In reference to Mathew Yglesias’s post about times changing in our hood, I was surprised to see him mention the woman who was working at the 7-11 last night. Matthew & I ran into eachother at Kingpin last night because our mutual friend Joanne was in town and near the end of the night I left the bar to get a bite to eat at Ben’s Chili Bowl and on the way back to the bar I went inside the 7-11. As I was buying that pack of death sticks, I couldn’t help but think that it was odd for this pimpled, white woman to be working the graveyard shift . Now its not the first time I’ve seen a white person working there, I’ve just never seen a white woman working there at night. 95% of the time I go there its usually Ethiopian women who are running the store, but last night was a first, and honestly I’m proud of her. Makes me think though, many many moons ago, my father was a 7-11 employee (damn I wish I had that vintage uniform!) so I’ve got to respect this woman’s career path.
Lastly, I’ve got to give Matthew props for mentioning my recent GIS! I think more people saw it today than ever before, which definitely points to cool. After working the graveyard shift myself a few years ago, I know how that lifestyle goes, but unlike my father & the woman last night, my career path now is advancing the exact same thought that his post brings about….spatial, or more specific, geographical, because we are all at some place in our lives for a reason, and its really up to us to figure out why and where we are going to go next. I know where I’m going first, and that is to bed.
Your interactive GIS is both fascinating and informative. (I jumped here from Matthew Yglesias’ blog.) I was curious as to your opinion of the ideas of Edward R. Tufte. (“The Visual Display of Quantitative Information”, et al.) I attended one of his two-day seminars some years ago. and he was pretty ruthless about what he called “chartjunk”. Your GIS is not only functional but attractive as well; however, I am not sure if your black borders and blood-red lettering would meet with the approval of Professor Tufte, whose ideals are the ‘carte figuratifs’ drawn by 19th-c. French engineer/cartographer Charles Joseph Minard. These can be beautiful and informative in their own way, but Tufte seems a bit too taken with their simplicity (Minard used only black and sepia inks) and premptory in dismissing any other approach to mapping data.
Thank you for taking time out of a no-doubt busy day to consider these matters. (I left the Washington-area in 1983; I can only imagine how much worse the rents have gotten since them! ;^ )
Comment by T. Tunney — 12/17/2004 @ 4:06 pm
Thank you very much for checking out my GIS!
That you even more for sending me feedback!
I have not read anything from Edward R. Tufte, but after looking over the Amazon description of “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information,” I might actually attempt to pick it up at the library. It looks as if its something that GIS programmers might benefit from reading.
As for the design construct, the impetus to make the original GIS came from my intention to spatially show crime in my neighborhood. I wrote more about it in an older blog entry. I choose that graffiti font to visually engage the viewer to think about the GIS in the sense of the urban issues. This is something that I doubt Professor Tufte put into consideration; the concept that data also has a place.
I think I am going to make another GIS using this same template (but different fonts & colors) for the Inauguration. I think it might be able to used quite nicely :-)
Comment by Nikolas ® Schiller — 12/17/2004 @ 5:12 pm
Thank you for your kind remarks. My cartography professor used to say that it was possible to draw a map that was a fine example of graphic arts, but a lousy map. Your GIS (to repeat) is both functional and beautiful, something I wish all of them could be.
“The proper goals of life are the search for truth and the creation of beauty. The only argument is which of these should come first.”–Arthur C. Clarke
Comment by T. Tunney — 12/20/2004 @ 5:55 pm