnhaven 61, I save and export .gpx (GPS exchange) format, and then drop the files into geographic information system software which allows me to accurately position the paths, representing them as lines.</p>
<p>Later, I export a line to .svg (scalable vector graphics) format and start to zoom in on it using a vector graphics editor. When zoomed out, the line appears to be curved, jagged, definitely not straight. However, when zooming in there are many straight lines, and they only bend at anchor points where each snapshot is taken. The line becomes <ahref="please_to_foshan.html#knot">knotted</a> at places, representing social interactions, financial transactions, places where I backtracked, and where the GPS signal was obscured within or deflected by buildings in the urban landscape.</p>
<p>I begin to simplify the line, sliding a scale that removes anchor points and unravels the knot into a completely straight line. As I do this, I notice smaller knots that were not so visible at the scale I saw them at originally.</p>
<p>I begin to simplify the line, sliding a scale that removes anchor points and unravels the knot into a <ahref="wijnhaven_to_foshan.html#straightestPart">completely straight line</a>. As I do this, I notice smaller knots that were not so visible at the scale I saw them at originally.</p>
<p><ahref="cybernetic_guerilla_warfare.html#topology"target="_blank"> Topology is a non-metric elastic geometry. It is concerned with transformations of shapes and properties such as nearness, inside and outside.</p>
<p>A note from Peter Guthrie Tait scribbled on an envelope asks an unknown recipient "Can't you come on Monday the present at the performance? An elliptical hole gives the rings in a state of vibration!!!"</p>
<p>In a room, thick with smoke, Tait and William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) are conducting an <aclass="outOfNetworkLink"href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwG_uRuYkhg"target="_blank">experiment</a> to test the German physicist Hermann von Helmholtz's theory, that closed vortex lines in a fluid remain stable forever. Tait is using a box that emits smoke made from a pungent mixture of ammonia solution, salt and sulfuric acid. He taps the back of his makeshift vortex cannon, and thick rings he later describes as looking "like solid rings of India rubber" waft from a hole drilled in its front. Thomson develops a theory that each smoke ring is structured around knots in <ahref="please_to_foshan.html#theAether">the ether</a>, a space-filling substance believed to transmit matter. Consequently, Tait begins to tabulate possible forms of <ahref="please_to_foshan.html#mathematicalKnots">mathematical knots</a>.</p>
<p><em>Knotworks</em> are visualisations of the topology of our small, humble digital network of eight home servers. Each <em>Knotwork</em> drawing is of a mathematical knot with eight crossings, each crossing representing a node of the network. The points where the parts of the loop overlap can conceal parts contained, like the internal sections of <ahref="cybernetic_guerilla_warfare.html">klein worms</a>. When unravelled, the knot is <ahref="please_to_foshan.html#unknot" target="_self">a continuous loop</a>, and the links (edges) and the nodes (vertices) are the same.</p>
<h2id="knotworks"name="knotworks">Knotworks</h2>
<p><em>Knotworks</em> are visualisations of the topology of our small, humble digital network of eight home servers. Each <em>Knotwork</em> drawing is of a mathematical knot with eight crossings, each crossing representing a node of the network. The points where the parts of the loop overlap can conceal parts contained, like the internal sections of <ahref="cybernetic_guerilla_warfare.html#kleinWorms" target="_blank">klein worms</a>. When unravelled, the knot is <ahref="please_to_foshan.html#unknot">a continuous loop</a>, and the links (edges) and the nodes (vertices) are the same.</p>
<p>Contrails (a portmanteau of "condensation" and "trail") are the line-shaped clouds left behind by the engines of aircraft flying at low altitude. They are commonly composed of water in the form of ice crystals.</p>
<p>The chemtrail conspiracy theory is an erroneous belief that the contrails of aircraft are being used for nefarious purposes, ranging from altering the weather to mind control. Chemtrail (a portmanteau of "chemical" and "contrail") sightings are often reported on the <aclass="outOfNetworkLink"href="https://reddit.com/r/chemtrails"target="_blank">r/chemtrails </a>sub-messageboard of reddit.com, a discussion website which claimes to be "the front page of the internet".</p>
<p>On this sub-messageboard, under a section titled "Definitions & such" is the short description of a <em>chemtrail</em> as
<divclass="indent"><em>...a visible trail left in the sky by an aircraft and believed by some to consist of chemical or biological agents released as part of a covert operation.</em></p></div>
@ -27,9 +18,22 @@
<divclass="indent">
<p><em>All viewpoints are allowed here, but please be respectful. This is a subreddit, not a court of law. Please don't badger users into providing concrete evidence. Short of flying us all up into the atmosphere with an evidence bag, you probably won't get it.</em></p></div>
<p>A contingency plan; a fall-back, a plan B, what to do if all else fails.</p>
<p>Contingencies are incidental to something else, dependent on chance, possible, conditional, but usually unnecessary.</p>
<p>A contingency is what something allows or doesn’t allow one to do, constrained by its form and use. For example, a pen is often used to write with, but also has the contingency of being used for other purposes, such as scratching one’s back.</p>
<h2id="contrails"name="contrails">Contrails</h2>
<p>Contrails (a portmanteau of "condensation" and "trail") are the line-shaped clouds left behind by the engines of aircraft flying at low altitude. They are commonly composed of water in the form of ice crystals.</p>
<p>To abstract is to pull or draw away rules and concepts in general from specific examples, first principles, literal signifiers, and other methods. So, abstraction becomes a conceptual process of creating super-categorical representatives for subordinate concepts, connecting related concepts as a group, field or category.</p>
<h2id="abstractionLayers">Abstraction layers</h2>
<p>Computer scientists use abstraction layers to make conceptual models that can be re-used and applied widely without having to write code again. For example, using a computer program language allows source code to be translated into machine code which can be used on various different machines. This separates a framework (a categorical concept of writing a program) from specific implementation, thus making the abstraction a categorical concept of the solution.</p>
<em>A layer is considered to be on top of another if it <ahref="please_to_wijnhaven.html#dependencies">depends</a> on it. Every layer can exist without the layers above it, and requires the layers below it to function. Frequently abstraction layers can be composed into a hierarchy of abstraction levels. The OSI model comprises seven abstraction layers. Each layer of the model encapsulates and addresses a different part of the needs of digital communications, thereby reducing the complexity of the associated engineering solutions.</em>
<h2id="autonomy">Autonomy</h2>
<p><ahref="the_psychotopology_of_everyday_life.html#taz">Autonomy</a> is the freedom to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organisations, institutions and individuals have independence and the ability to self-govern.</p>
<p>First published in <em>Radical Software</em>, Vol.1, Issue 3, pp. 1-2, 1971
<br>
Klein worm illustrations adapted from originals by Claude Ponsot
Klein worm illustrations by Claude Ponsot
</p>
<divclass="indent">
@ -102,10 +102,10 @@
<p>I have not made a thorough study of McCulloch. It would take years. I do not know if what follows satisfies that criterion he established for such a calculus. I have maintained a certain organization of ignorance relative to formal cybernetics and formal topology. In fact, what follow would not, it seems, satisfy the kind of discreteness, one-two-three, that McCulloch seemed to want. However, such discreteness may not be necessary.</p>
<p>My approach stems from work with McLuhan that preoccpied me with the problem of how to maintain congruence between our intentions and our extensions. McLuhan talked of orchestration of media and sense ratios. Neither cut it. Orchestras just aren't around and sense ratios or <em>sensus communis </em>is a medieval model, essentially a simile of meta touch. Gibson's book on the senses considered as percetual systems is richer in description of the process. It includes McLuhan's personal probing ability as an active part of the perceptual system.</p>
<p>While the following formulations may not in fact work as a calculus of intention I put them forth both because they have been exciting and useful for me and because the calculus itself seems a critical problem in terms of cybernetic guerilla warfare. Dialogue degenrates and moves to conflict without an understanding of mutual intent and non-intent. While it does not seem that we can work out such a common language of intent with the people pursuing the established entropic way of increasingly dedifferentiated ways of eating bullshit; it is critical we develop such a language with each other. The high variety of self organizing social systems we are working toward will be unable to co-cybernate re each other re the ecology without such a calculus of intent.</p>
<p>This calculus of intention is done in mathematical topology.<b> Topology is a non-metric elastic geometry. It is concerned with transformations of shapes and properties such as nearness, inside and outside.</b><p> Topologists have been able to describe the birth of a baby in terms of topological necessity. There is a feeling among some topologists that while fixed math has failed to describe the world quantitatively, it may be able to describe the world qualitatively. Work is being done on topological description of verbs that seem commmon to all languages. Piaget felt that topology was close to the core of the way children think. Truck drivers have been found to be the people who are most able to learn new jobs. While driving truck for Ballantine one summer, it became apparent to me why. Hand an experienced driver a stack of delivery tickets and he could route in five minutes what would take you an hour. It was a recurring problem of mapping topologically how to get through this network in the shortest amount of time given one way streets etc.</p>
<p>This calculus of intention is done in mathematical topology.<b><aid="topology"name="topology">Topology is a non-metric elastic geometry. It is concerned with transformations of shapes and properties such as nearness, inside and outside.</a></b><p> Topologists have been able to describe the birth of a baby in terms of topological necessity. There is a feeling among some topologists that while fixed math has failed to describe the world quantitatively, it may be able to describe the world qualitatively. Work is being done on topological description of verbs that seem commmon to all languages. Piaget felt that topology was close to the core of the way children think. Truck drivers have been found to be the people who are most able to learn new jobs. While driving truck for Ballantine one summer, it became apparent to me why. Hand an experienced driver a stack of delivery tickets and he could route in five minutes what would take you an hour. It was a recurring problem of mapping topologically how to get through this network in the shortest amount of time given one way streets etc.</p>
<p>I should say that my own topological explorations have a lot to do with a personal perspective system that never learned phonetics, can't spell or sing, and took to topology the way many people seem to take to music. The strangest explicit experience with toplogy I've had came via a painter friend, Claude Ponsot, whose handling of complex topological patterns on canvas convinced me that a non-verbal coherent graphic thing was possible. The following transformations on the klein bottle - klein worms, if you will - came in the context of working with Warren Brody on soft control systems using plastic membranes. Behind that are three years of experience infolding videotape. I checked these formulations with a Ph.D topologist. He had not seen them before, questioned whether they were strictly topological. As far as I know, they are original.</p>
<h1>Liberation Technology and the Arab Spring: From Utopia to Atopia and Beyond<br>
Ulises A. Mejias, SUNY Oswego
</h1>
— <br>
First published in <ahref="http://twenty.fibreculturejournal.org/2012/06/20/fcj-147-liberation-technology-and-the-arab-spring-from-utopia-to-atopia-and-beyond/" target="blank">The Fibreculture Journal</a>, Issue 20, 2012<br>
First published in <ahref="http://twenty.fibreculturejournal.org/2012/06/20/fcj-147-liberation-technology-and-the-arab-spring-from-utopia-to-atopia-and-beyond/"class="outOfNetworkLink"target="blank">The Fibreculture Journal</a>, Issue 20, 2012<br>
<pclass="indent">Abstract: While the tendency in the West to refer to the Arab Spring movements as ‘Twitter Revolutions’ has passed, a liberal discourse of ‘liberation technology’ (information and communication technologies that empower grassroots movements) continues to influence our ideas about networked participation. Unfortunately, this utopian discourse tends to circumvent any discussion of the capitalist market structure in which these tools operate. In this paper, I suggest that liberation technologies may in fact increase opportunities for political participation, but that they simultaneously create certain kinds of inequalities. I end by proposing a theoretical framework for locating alternative practices of participation and liberation.</p>
<p>—1—<br>
@ -69,7 +69,7 @@
<p>—26—<br>
Loss of freedom of speech is another example of inequality through participation. Companies, unlike states, are not obliged to guarantee any human rights, and their <em>Terms of Use</em> give them carte blanche to curtail the speech of certain users. For instance, Facebook (one assumes under the direction of the British authorities) recently removed pages and accounts of various protesters belonging to the group <em>UK Uncut</em> just before the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton (Malik, 2011). <em>UK Uncut</em> is not a violent terrorist organisation, but a group that opposes cuts to public services and demands that companies like Vodafone pay their share of taxes.</p>
<p>—27—<br>
>Suspension of service is another issue to consider. States (in collaboration with corporations) can simply “switch off” internet and mobile phone services for whole regions, in order to terminate access to the resources activists have been relying on. Vodafone, for instance, complied with the Egyptian government’s directive to end cell phone service during the Revolution of 25 January (Shenker, 2011).</p>
Suspension of service is another issue to consider. States (in collaboration with corporations) can simply “switch off” internet and mobile phone services for whole regions, in order to terminate access to the resources activists have been relying on. Vodafone, for instance, complied with the Egyptian government’s directive to end cell phone service during the Revolution of 25 January (Shenker, 2011).</p>
<p>—28—<br>
Inequality though participation will also be evident in new technologies that will facilitate the remote control of mobile devices without the user’s consent. Modern cell phones have, for some time, provided the authorities with the ability to use them as wiretapping devices without their owner’s knowledge, even when the power is off (McCullagh and Broache, 2006). And they can also be used to track individuals and report their locations. An indication of what else we can expect in the future is a patent, filed by Apple, that allows for authorities to remotely disable a phone’s camera (Mack, 2011). While this is intended to prevent illegal recording at concerts, museums, etc., we can imagine how effective it would be at protests.</p>
<p>—29—<br>
@ -88,12 +88,12 @@
As we realise that many-to-many communication is becoming impossible without a for-profit many-to-one infrastructure, we must abandon the utopian fantasy that liberation technology, as currently envisioned, can increase democratic participation. Participation managed by monopsony can only increase inequality. In response, paranodality must provide an atopian way to challenge the network by serving as a method for thinking and acting outside the monopsony. As networks have become not just metaphors for describing sociality, but templates that organise and shape social realities, we must question our investment in corporate technologies as the agents of liberation.</p>
<br>
<h2>Biographical Note</h2>
<p>Ulises A. Mejias is assistant professor in the Communication Studies Department at SUNY Oswego. His research interests include network studies, critical theory, philosophy and social studies of technology, and political economy of new media. His book on critical network theory is scheduled for publication in 2012 by University of Minnesota Press. For more information, see <ahref="http://ulisesmejias.com" target="_blank">http://ulisesmejias.com</a></p>
<p>Ulises A. Mejias is assistant professor in the Communication Studies Department at SUNY Oswego. His research interests include network studies, critical theory, philosophy and social studies of technology, and political economy of new media. His book on critical network theory is scheduled for publication in 2012 by University of Minnesota Press. For more information, see <ahref="http://ulisesmejias.com"class="outOfNetworkLink"target="_blank">http://ulisesmejias.com</a></p>
<br>
<h2class="pageBreak">References</h2>
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<p>Abbott, Ryan. <ahref="http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/06/10/37266.htm"class="outOfNetworkLink"target="_blank">'Torture Victims Say Cisco Systems Helped China Hound and Surveil'</a>, Courthouse News Service, 10 June (2011)</p>
<p>Britton, Daniel B., and McGonegal, Stephen. The Digital Economy Fact Book, Ninth Edition (Washington DC: The Progress & Freedom Foundation, 2007).</p>
@ -103,61 +103,62 @@
<p>Eskelsen, Grant, Marcus, Adam, and Ferree, W. Kenneth. The Digital Economy Fact Book, Tenth Edition (Washington DC: The Progress & Freedom Foundation, 2009).</p>
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<p>Frank, Andre Gunder. Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America: Historical Studies of Chile and Brazil (Monthly Review Press, 1967).</p>
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<p>Khatri, Shabina. <ahref="http://dohanews.co/post/5792813904/facebook-usage-falls-in-gcc-including-in-qatar-saudi"class="outOfNetworkLink"class="outOfNetworkLink"target="_blank">‘Facebook usage falls in GCC, including in Qatar, Saudi Arabia’</a>, Doha News, May (2011)</p>
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<p>Mejias, Ulises A. ‘The limits of networks as models for organizing the social,’ New Media & Society 12.4 (2010): 603-617.</p>
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<p>Morozov, Evgeny. <ahref="http://csce.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContentRecords.ViewWitness&ContentRecord_id=1192&ContentType=D&ContentRecordType=D&ParentType=B&CFID=22840109&CFTOKEN=35893979."class="outOfNetworkLink"target="_blank">'Testimony to the US Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe'</a>, Washington DC, 22 October 22 (2009)</p>
<p>——. The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom (PublicAffairs, 2011).</p>
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<p><ahref="http://liberationtechnology.stanford.edu/">Program on Liberation Technology</a>, Stanford University</p>
<p><ahref="http://liberationtechnology.stanford.edu/"class="outOfNetworkLink"target="_blank">Program on Liberation Technology</a>, Stanford University</p>
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<p><ahref="http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/social-media-accounts-for-22-percent-of-time-online/" class="outOfNetworkLink"target="_blank">'Social Networks/Blogs Now Account for One in Every Four and a Half Minutes Online'</a>, Nielsen Wire, 15 June (2010)</p>
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<p>Tehrani, Hamid. <ahref="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/06/27/iranian-officials-crowd-source-protester-identities-online/" class="outOfNetworkLink"target="_blank">'Iranian officials ‘crowd-source’ protester identities'</a>, Global Voices, 27 June 27 (2009)</p>
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<p>Wong, Queenie. <ahref="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2015343735_vancouversocial17m.html" class="outOfNetworkLink"target="_blank">'Social media play big role in riot probe'</a>, The Seattle Times, 16 June (2011)</p>
<p>York, Jillian C. <ahref="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/21/syria-twitter-spambots-pro-revolution.">'Syria’s Twitter spambots'</a>, The Guardian, 21 April (2011)</p>
<p>York, Jillian C. <ahref="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/21/syria-twitter-spambots-pro-revolution" class="outOfNetworkLink"target="_blank">'Syria’s Twitter spambots'</a>, The Guardian, 21 April (2011)</p>
<p>———. <ahref="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/06/week-internet-censorship.">'This Week in Internet Censorship'</a>, Electronic Frontier Foundation, 15 June (2011)</p>
<p>———. <ahref="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/06/week-internet-censorship" class="outOfNetworkLink"target="_blank">'This Week in Internet Censorship'</a>, Electronic Frontier Foundation, 15 June (2011)</p>
<p>The knotboard is a piece of wood, pre-drilled with a grid of holes. Accompanying this is an assortment of pre-made polymer clay knotted links. These links can be put into the holes in multiple configurations. By doing this, one can play with the structures of various network topologies. This is a hands-on technique for meditation on networks and a departure point for other forms of representation, including writing, drawing, and walking.</p>
<p>In early modern physics, the luminiferous aether (or ether) was believed to be an invisible space-filling substance or field that was a transmission medium for electromagnetic or gravitational forces.</p>
<h2>Tait's Tabulature of Knots</h2>
<p>Peter Guthrie Tait (1837-1901) was a Scottish mathematical physicist, whose investigations in knot theory contributed to the field of topology as a mathematical discipline. His tabulations of knots with ten crossings, which became known as the <em>Tait conjectures</em>, arose out of experiments he conducted with William Thomspon (Lord Kelvin) in 1867 at the University of Edinburgh.</p>
<aid="knot"name="knot"><h2>Knots</h2>
<h2id="theAether"name="theAether">The AEther</h2>
<p>In early modern physics, the <ahref="please_to_wijnhaven.html#ethernet">luminiferous aether</a> (or ether) was believed to be an invisible space-filling substance or field that was a transmission medium for electromagnetic or gravitational forces.</p>
<h2id="tait"name="tait">Tait conjectures</h2>
<p>Peter Guthrie Tait (1837-1901) was a Scottish mathematical physicist, whose investigations in knot theory contributed to the field of topology as a mathematical discipline. His tabulations of knots with ten crossings, which became known as the <em>Tait conjectures</em>, arose out of experiments he conducted with William Thomspon (Lord Kelvin) in <ahref="beetroot_to_p_lions_es.html#1867">1867</a> at the University of Edinburgh.</p>
<h2id="knot"name="knot">Knots</h2>
<p>A knot is an entanglement, an intentional complication in cordage.</p>
<h2>Knot Theory</h2>
<p>Knot theory is a field of mathematics that studies the topology of knots.</p>
<aid="unknot"name="unknot"><h2>Unknot</h2></a>
<p>Knot theory is a field of mathematics that studies the <ahref="...html#topology">topology</a> of knots.</p>
<h2id="unknot"name="unknot">Unknot</h2></a>
<p>The unknot, or <i>torus</i>, is the first type of mathematical knot listed in knot theory. Intuitively, the unknot is a closed loop of rope without a knot in it.</p>
<p>Mathematical knots, or knots which are studied in the field of knot theory, are based on the embedding of a circle within three-dimensional space. They are different from the usual idea of a knot, that is, a string with free ends. Therefore, mathematical knots are (almost) always considered to be closed loops.</p>
<p>Dependencies may be technical, such as software that depends on other software in which to run successfully, or social, as in depending on others in order to achieve a goal.
<h2id="ethernet">Ethernet</h2>
<p>Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies working over WAN (Wide Area Network), LAN (Local Area Network) and MAN (Metropolitan Area Networks). The Internet Protocol is commonly carried out over ethernet, so it has become one of the key technologies that make up the Internet.</p>
<p>Ethernet was developed at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) between 1973-1974. The idea was first documented in a memo written by Robert Metcalfe, who <aclass="outOfNetworkLink"name="outOfNetworkLink"href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5MezxMcRmk"target="_blank">named it</a> after the <ahref="please_to_foshan.html#theAether">luminiferous aether</a>, a substance that was once thought to exist as an "omnipresent, completely-passive medium for the propagation of electromagnetic waves."</p>
<p>While topology is the study of forms that are preserved under deformations, such as stretching, crumpling or bending (but not tearing or gluing), graphology is the study of diagrams that represent these forms in a 2-dimensional space. Often 3-dimensional topologies can be collapsed into <ahref="...html#theSevenBridgesOfKonigsberg">2-dimension graphology studies</a>.</p>
<h2id="gps"name="gps">GPS</h2>
<p>GPS (Global Positioning Service) is a satellite radionavigation system owned by the United States government, and operated by their air force. The system uses a process of <ahref="wijnhaven_to_foshan.html#trilateration">trilateration</a>, whereby at least three satellites are needed to determine position.</p>
<h1>Truckstops on the Information Superhighway: Ant Farm, SRI, and the Cloud<br>
Tung-Hui Hu, Assistant Professor, English, University of Michigan</h1>
—<br>
@ -102,4 +103,5 @@
<p>Tung-Hui Hu is the author of <em>Cloud: A Pre-History</em>, forthcoming from MIT Press in 2015, from which this essay is taken, as well as three books of poetry, most recently <em>Greenhouses, Lighthouses</em> (Copper Canyon Press, 2013). Recent publications include articles on real time (in <em>Discourse: Journal for Theoretical Studies in Media and Culture</em>) and digital poetics (in <em>Acts + Encounters</em>, UCSC Poetry and Politics imprint). He teaches at the University of Michigan, where he co-organizes the Digital Environments Cluster.</p>
<p>I'm making drawings by walking and tracking myself over GPS using an app on my phone. I walk door-to-door between the geographical locations of our network. The app I'm using displays my path as a jagged line, alongside information about the distance, altitude, speed, pace and time elapsed. When I reach my destination I save the walk, export it as a .gpx file to my computer, and then load it into software for plotting geospatial information. In the graphic interface of this software the track points are connected with a series of lines that link them together into a route.</p>
<p>I'm making drawings by walking and tracking myself over <ahref="please_to_wijnhaven.html#gps">GPS</a> using an app on my phone. I walk door-to-door between the geographical locations of our network. The app I'm using displays my path as a jagged line, alongside information about the distance, altitude, speed, pace and time elapsed. When I reach my destination I save the walk, export it as a .gpx file to my computer, and then load it into software for plotting geospatial information. In the graphic interface of this software the track points are connected with a series of lines that link them together into a route.</p>
<p>This is a visualisation of my movements, abstracted into a line for quick and easy representation. Ask someone to draw a route from A to B and they'll probably draw a similar series of lines, bending where you should make a left or right turn. The most direct route is a completely straight line (as the crow flies) but this is hardly useful to the average pedestrian. Utility here is predicated by a delicate balance between a certain level of detail, and a certain level of abstraction.</p>
<p>Somewhere above me, satellites trilaterate my position and decide where I am on the globe. They take snapshots and these are intermittently uploaded to a remote server - I don't know where exactly - which serves this data to the software on my phone.</p>
<p>As I walk from homeserver to homeserver, I'm relying on a mental mind-map of Rotterdam, one formed over the past 7 months that I've been here. If I follow my nose, I can usually end up in the general vicinity of where I'm supposed to be. Eventually I need to use an actual map to pinpoint my targeted destination, but for the most part I enjoy the increasingly rare occurence of being lost for a moment.</p>
<p>If I walk enough routes, this will eventually form a map of Rotterdam, though one reduced down to just simple lines against a blank background. These represent areas that are accessible on foot, most likely the streets and footpaths.</p>
<p>The line here meanders slightly, perhaps this is where I crossed the street? I'm still in the habit of walking on the left side of the road, following the direction that traffic moves in Australia. Sometimes I notice that oncoming pedestrians can't always tell which way I'm going to pass them on the pavement; even on foot we still follow the flow of traffic.</p>
<p>If you know Rotterdam, perhaps you can identify what the straightest part of this path represents: the Erasmusbrug. It's easy to guess why; the bridge is a high traffic area, and it's not so easy to wander off the path here, or to cross the lanes of traffic going over it. There are few other ways to cross the Maas River apart from going over a bridge. I suppose it could be crossed by boat, and there is also the subterranean Maastunnel further up the river. Or perhaps you might be brave enough to swim. But any which way one crosses the river (and assuming your GPS tracking device doesn't end up in the drink), the path represented by tracking software would reveal itself as straight lines between the snapshots of your location. On this particular day the bridge was raised; trams stopped mid-way, and their drivers stood outside, smoking in a cluster. Impatient joggers ran on the spot, the rest of us huddled while we waited for the bridge to lower again.</p>
<p>If you know Rotterdam, perhaps you can identify what the <aid="straightestPart"name="straightestPart">straightest part</a> of this path represents: the Erasmusbrug. It's easy to guess why; the bridge is a high traffic area, and it's not so easy to wander off the path here, or to cross the lanes of traffic going over it. There are few other ways to cross the Maas River apart from going over a bridge. I suppose it could be crossed by boat, and there is also the subterranean Maastunnel further up the river. Or perhaps you might be brave enough to swim. But any which way one crosses the river (and assuming your GPS tracking device doesn't end up in the drink), the path represented by tracking software would reveal itself as straight lines between the snapshots of your location. On this particular day the bridge was raised; trams stopped mid-way, and their drivers stood outside, smoking in a cluster. Impatient joggers ran on the spot, the rest of us huddled while we waited for the bridge to lower again.</p>
Simon Browne
5 years ago
