Typojanchi Seoul 2013
Workshop, 30/9 - 4/10
By looking at the inner workings of digital text recognition software known as OCR (Optical Character Recognition), there seems to be a space in which we can put comprehension aside, and where we could be able to observe typography in its shapes, before making out its specificities, or even its meaning. We do this by letting go of our digital habits, and taking time to understand and retrace processes that OCR uses to analyse images. By looking at shapes, step by step, and over time working out which are characters, which are words, and what they correspond to, this software embodies a digital way of learning to read. We believe there is a lot to take from this, a lot we, as type enthusiasts, can grasp on to. By patiently reverse engineering a digital cognition process, can we challenge our own understanding of typographic languages, and the links between content and its forms?
By looking at the inner workings of digital text recognition software known as OCR (Optical Character Recognition), there seems to be a space in which we can put comprehension aside, and where we could be able to observe typography in its shapes, before making out its specificities, or even its meaning. We do this by letting go of our digital habits, and taking time to understand and retrace processes that OCR uses to analyse images. By looking at shapes, step by step, and over time working out which are characters, which are words, and what they correspond to, this software embodies a digital way of learning to read. We believe there is a lot to take from this, a lot we, as type enthusiasts, can grasp on to. By patiently reverse engineering a digital cognition process, can we challenge our own understanding of typographic languages, and the links between content and its forms?
