Humans have long loved using symbols to represent common concepts. But as visual communication becomes even more common in our digital lives, can there be a standardized system of icons that are understood regardless of culture and geography? Edward Boatman thinks so. Over the past year or so, he’s developed The Noun Project, a free online library of icons for every noun and concept.
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The most important thing I discovered about the Noun Project is their bigotry (possibly from their being young) the world has forgotten about those of us with dial-up and technologically in yesteryear. One can not get into the Noun Project unless they have the latest up-to-date things installed in their computer regardless how interesting one’s idea they can not hear you because they will not give you a good old fashioned email address. I say computer bigot!
Just heard about this on CBC and tried to check it out. Wasn't able too because I don't have firefox 8.0+ on my lowly laptop. Too bad this wasn't covered/asked about during the interview.
In response to the feelings of frustration expressed in the previous comments, here is another perspective.
Sometimes a great idea (like the Noun Project) is enabled by technology. In my opinion, the fact that some people don't have the necessary technology to access an idea, does not mean that the idea should be lost to everyone. Take colour television broadcasts as an example. When colour broadcasts first began if you wanted to experience the new medium, you needed to upgrade from you black and white T.V to a model that displayed colour. I suppose since not many people had colour T.V's at first, one could argue the idea was elitist and inaccessible by the masses and therefore should have been scrapped. But wait! Then we wouldn't have colour T.V. today.
And so it goes that the analogy holds true for nearly every piece of modern technology. Without a "push", technology stagnates and never improves.
So, let's upgrade our browsers. Let's upgrade our broadband internet service (or if better service isn't available in your area, try using a computer at your local library). Let's help move the technology of the web ahead.
I was surprised to hear Edward Boatman mention that there is no other project or program like the one he is working on, that capture nouns, concepts and ideas into symbols. He made reference to people on the autism spectrum who can benefit greatly from the use of visuals for expressive and/or receptive communication.
As a speech-language pathologist, I have used Boardmaker by Mayer-Johnson for years. It is a powerful symbol-creating software that has literally thousands of symbols (with more added in every new version released) which can be used in hundreds of different templates for a host of applications (visual schedules, talking books, behavior supports, and practice lessons to support students' language and literacy goals to mention only a few).