In order to map a city with no location, it seems you would have to do the impossible. Mapping nueromancer goes beyond typical physical aspects of terrain, buildings, and streets, and challenges the mapper. into figuring out how one would put such as city on paper. Corner speaks on the idea that to fully map an area, town, city, or country you must imagine and create something outside the normal.
As far as mapping nueromancer goes, I see this as much more of a creative and experimental process rather than just a "tracing," which Corner warns us so spirited against. Mapping becomes the process of projecting a mental image into the "spacial imaginative."
I feel the best way to begin mapping nueromancer would be to do it in different levels, layers, or sections. I believe not only should geographical elements be involved in mapping (which is easy to do in places such as Chiba City, Istanbul, and Japan) but aspects such as people and cultural elements should be considered as well (especially in the ageographical spaces such as the matrix, ROM and nueromancer)
In order to map cyberspace, I have come to the conclusion that it becomes more of an interactive discussion rather than an actual physical map. I believe that only way to map cyberspace is to map by observing the interaction between people and space IN cyberspace. What are the relationships between people? How do they move within the matrix?
I like how you talk about mapping Neuromancer as a "creative or experimental" process, and later on how you discuss a map of cyberspace as interactive. I get a hint of where you are going when you talk about the map in terms of "levels, layers, or sections" but I'd like to hear more: Push yourself to imagine what one version of your map would "look" like. What parts of the book would you map and how? This is purely speculative since we are using the concept of mapping as a tool for interpretation and critique, so it needn't be executable.
ReplyDeleteWe are using "mapping" as a way into the text (and in the larger scope of things to reflect on how technology reconfigures the every day), so it is useful to be as specific as possible. Consider what moments in the text you would plot (referring to quotes from Neuromancer) and through what operations of mapping (referring to quotes from Corner).