Reading the Dirty, Thick, and Open
Two Theoretical Understandings of Digital Maps and Our Position as Reader
Kevin S.F. LAI (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
A Radman – Mentor (TU Delft - Theory, Territories & Transitions)
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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”.