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Atlas of Cyberspaceby Rob Kitchin / Martin Dodge Hardcover:Click the button below to . . . (which will add the book to your Amazon U.S.A. "Shopping Cart") |
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Product Description
What does cyberspace 'look' like? The Atlas of Cyberspace is the first book to explore the spatial and visual nature of cyberspace and its infrastructure. It examines in accessible style why cyberspace is being mapped and the new cartographic and visualisation techniques being employed. The Atlas is broad in scope, concentrating on the many different aspects of cyberspace such as the Web, chat, email, virtual worlds, and the telecommunications infrastructure that supports cyberspace. It is fully illustrated with over 300 full colour images. Cartographers have been creating maps for centuries. In recent years they have turned their attention to a new realm, cyberspace. For the first time a comprehensive selection of these maps have been collated into one source. Written in layperson's terms and fully illustrated, the 'Atlas of Cyberspace' catalogues thirty year's worth of maps to reveal the rich and varied landscapes of cyberspace, a landscape occupied by half a billion users and sustaining the information economy. Several different types of maps are detailed.First, a review of maps of the Internet infrastructure showing where the computers are located, how the networks interconnect them and the traffic that flows between them. The book then takes a look at maps of the World-Wide Web, showing how the hyperlink structures and contents of websites are mapped to provide informational landscapes. Next, comes an examination of the ways social interactions between people, using email, chat, bulletin boards, virtual worlds, and games, can be mapped. It concludes with a discussion of the ways in which artists and writers are imagining the visual structure of cyberspace.
Amazon.com Review
We don't normally consider maps contentious, but the Atlas of Cyberspace makes us think otherwise. Information cartographers Martin Dodge and Rob Kitchin show off a wide range of possibilities in representing the vast realms of data existing on and supporting the Internet. Since so many of these models were created to display never-before-charted territories, the book is largely devoted to analyzing their accuracy, ease of development and use, potential for abuse, and other qualities.
Chapters cover infrastructural elements, the Web, communities, and creative renderings of cyberspace, and contain both compelling images and thought-provoking texts. Though it ends up feeling more like a catalog of visual display methods than a reference book detailing virtual geography, its examples still inform and startle the viewer with unexpected transformations of data into understanding, and, occasionally, art. --Rob Lightner
Reader description(s):
Some great photos, drawings and maps (7/8 votes)In "The Atlas of Cyberspace", I was anticipating a book patterned on Tufte's "Visual Display of Quantitative Information". Indeed, much of the graphical content of Dodge and Kitchin's book is beautiful, thought-provoking and informative. Unfortunately, the printing is unforgivably bad; the images deserve high quality renderings. Several of the most intriguing hand-drawn and computer-generated images are simply illegible; all of them have lost their textural presence and contrast.
The text, on the other hand, ranges from workmanlike commentary on the graphics to watered down post modern cultural analysis. Light editing could remove at least half of the illustrations, providing a tighter focus on the remainder. In many cases, multiple instances of the same type of diagram are presented. Although this may be a start toward serious design analyses, it's distracting in a coffee table book such as this one.
The organization is by content rather than by visualization type. The first quarter of the book traces the history of the development of the web, and attempts to map traffic patterns and growth. The next section concentrates on the informational organization of the web, as opposed to the physical or topological. The third quarter maps "community", including more literal instances such as MUDs, as well as purely virtual ones such as discussion groups. The weakest section of the book is the last, which traces "cyberpunk", represented here with quotes from Gibson and Stephenson. This final section includes gratuituous screen shots from "The Matrix" and even more gratuitous "analysis".
Despite this book's many shortcomings, there's no alternative, and the fraction of the images that are truly inspiring make "Atlas of Cyberspace" not only worthwhile, but almost necessary.
This book will BLOW YOUR MIND! (5/6 votes)This was all I expected and more. Over 100 ways of presenting data about the Internet, including fantastic advances in data collection AND analysis AND presentation. Beauty arises from every page. You may need to have a love for mathematics, statistics, the Internet, or just art to "get" this book - but I have a soft spot for all four of those, and fell head over heels.
Simple and brief (4/7 votes)I feel that this book is quite simple and colourful, mostly are graphics with some paragraphs next to it. This book has a lot of interesting graphics, which I do not mind since it is an ATLAS. I will recommend this book for those people who is looking for some enjoyable reading. Since it has a very colourful pictures in every pages and the content is not too technical, I finished reading this book in half a day.
A Cyberspace Overview You Must See (0/0 votes)There are many books that discuss various aspects of cyberspace, but this one tops them all. Dated yes, but it will give the reader a very balanced look in an interesting fashion. Strongly recommended.
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