Seeing Forests

Welcome to Seeing Forests, a blog from me, Michael Bauer, that focuses on Local 2.0 and supports the Koano consultancy. Getting this blog started has taken a little too long. To paraphrase the new TV show Chuck, I had it all planned out, just needed to pick a font (domain name). I finally settled on “Seeing Forests” as in “seeing forests through the trees” almost as an afterthought. I was originally going with “Opening Boxes” which won out over “Gray Boxes” which really started with “Alone on a Cartoon Planet”. What, one asks, the hell am I talking about? It all started with having stared at Google Maps one too many times. I realized that there isn’t any sense of “life” when you look at the map - no sense of neighborhood, no sense of people. All the blocks on which all the people live are just little gray boxes. There’s no difference in some gray boxes (a vibrant little shopping area) and other gray boxes (a bulldozed redevelopment site). Now, I know this is just a map and that things are changing (Google Earth becoming Google Maps) and that’s cool. That’s what I want to see. I want to see the world through the maps, the forests through the trees.  I’m also formally claiming this blog in my Technorati Profile.  Also, the visuals are better than a site with a bunch of animated boxes opening up.

Tags:   Google Maps · Koano · Michael BauerNo Comments