nydia pineda | Queen Mary, University of London (original) (raw)
Papers by nydia pineda
Imago Mundi, 2015
West’s failure to retain the Holy Land, and in it Sanudo’s spatial representations reached their ... more West’s failure to retain the Holy Land, and in it Sanudo’s spatial representations reached their apogee with the inclusion of maps, charts and city plans. Analysis of this text and Sanudo’s letters and appendixes to his manuscripts suggests that one of the functions of the mappamundi, in particular, was to reflect on campaigns such as those of Caesar and Alexander the Great. His maps were intended to prevent the recurrence of strategic errors, and Sanudo appears to have included them at the end of his manuscript in order that crusade leaders could easily remove them for consultation in the field. The earliest version of his work implies that Sanudo wanted to take part in the crusade himself, and this in turn emphasizes his trust that the geographical knowledge found in the Secreta‘s text and maps would help the crusade achieve its end. Medieval geographical knowledge is often equated with inaccuracies, particularly associated with mapping techniques and fantastical tales such as those found in the Travels of Sir John Mandeville. The Secreta provides a counterweight to these opinions, not only because it includes a variety of carefully chosen pragmatic information but also because Sanudo recognized the value of geography for the successful outcome of his cause.
Information Processing & Management, 2020
Information systems for un-regimented domains such as museums, art and book collections, face rep... more Information systems for un-regimented domains such as museums, art and book collections, face representational and usability challenges that surpass the demands of traditional information systems for regimented domains. While the former require complex conceptual models supporting a set of dynamic and evolving qualitative properties of a small number of objects, the latter focus on the quantitative aspects of a possibly very large number of objects but with a relatively small and stable set of properties. In this paper we study the use of a non-monotonic knowledge-base system for the development of information systems for un-regimented domains. We discuss the ontological assumptions of the formalism, its structure and its inferential mechanisms through a simple example. Then we present an information system for a highly un-regimented domain in the digital humanities with promising results. The present study shows that the so-called extensible, flexible, dynamic or evolving information systems need the expressive power of nonmonotonic knowledge-base systems, and that such phenomena should be addressed explicitly. 1. Information systems for un-regimented information domains Regimented Information Domains admit standardization and can be modeled with the normal assumptions of spread-sheets and relational databases. These domains may include a huge set of objects but with a relatively small and stable number of mostly quantitative properties of a moderate number of types. These oppose to Un-regimented Information Domains that have a large number of types with an open ended set of mostly qualitative properties, although the number of individuals of each type may be very small, and resist standardization. Un-regimented domains include objects that have a unique character, such as art objects, books in historical collections and museum pieces, to mention a few. These kinds of objects have unique properties that may be discovered by researchers or artists that work from different perspectives at particular places and times, and are subject to continuous research and curation. Through their work they may provide novel information at a given state of the system. At the same time, they might also change and enrich the
Revue de géographie historique, 2020
Varia Historia
In this article, we study historical and astronomical works published between 1680 and 1690 by Di... more In this article, we study historical and astronomical works published between 1680 and 1690 by Diego Andrés Rocha, oidor of the Royal Audience of Lima, and the Creole intellectual Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora, viceregal cosmographer of New Spain. We contend that for these Spanish American colonial authors, history writing and the knowledge of celestial phenomena were inextricably linked within a shared epistemic framework. Astronomy and astrology provided them with a foundation for reasoning, judging the weight of disparate evidence, and establishing the legitimacy of competing claims related to the chronology of the New World, especially regarding theories about the ancient origins of the Indians. We show how the mobilization of astral knowledge in the establishment of local chronologies offered an answer to politically charged questions about the place of the Americas in the universal history of empire and Christian redemption, as well as the authors’ own place in their respective...
Imago Mundi, 2015
West’s failure to retain the Holy Land, and in it Sanudo’s spatial representations reached their ... more West’s failure to retain the Holy Land, and in it Sanudo’s spatial representations reached their apogee with the inclusion of maps, charts and city plans. Analysis of this text and Sanudo’s letters and appendixes to his manuscripts suggests that one of the functions of the mappamundi, in particular, was to reflect on campaigns such as those of Caesar and Alexander the Great. His maps were intended to prevent the recurrence of strategic errors, and Sanudo appears to have included them at the end of his manuscript in order that crusade leaders could easily remove them for consultation in the field. The earliest version of his work implies that Sanudo wanted to take part in the crusade himself, and this in turn emphasizes his trust that the geographical knowledge found in the Secreta‘s text and maps would help the crusade achieve its end. Medieval geographical knowledge is often equated with inaccuracies, particularly associated with mapping techniques and fantastical tales such as those found in the Travels of Sir John Mandeville. The Secreta provides a counterweight to these opinions, not only because it includes a variety of carefully chosen pragmatic information but also because Sanudo recognized the value of geography for the successful outcome of his cause.
Information Processing & Management, 2020
Information systems for un-regimented domains such as museums, art and book collections, face rep... more Information systems for un-regimented domains such as museums, art and book collections, face representational and usability challenges that surpass the demands of traditional information systems for regimented domains. While the former require complex conceptual models supporting a set of dynamic and evolving qualitative properties of a small number of objects, the latter focus on the quantitative aspects of a possibly very large number of objects but with a relatively small and stable set of properties. In this paper we study the use of a non-monotonic knowledge-base system for the development of information systems for un-regimented domains. We discuss the ontological assumptions of the formalism, its structure and its inferential mechanisms through a simple example. Then we present an information system for a highly un-regimented domain in the digital humanities with promising results. The present study shows that the so-called extensible, flexible, dynamic or evolving information systems need the expressive power of nonmonotonic knowledge-base systems, and that such phenomena should be addressed explicitly. 1. Information systems for un-regimented information domains Regimented Information Domains admit standardization and can be modeled with the normal assumptions of spread-sheets and relational databases. These domains may include a huge set of objects but with a relatively small and stable number of mostly quantitative properties of a moderate number of types. These oppose to Un-regimented Information Domains that have a large number of types with an open ended set of mostly qualitative properties, although the number of individuals of each type may be very small, and resist standardization. Un-regimented domains include objects that have a unique character, such as art objects, books in historical collections and museum pieces, to mention a few. These kinds of objects have unique properties that may be discovered by researchers or artists that work from different perspectives at particular places and times, and are subject to continuous research and curation. Through their work they may provide novel information at a given state of the system. At the same time, they might also change and enrich the
Revue de géographie historique, 2020
Varia Historia
In this article, we study historical and astronomical works published between 1680 and 1690 by Di... more In this article, we study historical and astronomical works published between 1680 and 1690 by Diego Andrés Rocha, oidor of the Royal Audience of Lima, and the Creole intellectual Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora, viceregal cosmographer of New Spain. We contend that for these Spanish American colonial authors, history writing and the knowledge of celestial phenomena were inextricably linked within a shared epistemic framework. Astronomy and astrology provided them with a foundation for reasoning, judging the weight of disparate evidence, and establishing the legitimacy of competing claims related to the chronology of the New World, especially regarding theories about the ancient origins of the Indians. We show how the mobilization of astral knowledge in the establishment of local chronologies offered an answer to politically charged questions about the place of the Americas in the universal history of empire and Christian redemption, as well as the authors’ own place in their respective...