Over the next few years I will be building an atlas of the world based entirely on hearsay.
I hit on the idea while reading about 16th century maps depicting the continent Jave la Grande – a place that, if you look at it from a certain angle, may or may not look a bit like the coast of Australia. Such documents were pieced together by cartographers based on second- or third-hand information. The results were often less than accurate.
I wondered how, in this age of information overload, could I replicate this process of piecing together a version of the world using a similar process. The answer I came up with is simple – use information from random strangers and virtual friends on Facebook, Twitter, and visitors to the blog and this website. Eventually this information will be compiled into a new and unique atlas of the world.
The process is simple. I’m asking anyone who is interested to suggest a place that should be included in the atlas. In return, I make a postcard from that place and send it to you as payment for your contribution to the atlas. There are no restrictions on time or place; if you want a postcard from Venice, you can have a card from the Venice of today, or the Venice of thousands of years ago when it was just fetid marshland.
If you’d like to take part in The Atlas Project, just drop me a line at maz@mazdixon.com. Let me know what should be included in the atlas, and the address you’d like your postcard sent to.
