Mapping Cultural Information

Mapping cultural information Augsburg and Venice in Infographics Living in Europe today is a wonderful gift. Looking back in history, one hardly will find a timespan of peace and prosperity as long as the current one, that started after the end of World War 2. A key element of modern democracies is the educational level of its inhabitants. Their ability to form and actively participate in political, social and cultural progress. This doesn’t come easy: Europe came with complicated, complex often abstract topics. Information design is a discipline, that enables understanding through visualisation and explanation. Charts, diagrams, data visualisations, maps, cross section drawings help people not only to understand relevant issues but also to recall facts and figures. With this series of collaboration between IUAV, Venice, and HSA, Augsburg, we wanted to shed light on the rich history and relation between both of our cities. Our students in mixed groups explored historic topics as well as questions on current life and living. We compared architecture, tourism or water supply or public transport, to name a few. By mapping information on the faces of a solid (in workshop 3 and 4) and on a city map (in workshop 1 and 2), students also learnt about new ways to tell their findings: from sorting, selecting and weighting on one hand to planning and designing on the other. We as we are working in academics think, that it is our prominent task to educate students further in this field for a good reason: to enable insight and understanding. These DAAD-funded projects were and initial series of sparks and mark the start of a much more comprehensive relation between our universities. Emanuela Bonini-Lessing and Michael Stoll Venice and Augsburg, November 1st 2015