Symposium: Maps are too exciting! Digital innovations in cartography
A Sunderland Collection Symposium in association with ARCHiOx and Bodleian Libraries.
Technologies continuously evolve transforming the representation of space and geography, shaping new forms of consciousness and knowledge. Digital technologies are mediating access to and research into cartographic material. 2D and 3D digital recording and display technologies are being employed to document rare maps, globes, and other cartographic material, enhancing research and playing a crucial role in the decision-making processes focused on both access and preservation. The same GIS being used to map our planet are also mapping the surface of vellum manuscripts, or mapping projected digital images. This material evidence, when combined with machine learning and immersive display technologies, has the potential to cultivate a new intimacy with the physical world.
As the physical world is digitised, the digital world becomes increasingly physical. Maps help us navigate this unfamiliar terrain. Two sessions will bring together experts in cartographic history and cartographers of the digital world in a celebration and exploration of the role that maps play to provide access to real and imaginary worlds.
Programme
09:15-09:45 Registration and coffee
10:00-10:15 Introduction and welcome
10:15-12:00 Morning session: The Art of Cartography and new evidence
Chairperson Judith Siefring
Material evidence of the surface of objects (20 minutes) John Barrett, Lead Photographer at ARCHiOx and the first person to use the Selene Photometric Stereo System within a major library
Mapping the Gough Map (20 minutes) Nick Millea, Map Curator at the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Al Idrisi world map (20 minutes) Yossef Rapoport, Lecturer in Islamic History at Queen Mary University, London, and a specialist on Al Idrisi’s world map
Case study (15-minute talk): A Ship’s Globe in the Centraal Museum, Utrecht Sanne Frequin, art historian specialised in digital art history. She is the academic coordinator of the master course in Art History at Utrecht University.
Q&A time (30 minutes)
12:00-12:30 Coffee
12:30-13:00 Special presentation – ‘Nesting Globes’: Visualising the current global situation Bruce Mau, designer, philosopher, architect, and educator
13:00-14:00 Lunch in Blackwell Hall
During lunch there will be an exhibition and a demonstration of the Selene Photometric Stereo System. Jorge Cano, the designer of the system, will be there to answer questions.
14:00-16:00 Afternoon session: Mapping a digital world: what happens in the software
Map Search: Using AI to explore map content (20 minutes) Katherine McDonough, Lecturer in Digital Humanities at Lancaster University, Senior Research Fellow at The Alan Turing Institute, leader of the Institute’s Machines Reading Maps project
Deep Mapping: from archives to the universe (20 minutes) Sarah Kenderdine, Digital Humanities professor at EPFL in Lausanne, Director of the Laboratory of Experimental Museology: leads a team of software engineers, artists, and curators at the forefront of digital display technologies
Geospatial transformation (20 minutes) Ed Parsons, Geospatial Technologist, tech evangelist, and co-founder of Google Earth
15:50-16:00 Summary and closing
Tickets
To attend in person please book here: tickets.ox.ac.uk/webstore/shop/viewItems.aspx?cg=bodnf&c=conferences
To attend online please book here: tickets.ox.ac.uk/webstore/shop/viewItems.aspx?cg=bodonev&c=bodoe#66119
Date:
10 October 2024, 10:00 (Thursday, 0th week, Michaelmas 2024)
Venue:
Weston Library, Broad Street OX1 3BG
Venue Details:
In person at the Sir Victor Blank Lecture Theatre, and online
Speaker: Various Speakers
Organising department:
Bodleian Libraries
Organiser contact email address:
elaine.anstee@bodleian.ox.ac.uk
Part of:
Bodleian Events
Booking required?:
Required
Booking url:
https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/oct24/maps-are-too-exciting
Cost:
Free but booking is required
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editor:
Belinda Clark
