Non-linear Writing Systems: Radical Culture Hack

Schuyler — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 11:01:55 -0500

Have you seen the US military's tangled web of a plan for Afghanistan? I really hope they paid that group to make it look complicated for PR purposes, rather than it being something they actually rely on. That is a BAD visualization, which could be much better organized.

As it happens, I have a radical culture-hack qua artistic-project that could theoretically help with problems like this some day. My website is out-of-date and it's complicated, so I'm mostly shy about it. As is typical, the Internet eventually showed me that I was neither the only nor the first person with my idea. Someone asked me recently to write up a short summary about the idea for a tech audience. Since they didn't use it, I figure I can put it here:

It's something of a coincidence that we still write in continuous unbifurcating lines. The first writing was designed for accounting. Scribes would trace out columns and rows like graph paper before filling in the boxes with words. If you've seen a printing press' block-type, you'll know we haven't evolved much further since then.

Glide by Diana Slattery

The original World Wide Web gave us hyperlinking; an improvement, but this is like running around a first person shooter without a map--perhaps an enjoyable waste of time, but a slow way to get to your desired destination.

Pinuyo by René Uittenbogaard

Where are the flow-charts for learning about things other than a state machine? We have to make them! And yet, whereas flow-charts provide a proof that we can build them and even aid our understanding, it is the map metaphor that makes Non-Linear Writing Systems (NLWS) deeply compelling. Navigating a legal system or esoteric philosophy can be made as simple as navigating a city walking-tour.

Ouwi complete first chapter
of Tao Te Ching by me!

Whole fields of thought could be mapped as a fractal-like text book. In poetry and narrative, people's journeys could intertwine on the page as they do in the world.

Making a NLWS with fractal-like properties is both fascinating and a significant challenge. For those with a mathematical bent, there are many useful insights in planar graph theory. Anyone can start, though, by coming up with creative ways to organize and summarize a story visually.