Читать книгу Abstract Machine - Charles B. Travis - Страница 10

The series of Paleolithic paintings of humans, animals, and cryptic signs that adorn the stone walls of the Lascaux cave complex in southwestern France (figure 1.1) bestow on humanity a 20,000-year-old tableau that we can appreciate, in an ontological sense, as one of the earliest humanities GIS models ever created. To literal minds, the images perhaps represent no more than the esoteric daubs of our ancestors huddled in fear around a primordial fire. To imaginative minds, however, the creative use of pigments, derived from local flora and fauna, illustrates a prehistoric knack for storytelling, artistry, and technological prowess. Indeed, these cave paintings, because they unambiguously plot the human-environmental interactions of hunter-gatherers, act as a primal GIS created to convey the “spatial stories” of a nomadic people still in thrall to the great myths and mysteries of the universe.

Fast-forward to the late twentieth century. We see Homo sapiens chart the solar system and navigate an Apollo rocket and lunar module to the Sea of Tranquility on the surface of the moon. Through its portal, we gaze back on an earthrise from the module’s hi-tech cave. Now we cue the spool of history to the present to witness the digital revolution creating waves that ripple through the sciences, arts, and humanities. Amidst this great change, words such as mapping have emerged as important metaphors. In the arts and humanities, scholars navigate texts and explore the spatial and geographical dimensions of literary, cultural, and historical works.¹ Indeed, these spatial and cultural turns reveal that there are still many regions of terrae incognitae left to explore and map.

Drawing on tropes in the spatial and digital humanities, literary theory, and critical thought, this book illustrates how geographers can model and apply GIS techniques typically employed in the natural and social sciences to literary, cultural, and historical studies. This book takes the view that a humanities GIS model provides a discursive and artistic platform that we can use to visualize and spatialize stories and plot conventional empirical narratives. In addition, GIS can also be employed to perform ergodic and deformative interpretive mappings of literary, cultural, and historical works; create innovative, interactive digital texts; and foster insightful mapping experiences. This book targets students, researchers, and academics engaged in the digital humanities and anyone interested in how location, place, and space can illuminate their respective area of study.