[SIGCIS-Members] Tree diagrams in computer science and other fields (i.e. genealogy)

Thu Mar 26 19:30:36 PDT 2020

Yes, Alexander's article, "A City is Not a Tree," was quite explicit about
this kind of formalist modeling of pedestrian flows through architecture
and urban spaces.  Alexander tells us that trees are not good!  As far as I
know, he didn't continue in that vein for too long, but Bill Hillier and
Julienne Hanson at UCL developed an analytic tool they called "space
syntax" (as elaborated in their book, _The social logic of space_ (1984)
and illustrated with a bunch of graphs and tree diagrams, like the
attached) that took "tree diagram reasoning" in architecture to another
level.

Best,

-Warren

Warren SACK
Chair + Professor, Film + Digital Media, University of California, Santa
Cruz
Editorial Group Member, *Computational Culture: A Journal of Software
Studies*
Book: *The Software Arts* (MIT Press, 2019)
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/software-arts

On Thu, Mar 26, 2020 at 2:44 PM Evan Hepler-Smith <
evan.heplersmith at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Bernard,
>
> I second Matthew's reference to Manuel Lima, *The Book of Trees
> <https://www.papress.com/html/product.details.dna?isbn=9781616892180>*,
> an art-historical treatment of just this question, including a taxonomy of
> kinds of trees. And Theodora's reference to her own work!
>
> I have an article discussing the development of trees and graphs as
> mathematical objects and calculation devices in comparison/connection with
> the graphical practices of organic chemists circa the late 19th century and
> 1960s:
>
>
>    - Evan Hepler-Smith, “Paper Chemistry: François Dagognet and the
>    Chemical Graph,” *Ambix* 65, no. 1 (2018): 76–98,
>    https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2017.1418232.
>
>
> (Preprint linked on my website <http://evanheplersmith.com/publications>;
> I can send a PDF of the published version to anyone interested.)
>
> Alexander et al., *A Pattern Language* also seems relevant to this
> question, though not specifically about trees. (Although Alexander's
> earlier essay "A City is Not a Tree" might be.)
>
> Evan
>
> On Thu, Mar 26, 2020 at 2:21 PM BRIAN JUSTIE <b1 at ucla.edu> wrote:
>
>> Bernard,
>> Johanna Drucker’s *Graphesis*
>> <https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674724938> has a brief
>> section (pp. 95-105) on the history of tree diagrams in humanistic inquiry,
>> which includes a handful of potentially useful citations.
>> Hope this helps,
>> Brian
>>
>> —
>> Brian Justie
>> *b1 at ucla.edu <b1 at ucla.edu> *
>>
>> PhD Student, Department of Information Studies
>> Researcher, UCLA Labor Center
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mar 26, 2020, at 2:03 PM, Jeff Scott Nagy <jsnagy at stanford.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Dear Bernie,
>>
>> If by trees in CS you mean at least in part the abstract data type, Knuth
>> gives a short history and bibliography on pp. 406-7 of the first volume of
>>  *The Art of Computer Programming*, the section beginning with "Trees
>> have of course been in existence since the third day of creation..." On
>> p. 459, he gives a little more on the history of trees as CS data
>> structures in particular.
>>
>> Happy to send photos of these pages if they'd be of use! I think the
>> files are too big to not get bounced by the list though.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>> Jeff
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Bernard
>> Geoghegan <bernardgeoghegan2010 at u.northwestern.edu>
>> *Sent:* Thursday, March 26, 2020 4:05 PM
>> *To:* Sigcis <members at sigcis.org>
>> *Subject:* [SIGCIS-Members] Tree diagrams in computer science and other
>> fields (i.e. genealogy)
>>
>> Dear Colleagues,
>>
>>
>> A little query sent across the lockdowns and quarantines: Can anyone
>> recommend scholarship on the tree-style diagrams that circulate both in
>> computer science and a wide range of other fields, for example, genealogy,
>> kinship? Is there any good work on the history of these diagrams, their
>> intersection, and what they might say about possible links in styles of
>> reasoning across fields that might, otherwise, seem remote?
>>
>>
>> Thanks for your thoughts,
>> b
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Bernard Dionysius Geoghegan
>> Senior Lecturer in the History and Theory of Digital Media
>> Chair of the UG Assessment Board, Digital Culture
>> www.bernardg.com
>>
>>
>> Department of Digital Humanities
>> King's College London
>> The Strand Building
>> Room S3.08
>> WC2R 2LS
>>
>>
>> Office: +44 (0)20 7848 4750
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>> _______________________________________________
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>
>
>
> --
> Evan Hepler-Smith
> evan.heplersmith at gmail.com
> 339.203.1096
> evanheplersmith.com
> _______________________________________________
> This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion
> list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member
> posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list
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