About the thesis · posted by vaibhav bhawsar Jan 30, 2008

Area of enquiry
Re-appropriating the magnetic compass to show directions that are not cardinal but indicators of emotional, economic states. Creating new kinds of directions that a device could help you point to and explore.

Why do we need such a device
Most navigation devices in the past (compass,sextant) opened a new territory which one could move towards, explore and discover. When the compass points north it points towards a direction and not ‘a location’ or point. But in contemporary navigation devices, such as the GPS ,an absolute co-ordinate system, like ones latitude and longitude on a imaginary grid is given utmost importance. The GPS is extremely efficient and in this efficiency we loose a lot of richness of contexts due to the absence of the act of exploration. When we use a GPS, often its about getting from point A to B. While when we use a compass its still about getting from A to B but the journey in between those points is also important.

In brief I am interested in pointing devices that are fuzzy, vague and tacit and not in devices that are exact, precise or ingrained in a grid of x and y coordinates.

Practices and Inspirations
The Compass itself
GPS Table – Fiona Raby and Anthony Dunne
Practices of the Situationists
the boomerang (yes the aboriginal one)
The Listening Post – Ben Rubin and Mark Hansen

Texts
Else/Where Mapping – Peter Hall and Janet Abrams
Field Guide to Getting Lost – Rebecca Solnit
Power of maps – Dennis Wood
Alison Sant – Redefining the basemap
Beyond Locative Media by Marc Tuters and Kazys Varnelis

Links
Research wiki for the project
Thesis class blog