[I'll try this again -- plain text this time.] Here's the abstract for one of the presentations at ATypI next week. Will this be the every-character-has-a-story repository we've always wished for?
--------------------------------------- Decode Unicode! A typographic database Johannes Bergerhausen Friday 1 October | 14:15 - 15:00 Location: A-2 (Archa Hall 2) Presentation | Theme: Typographic Babylon | Duration: 45 minutes After the DNA, the ASCII-Code is the most successful code on this planet. The Unicode will even be better. Now is the right time to gather and explain the meaning, history and correct typographic use of each Unicode-Caracter. Who invented the full stop? When did the Infinity-Sign come into being? What's an Ogonek? In an 18-month project in the department of Design at the University of Applied Sciences in Mainz, Germany, we are collecting images, samples and texts about each and every sign in the Code. In the near future, the project will be opened for anyone to submit their own material. In his lecture, Prof. Bergerhausen will give an introduction to code-history from ASCII to Unicode and will present the project that is supported by the Germany Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Speaker details Johannes Bergerhausen = <http://www.atypi.org/08_Prague/30_program/40_speakers/view_person_html? p= ersonid=3D1130> Professor Fachhochschule Mainz | Germany Prof. Johannes Bergerhausen, born 1965 in Bonn, Germany, studied Visual Communication at the University of Applied Sciences in Dusseldorf. From 1993 to 2000, he lived and worked in Paris. First he collaborated with the Founders of Grapus, G=E9rard Paris-Clavel and Pierre Bernard, then he founded his own office. In 1998 he was awarded a grant from the French Centre National des Arts Plastiques for a typographic research project on the ASCII-Code. Lectures in Amiens, Paris, Rotterdam, Warsaw, Weimar. He returned to Germany in 2000, since 2002 he is Professor of Typography at the University of Applied Sciences in Mainz. In 2003, together with Paris-Clavel, he published the font LeBuro at ACME Fonts, London. ---------------------------------------
