Comments for Hubbub

Comment on Kars Alfrink speaking at RaumschiffEr.de in Hamburg by Kars

Kars — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 08:42:26 +0000

Ah yes, wayfinding remains a tricky thing. Check out this passage from Kevin Lynch's Image of the City to put your experience in perspective!

Comment on Kars Alfrink speaking at RaumschiffEr.de in Hamburg by mprove@acm.org

mprove@acm.org — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 07:34:31 +0000

Once upon a time a friend and I were cycling through the Netherlands. When we tried to get out of Amsterdam something strange happened. (Yes, this is a very short story about urban play). We could not get out of the city. No way! We passed the same house at least three times before we noticed that we did not make any progress in terms of getting closer to our destination, the border of Amsterdam, and then on to Edam and Gouda. What’s going on here? We paused. Went into a restaurant to think about the situation, ordered a coffee and a hot chocolate. It dawned to us, that our mental map of the city was out of synch with the reality. Amsterdam’s street architecture is not rectangular like Manhattan’s. It just locally seems to be. But when you are cycling and turn 4 times to the left you do not look into the same direction as before. Even though if you turn left – right – left – right, your new direction has only something to do with the direction you were heading before you started moving. The city becomes a labyrinth if the mental map does not match the physical. Well, we finally solved the riddle and made it to Edam, Gouda, Gent, Cap Gris Nez and Paris. I’m sure that Wifi and navigation systems would have helped us – but we had more fun the way we experienced Amsterdam.

Comment on Kars Alfrink speaking at RaumschiffEr.de in Hamburg by Kars

Kars — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:45:17 +0000

Amsterdam, Utrecht, what’s the difference, right? Thanks for fixing that, Matthias. And thanks for being so perceptive, Marrije!

Comment on Kars Alfrink speaking at RaumschiffEr.de in Hamburg by mprove@acm.org

mprove@acm.org — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:31:17 +0000

ok, Utrecht, fixed. :) Looking forward to your talk!

Comment on Kars Alfrink speaking at RaumschiffEr.de in Hamburg by Marrije

Marrije — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:04:03 +0000

Ooh, sounds interesting! But the Raumschiff people seem to think you are from Amsterdam :-)

Comment on A new website by Kars

Kars — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:22:49 +0000

I've just posted an about page to the site, which hopefully clarifies some things. Let me know what you think.

Comment on A new website by Kars

Kars — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:54:07 +0000

Thanks Marc! Glad you agree something like this is a continuous work in progress. (Did I ever mention I like the 31Volts site a lot, too?)

Comment on A new website by Kars

Kars — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:53:20 +0000

Thanks Iskander. You’re right about the lack of information w.r.t. what services Hubbub offers. I’ll get around to that soon.

Comment on A new website by Marc Fonteijn

Marc Fonteijn — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:12:15 +0000

Congrats on the updated website! I really like the clean and clear style. Like you said a website is a process, never an end product ;)

Comment on A new website by Iskander Smit

Iskander Smit — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:26:21 +0000

Congrats with the new site! Looks great.

I like the minimalistic and to-the-point approach, but maybe it is an idea to extend the 'corporate' information a bit? If I don't know you so well I would be interested in some more information on who you are and what the key activities you offer ;-)