2006-04-11
ethNOMOgraphy

By Yaz @ 15:12 [ know ]
Ethnomography is the word I have created to describe the ethnographic process, using digital neo-nomadic means like moblogs and videos to analyses today's patterns of mobilities.
“Nomo” relates to “Nomos” which as Bruce Chatwin reminds us: “Nomos is Greek for ‘pasture’ and the ‘nomad’ is a chief or a clan elder who presides over the allocation of pastures. […] The verb nemein—‘to graze’, ‘to pasture’, ‘to range’ or ‘to spread’—has a second sense as early as Homer: ‘to deal’, to apportion’, or ‘to dispense’—especially of land, honour, meat or drink. Nemesis is the ‘distribution of justice’ and so of ‘divine justice’. Nomisma means ‘current coin’: hence ‘numismatics’. […] In fact almost all our monetary expressions—capital, stock, pecuniary, chattel, sterling—perhaps even the idea of ‘growth’ itself—have their origins in the pastoral world.” Francesco Careri, Walkscapes: Walking as an Aesthetic Practice (Barcelona: Gustavo Gili, 2002) quotes, page 31, Bruce Chatwin, The Songlines (New York: Viking, 1987)

2006-04-11
cabspotting

By Yaz @ 03:38 [ know ]
via urban atmospheres: "A group of designers and programmers led by Eric Rodenbeck of the mind-blowing Stamen Design firm created the wonderful Cabspotting.org, an online art experience that traces the movement of San Francisco's GPS-enabled Yellow Cabs as they move through the city."
As the website reveals, we learn that "The patterns traced by each cab create a living and always-changing map of city life. This map hints at economic, social, and cultural trends that are otherwise invisible."