3D printed internet geographies

The Datasthesia team recently turned one of our digital maps into a material printed object. They also kindly shared their files so that we could replicate the process with our own printer. This is what some of the process looked like (it took five hours to print).

20150922_123114_HDR 20150922_105901_HDR 20150922_105837_HDR 20150922_102623_HDR

What I find fascinating about this whole process is the way in which the digital and material were iteratively producing and reproducing each other. We started with places, practices, and processes that Wikipedians felt were notable enough to document. Our team then aggregated all of those data into a digital map that illustrated the densities of information on Wikipedia. We then went back and turned those digital representations into a solid graspable object. Here it is; the world according to Wikipedia:

12031371_10103039398243480_2612984946342282212_o