[spectre] George Legrady: Making Visible the Invisible, Seattle Public Library Data Visualization Project [u]

[Geert Lovink [c]]

> From: GLegrady <legrady at arts.ucsb.edu>
>
> Making Visible the Invisible
> George Legrady, September 14, 2005
>
> Visualizing the Collective Data Space: The Library As Data Exchange  
> Center,
> a public arts commission  for  the Seattle Central Library
>
> “every library should have one…” blog comment
>
> “Making Visible the Invisible” is a commission for the Rem Koolhaas  
> designed Seattle Public Library featuring the visualization of the  
> circulation of books by the hour for the next ten years. The  
> installation consists of 6 large LCD panels located on a glass wall  
> horizontally behind the librarians’ main information desk in the  
> Mixing Chamber, a large open 19,500 sq ft space dedicated to  
> information retrieval and public accessible computer research.
>
> The visualizations consist of real-time animations generated by custom  
> designed software using processed data based on the circulation of  
> books and media being checked out of the library. The 4 visualizations  
> include “Vital Statistics” which provides circulation statistical  
> data, “Floating Titles” condenses the hourly checked-out items into a  
> linear stream of titles floating by, “Dewey Dot Matrix Rain” separates  
> Dewey coded items from others into falling or flashing actions, and  
> “Keyword Map Attack” consisting of extruded keywords associated with  
> the checked-out items. These are sequentially animated to be  
> positioned at precise locations based on their associations to the  
> library’s classification categories.
>
> Artist Biography
> George Legrady has been creating interactive digital media  
> installations and projects since the early 1990’s. He is best known  
> for his projects focuses on the classification and visualization of  
> data as in  “Pockets Full of Memories” (2001) commissioned by the  
> Centre Pompidou, Paris; “Slippery Traces” (1996) published by the ZKM  
> Center for Media & Technology Museum in Karlsruhe, Germany, and the  
> award winning “Anecdoted Archive from the Cold War (1993). George  
> Legrady is Professor of Digital Media in the Media Arts & Technology  
> (MAT) Graduate program at the University of California, in Santa  
> Barbara. (http://www.georgelegrady.com). Technical design and  
> production was realized in conjunction with Rama Hoetzlein  
> (http://www.rchoetzlein.com/)
>
> For additional information, visit the project website at:  
> http://www.mat.ucsb.edu/~g.legrady/glWeb/Projects/spl/spl.html
>
> Press Coverage (September 14-19, 2005):
> http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/visualart/240371_library13.html
> http://www.artdish.com/blog/default.asp
> http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog/archives/2005/09/ 
> making_visible.html
> George Legrady Studio
> http://www.georgelegrady.com
> respond to: gl at georgelegrady.com
> tel.+1.805.637.6195