MAKING / MAPPING / MEANING

“They plow enormous fields, yielding only a kernel or two.”

We are accustomed to images, sounds, and spaces that suggest form over content. They may indeed plow vast territories (i.e. critiques of this or that), but their forms occasionally become little more than self-indulgent. This is not a matter of whether or not something contains an idea, but rather the ability of something to embody the idea itself. Things are always what they are.

More maps…

When Is It Time To Unplug?

A few days ago Facebook unveiled it’s new location based sharing service, Places. Essentially, when a user is at any specific location, they can “check in” via Places, which then shares their location with their friends on Facebook. Location based sharing like this has existed for quite some time already in the form of Foursquare and within sites like Yelp, Gowalla, and Booyah. All of the aforementioned sites have partnered with Facebook and integrated Places into their sites so that checking in on any site will check you in on all of them. Chris Cox, VP of Facebook, described Places as a service that would help bring alive locations with technology during the unveiling of Places at a Facebook press event. He described how content shared on Facebook now could be identified by location. “Now … those stories are going to be pinned to a physical location” One of the biggest questions raised in the initial response to the new service is how large businesses can integrate their location into already existing pages on Facebook, which is a part of Facebook’s goal for what Places eventually will evolve into. Both Chris Cox and Mark Zuckerberg expressed interest in integrating Places more fluidly into Facebook after seeing what the general response is like.

After reading and hearing about Places, my initial thoughts are: Why does any of this matter? How valid are the incentives for users to actually use Places?  And when is it time for us to unplug from technology and experience the world without the aid of a anything digital?

My Papa’s Waltz, as translated to German by Babel Fish, and subsequently translated back to English.

the whisky on your breath 

could educate a small boy dizzy; 

But I hung on like death: 

Such waltzing was not simple. 

We romped to the tubs 

pushed by the kitchen shelf; 

My mother’s support 

could not unfrown. 

The hand, which held my wrist, 

was smashed on a Knöchel; 

At each step you missed 

my right ear rubbed a curvature. 

They struck time on my head 

if a palm strongly by the dirt bonded together, 

then away waltzed me, around to bed

to go still, adhering your shirt.

-S.S.

Volido Corp.’s “Defensive Dune”

I came across the above formal object the other day by Volido Corp., architecture firm based out of Lower Manhattan. If you’re curious…