

An algorithm for the Names at the 9/11 Memorial - erehweb
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2011/05/16/110516ta_talk_paumgarten

======
blahedo
"Even so, the first few computer scientists and statisticians the foundation
got in touch with said that it couldn’t be done."

Really? Wtf kind of incompetents were arguing that it _couldn't be done_?

I'm not arguing that it was or should have been easy, of course. It sounds
like a fascinating challenge. And I'm also not claiming that any computer
scientist, even a good one, could have solved it. But any vaguely competent
computer scientist should have been able to say, "that's a cool problem, and
you need to talk to a graph drawing expert."

Of course, this could have been a case of the source saying "they said it was
hard" and the writer mangling that into "they said it couldn't be done". But
still.

~~~
jerfelix
It's possible that the problem was originally stated in such a way that there
was no solution. Perhaps the original statement of the problem was that each
name must be adjacent to every name in its cluster, and readable. But the
cluster of 658 people at Cantor Fitzgerald probably makes that impossible -
how do you have 658 names all readable and adjacent to each other (in two
dimensions)?

Perhaps they really answered "as the problem is stated, it can't be done,
without compromises."

Then again, I tend to give computer scientists and statisticians the benefit
of the doubt (and not so much the writer).

~~~
sesqu
If I had been asked, my reply would have been "It can't be done. If you want
help from me or someone like me, you'll need to make a loose ranking of the
qualities of the ideal solution, and we can try some approximations".

I might even have left the latter sentence out, since it's clearly implicit.
Maybe whoever they found left it out or maybe they didn't even consider it,
but the artist could have made the addition too. I suspect the first few
people just weren't interested.

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corin_
I wonder if the coder/s would open source what they did. I imagine its purpose
is unique enough that releasing the code wouldn't cause any "now we won't
potential clients won't need to hire us" issues, and it could be quite
interesting.

Edit: Any chance of explanation for the down voting to -1? I mean, I assume
it's for thinking my question moronic, but would like to actually hear why
that might be...

~~~
eru
When you get downvoted, just wait a bit. It seems in the last two years or so
we acquired some trigger-happy idiots. It still usually balances out in the
end.

~~~
corin_
I don't really have a problem being downvoted, and I've certainly seen what
you describe happen many times in the past. I was asking not so much to
prevent downvoting, but because I couldn't see what I'd said that could lead
people to want to downvote, and hoped to have a chance either to win them over
or have them win me over.

------
ubernostrum
Courtesy of the Metafilter thread
(<http://www.metafilter.com/103302/meaningful-adjacencies>), a longer article:

[http://www.fastcodesign.com/1663780/at-911-memorial-name-
pla...](http://www.fastcodesign.com/1663780/at-911-memorial-name-placements-
reflect-bonds-between-victims-thanks-to-algorithm)

And a website to explore the names and some of the stories and links between
them:

<http://names.911memorial.org/>

------
OllieJones
What a fine combination of typographical aesthetics and algorithmic computer
science! Makes me proud to be associated (however distantly) with those
professions.

As for finding peoples' names, there's a strong symbolism it making it hard.
To search for a name is to honor the efforts of the recovery workers who
searched for remains.

At any rate, let's hope there's no more need for memorials like this one.

------
pessimist
After all this, so-called aesthetic considerations make it impossible to find
a name you are looking for.

~~~
showerst
At the Vietnam war memorial on the national mall in DC, the names are listed
by date of death, but there are phone-book style guides that list the names
alphabetically with the wall location.

Presumably this will offer something similar.

~~~
smackfu
In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it was just touch screens showing the
names.911memorial.org page. What more do you need?

------
cont4gious
Is the source/a paper/a blog post going to be released so that we can look at
(read: poke holes in) it?

~~~
jerf
It's not like there's a "right" or "wrong" answer. It's more art than code,
and what really matters is the final result.

~~~
cont4gious
i completely agree. i didn't mean that it would in any way be wrong, i am just
really interested in how they did it, and wanted to look at the source.

yet another example of a need for a sarcasm punctuation mark.

~~~
jrockway
Why would you add the parenthetical statement "read: poke holes in" if you
were "really interested in how they did it"? Not only does it not really make
sense (how do you "poke holes" in art?), it makes you sound like a dick.

~~~
Dylan16807
Why is poking holes automatically negative?

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fletchowns
Since it's to honor the lives of the victims, why not just sort them by date
of birth?

------
monochromatic
This is way off topic, but if you use a diaeresis in "coöperation," you are
probably an asshole. Stupid New Yorker.

~~~
leif
I was going to comment exactly this.

------
mberning
I can't believe people are (ostensibly) paid well for this kind of writing. It
meanders around and takes the longest path possible to what is essentially a
paragraph or two of actual information.

~~~
michael_dorfman
Sometimes, writing is about more than just "actual information."

If this kind of writing bothers you, you _definitely_ don't want to subscribe
to the New Yorker.

~~~
CWuestefeld
Do they routinely add those goofy umlauts, too? In the English I was taught in
school, we don't have such a character.

 _Each requires the coöperation... even others coördinating a response_

Perhaps I'm over-sensitive, but this seems rather elitist.

Now, combine this with the citation of "A same-sex couple and their three-
year-old son..., certainly, belonged together." Why mention their genders?
Either the writer has an unhealthy fixation on other people's sexual
preferences, or, worse, thinks that the fact that they're gay entitles them to
special consideration. Not good either way.

I don't think I like their style.

~~~
burgerbrain
[http://www.kirkmahoney.com/blog/2008/09/coordinate-vs-co-
ord...](http://www.kirkmahoney.com/blog/2008/09/coordinate-vs-co-ordinate-vs-
coordinate/)

Contrary to popular belief, the English language has no official single
governing body. Either are considered to be "correct".

~~~
CWuestefeld
_Contrary to popular belief, the English language has no official single
governing body._

Nor did I claim that it did; linguistics is a descriptive science, not a
prescriptive one. It _describes_ the way people use the language. I've _never_
seen English with umlauts, outside of a few heavy metal bands [1]. The link
you provided would seem to agree with me, showing the non-accented spelling
outnumbering this one by some 500:1.

[1] <https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Metal_umlaut>

~~~
burgerbrain
_"I've never seen English with umlauts"_

Nobody cares.

