Part of: LESS REMOTE: The Futures of Space Exploration An Arts & Humanities Symposiumwww.artscatalyst.org ABSTRACT This paper identifies problems associated with how networked earth visualisation technologies affect our understanding of our local and global environment, and presents a critical and creative opportunity for space science and exploration to remedy them. Through an analysis of a series of applications of the Google and Yahoo mapping API's (Application Programming Interface), the author demonstrates how the use of space and time as discreet design parameters distorts our understanding of social, economic and ethical subjects. As a recovery for this split, the author identifies space activity as having the only actual potential for synthesising time and space, through the imaging and transmission capabilities of the International Space Station and orbiting satellites.
Less Remote was a two day symposium organised by Flis Holland and The Arts Catalyst at the International Astronautical Congress, where artists, thinkers and writers met to discuss the future of space exploration. The symposium aimed to foster a dialogue and exchange between the cultural and space communities.
