Online Repository for Visual Language - VaIL 2007 Discussion Starter
sunny
* The big idea: What it is. What it could be used for
* Does it already exist?
* A dictionary, a cause: The deficiency of Unicode for visual language
representation
* Open uses: set creation, freeform annotation, personal visual
language dictionaries, search, deep search, visual element annotation,
expanded semantics, deep search, meta-data for Unicode
* Community driven: custom, open-source, user-maintained, but focused
around a vision of freely available visual language elements and
research data
* Built-in research tools: set surveys, cognitive tests, custom
experiment creation, open-sourced java-based VisChat experiment tool
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The initial inspiration for this idea of a central, open repository
for visual language derives from a succinct "Plea for more symbols"
written by Henry Dreyfuss in his "Symbol Sourcebook" visual language
reference.
To quote Mr. Dreyfuss:
"One day a central symbol archive surely will be established, in which
all symbols used throughout the world will be catalogued and available
for reference. Looking toward this goal, we are keeping our Data Bank
active and open for further contributions - which indeed will be
welcomed."
At the time of the books original publication in 1955, the possibility
of a central repository for symbols would have taken a significant
amount of manual labor in classifying, categorizing, and indexing.
But today's internet has shown that by leveraging the
interconnectedness created by people, that this social network or
fabric can support a very comprehensive and deep structure for the
storage and maintenance of knowledge. It is also likely that creating
such a repository, one that is maintained by its users, would provide
a superb facility for conducting research experiments concerning
meaning, interpretation, iconicity, comprehension, and other cognitive
and psychological aspects of our use and misuse of visual language.
It is our intent in this discussion to determine what might already
exist. Where are the symbol repositories that should be incorporated
into this proposed central resource? How might we build a central
resource and not simply spark an explosion of tiny repositories?
Isn't Unicode a central repository for language? Why not? What is
missing? Could it be improved? Should we start with Unicode or
search for existing 'Data Banks' created by visionaries such as
Dreyfuss. What is the difference between storing arbitrary glyphs
versus representational icons with definitions, meta-data, and
semantics. What repositories do we start with? The US Trademark
Office? MIlitary symbology? Blissymbolics?
Please help us flush out answers to these questions and to find the
right questions.
!! Respond with your thoughts and ideas !!
!! Suggest additional VaIL 2007 topics !!
Lion Kimbro
Do you know about OCAL?
OCAL, the Open ClipArt library, is making the largest
public domain clip-art library that I know of.
My understanding is that it was a spin-off from the
open source Inkscape project:
...which makes one of the finest SVG editors I know of.
OCAL is open-source, open-community. Right now, immediately,
they are migrating to ccHost, the Creative Commons hosting platform.
That means that people can collaboratively tag and organize the
content. Of course, the data set is all Public Domain, so you can
download it all and recategorize it all, by whatever process you
like.
See also:
* Robert Horn's idea / enthusiasm for a clipart library;
He's been championing the idea for a very long time.
He envisioned proprietary, but I think that's basically
just because it was a pre-Wikipedia vision.
We should probably make a wiki page for this idea,
collecting what has been found so far, to keep record
of what we accumulate in this conversation.
I think the right *questions* to ask, at this point, are
on the order of:
* "What do I want from a symbol library?"
* "What data do we want to collect, per symbol?"
* "Is what we want sufficiently different,
that it warrants segregation from a general clipart
library such as the OCAL?"
-- Lion