In which metaphor and metadata duel
Posted By Kevin Gaugler on December 3, 2008
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In a recent post, I described the current mapping tools available to teachers via Google. A colleague was kind enough to leave a thought-provoking comment, introducing theories of postmodernism to the discussion. I have to say that, when using Google Earth, I often think of Jorge Luis Borges’ De rigor en la ciencia in which an empire creates a map on a scale of 1:1. The story is only one paragraph long and translations of it can be found all over the Internet. I recently stumbled across a YouTube video in which someone uses Borges’ own reading of the story and sets it to images of Google Earth. If you are not familiar with Borges’ story, I invite you to read the English translation and watch the video before continuing to read this post.
According to Peter Hackett, “without metaphor, allegory and a thick description of the world around us there is no basis for … analysis.” Therefore, my question is, does the overwhelming amount of data attached to our new digital maps actually help us understand our world or does it saturate our statisfaction beyond its usefulness? A site called Twittervision displays the location and content of short posts from the microblog site, Twitter, on a globe in real time. Meanwhile, Flickrvision shows photos in real time on a map as they become available and Spinvision features recently posted video as it relates to the location of its origin. Can we learn anything from these sites? Do such real time data streams leave us intellectually satisfied? Could our learning use more metaphor?
When the Spanish explorers arrived on the shores of California, the place reminded them so much of a magic island in their favorite book of chivalry, Amadís de Gaula, that they named it so. Up until the mid-eighteenth century, maps of California often represented the territory as a island. That amount of metaphor might only be helpful to today’s Millenial students in so far as it underscores the point that all maps are simply one possible representation of the world.
California as an Island
As educators and learners we must find the correct balance between useful metaphor and useless metadata. This task will become increasingly more arduous as more information becomes easily accessible. How can we or should we teach and learn with omniscient tools in which we see the comments and images of the world collectively? I wish to conclude with a demonstration of Microsoft’s Photosynth project from the TED conference, which sets out to capture the collective memory of the entire world by splicing together digital imagery of the online masses. Once such a project is completed, will future generations find this vast map useless as Borges’ short story predicts, or can educators use their metaphors against the nullifying force of the metadata? Stay tuned…
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