Long before the digital interface, the map served as the primary tool for structuring and communicating complex knowledge about the world. This post explores the cartographic impulse—the human drive to visualize spatial relationships—and its profound influence on the development of early knowledge systems, from Ptolemy's Geographia to medieval mappaemundi. We examine how these artifacts were not mere geographical records but sophisticated information architectures that encoded cultural, religious, and philosophical hierarchies. The spatial logic of the map provided a powerful metaphor for organizing non-spatial information, influencing everything from library classification to encyclopedic thought. By analyzing the symbolic layers within historical cartography, we uncover a foundational chapter in the story of how societies have attempted to make the vastness of knowledge navigable and comprehensible.
Exploring the structure, organization, and transmission of knowledge across cultural and educational contexts.
An analysis of cataloging systems used in the Library of Alexandria and other early knowledge repositories, examining their influence on modern information architecture.
Read Article
How wayfinding principles from physical spaces are adapted to create intuitive user journeys in complex digital collections and knowledge bases.
Read Article
Investigating how the layout, marginalia, and chapter divisions in illuminated manuscripts conveyed authority and facilitated knowledge transmission.
Read Article
From Diderot's Encyclopédie to Wikipedia: a study of how the ambition to catalog all human knowledge shapes and is shaped by its organizational framework.
Read Article
Comparing how different cultures classify the natural and social world, and the implications for designing cross-cultural information systems.
Read Article