Reading the Dirty, Thick, and Open

Two Theoretical Understandings of Digital Maps and Our Position as Reader

Student report (2022)

Authors

Kevin S.F. LAI Architecture and the Built Environment

Contributors

A. Radman Theory, Territories & Transitions - Architecture and the Built Environment (supervisor 1)
Faculty
Architecture and the Built Environment
Copyright: © 2022 Kevin S.F. LAI
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Published Date

14-04-2022

Language

English

Reuse Rights

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Faculty

Architecture and the Built Environment

Abstract

This thesis aims to revisit the conventions of digital mapping, by undergoing the theoretical endeavour to understand digital mapping beyond the convenient dichotomy, and find our position as readers. Two theoretical lenses are borrowed from the field of anthropology and art history, first being the “thick
description” from Clifford Geertz, and latter being the “open work” concept from Umberto Eco. The thesis concludes by emphasizing the significance of the role of the “reader” in digital mapping, for the greater public as well as the discipline of architecture could then reclaim our agency in the flood of data with a shared “digital literacy”.