ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

THE LANGUAGE OF GLOBAL POLIS

Otto Neurath

A SMALL DESCRIPTION

The Language of Global Polis explains the life of Otto Neurath, and the challenges that he overcome on order to be able to develop a global visual language and make it public into several museums and exhibitions. Otto Neurath has important social concerns about how to invent modern metropolis after the war. This motivates him to community’s interests in order to make this metropolis work as a social machine ( wisdom of crowds) . He was part of the museum of war economy and the museum of society and economy where he created the Vienna Method Pictorial Statistic which will trigger later in the well-known isotype.

Neurath worked very hard in the popularisation of information in order to make it legible and readable for non specialised audiences. He also applied this method to urban design, defining this communicative tool a key element for urban and social designers.

NOTES

COMMUNITY ( modern metropolis/ community and modernity)

Participatory approaches to urban reform
New attitude towards urbanism
‘Ordered disorder’ —> recipe for future development
Neurath was of the opinion that Vienna had to improve its ability to communicate with its citizenry
Tönnies —> Gemeinschaft —> translate as ‘community’ or ‘collectivity’

War and community

Reprogram and reorganise the modern city
See the state as a kind of giant factory whose mission is to “manufacture happiness”

Industry

In the article ‘The converse Taylor system’ 1917

Neurath argued that issuing questionnaires and conducting interviews that recorded information about the specific needs, habits and aspirations of workers could help factory managers and social planners better integrate individuals into society

DEMOCRACY

Challenge the social and economic hierarchies produced by the modern metropolis
Working class in the museum
WISDOM OF CROWDS - and power of mass collectives - promote inclusivity in the city

The museum of War Economy

Furnish the public with a comprehensive understanding of Germany’s Economic conditions
Offering a visual vocabulary and a system of metaphors through which to understand the social sphere
He made more institutes in order to disseminate knowledge about the was economy through words and pictures
Be interactive/ engage the spectator

The museum of Society and Economy

Housing issues in more global and interdisciplinary terms ‘highlighting social relationships’
Expand the public concept of community
Give masses a les through which to better understand the world
‘Modern man receives a large part of his knowledge through pictorial impressions’
Neurath problem that he has to face —> HOW TO VISUALIZE INVISIBLE PHENOMENA

*GERD ARNTZ

Organise the information so that it was presented as effectively as possible
Neurath developed a system of graphic representation that made statistical data legible and accessible to non-specialised audiences —> Icons for multiethnic urban citizenry
Simplified representations rather than to make scientific facts accessible to the masses —> Vienna method of pictorial statistic —> international system of typographic picture education —> ISOTYPE
JAN TSCHICHOLD —> “AS A RULE, WE NO LONGER READ QUIETLY LINE BY LINE, BUT GLANCE QUICKLY OVER THE WHOLE, AND ONLY IF OUR INTERESTS IS AWAKENED DO THE STUDY IN DETAIL”

PRINCIPLES OF VIENNA METHOD

- More objects, more symbols —> every sign should represent a definite quantity and that as a given quantity increases, so also should the number of signs —> comparison

- Graphic diagrams are two dimensional —> cubes and spheres are very difficult to compare

- Every schema should be fully developed in order to create speaking signs that say no more than necessary

- Color should be used as a fundamental tool for differentiation

- The background of a diagram notates place

First glance obvious differences must be distinguishable
POPULARIZE INFORMATION
Repacking designers with design methods ??????????? ******
GOAL: promoting community and understanding across all socioeconomic divides

GLOBALISM

Gerd Arntz —> toolbox of standardised pictorial sign
Radical globalisation and standardisation
Modern man in the making
How to apply this globalism to urban design

WHY IS THIS BOOK INTERESTING FOR ME?

Introduction of new participatory approaches as useful tools for urbanism
Use people needs as a crucial factor to consider for social planners
Introduce working class in the museum public so the element that are exposed there must be legible and understandable for a wide range of social profiles. —> Non specialised audiences. —> POPULARIZED INFORMATION
In order to promote inclusivity, Neurath look for the solution in people defending the concept Wisdom of crowds
He explore different mediums in order to engage the spectator - his role is transform (coding) the information in order to make it understandable and expressive
He design a technique and a language in order to visualise invisible phenomena
Jan Tschichold —> different approaches to reading