Archive for the ‘Timelines’ Category

Futures in literature from the past

Saturday, November 24th, 2012

Futures in literature from the past by Nathan Yau.

Another very graphic post that merits your attention. In part because of the visualization and Nathan’s suggestions about it. How would you recast the data?

But in a topic map context, how would you represent past projections about the future, both when the future is the present, but also against other projected futures?

I ask because the “Dark Ages” weren’t called that at the time. And in fact, they were a fairly lively time of invention and innovation.

The term was coined in the Renaissance to distinguish their “enlightened” civilization from the “dark” times between them and the fall of the Roman Empire.

It is an old trick but none the less effective for being an old one.

Recent political elections offered a number of examples that will be recognized as such in the fullness of time.

Posted in Graphics, Time, Timelines, Visualization | No Comments »

Wrinkling Time

Monday, July 23rd, 2012

The post by Dan Brickley that I mentioned earlier today, Dilbert schematics, made me start thinking about more complex time scenarios than serial assignment of cubicles.

Like Hermione Granger and Harry Potter’s adventure in the Prisoner of Azkaban.

For those of you who are vague on the story, Hermione uses a “Time-Turner” to go back in time several hours. As a result, she and Harry must avoid being seen by themselves (and others). Works quite well in the story but what if I wanted to model that narrative in a topic map?

Some issues/questions that occurred to me:

Harry and Hermione are the same subjects they were during the prior time interval. Or are they?

Does a linear notion of time mean they are different subjects?

How would I model their interactions with others? Such as Buckbeak? Who interacted with both versions (for lack of a better term) of Harry?

Is there a time line running parallel to the “original” time line?

Just curious, what happens if the Time-Turner fails and Harry and Hermoine don’t return to the present, ever? That is their “current” present is forever 3 hours behind their “real” present.

What other time issues, either in literature or elsewhere seem difficult to model to you?

Posted in Modeling, Time, Timelines, Topic Maps | No Comments »

Timeline Maps

Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

Timeline Maps

From the post:

Mapping time has long been an interest of cartographers. Visualizing historical events in a timeline or chart or diagram is an effective way to show the rise and fall of empires and states, religious history, and important human and natural occurrences. We have over 100 examples in the Rumsey Map Collection, ranging in date from 1770 to 1967. We highlight a few below.

Sebastian Adams’ 1881 Synchronological Chart of Universal History is 23 feet long and shows 5,885 years of history, from 4004 B.C. to 1881 A.D. It is the longest timeline we have seen. The recently published Cartographies of Time calls it “nineteenth-century America’s surpassing achievement in complexity and synthetic power.” In the key to the map, Adams states that timeline maps enable learning and comprehension “through the eye to the mind.”

Below is a close up detail of a very small part of the chart: (click on the title or the image to open up the full chart)

Stunning visuals.

Our present day narratives aren’t any less arrogant than those of the 19th century but the distance is great enough for us to laugh at their presumption. Which unlike our own, isn’t “true.” ;-)

Worth all the time you can spend with the maps. Likely to provoke insights into how you have viewed “history” as well as how you view current “events.”

Posted in Mapping, Maps, Time, Timelines | No Comments »