I have only just seen this, having moved house and been offline for too long. Alice Coleman claimed to have invented the term 'graphicacy' in about 1964/5. I worked for her briefly in 1967/8. However, the concept was certainly around in the 1930s but I cannot lay my hands on the reference for it is, with all my other maps and library, in boxes awaiting the building of a few miles of shelves. Yo Hodson ----- Original Message ----- From: "Francis Herbert" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 12:29 PM Subject: Re: Graphicacy in British vs Japanese geographical education: article In the article's English-language sequence section of its bibliography the term 'graphicacy' appears in 13 titles by - in alphabetical order - Aldrich & Shepprd [!] (2000); Balchin (1965, 1966, 1972, 1973, 1976, & 1985); Boardman (1983 & 1989); Matthews (1986); McGeorge (1976); Overton (1982); Roth, Pozzer-Ardenghi, & Han (2005). Thus, from just the evidence of this one article, the term has been *in print* for at least 41 years. Francis [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: A forum for issues related to map & spatial data librarianship [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of A Paul R Cooper Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 12:00 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Graphicacy in British vs Japanese geographical education: article Looking at the discussion on Wikipedia, it seems that the terms "Visual Literacy" or "design literacy" are also used. I can recall seeing the former elsewhere; graphicacy seems to be only used in the world of education, and I wonder if it is congruent with the terminology of cognitive studies in medicine. Re Richard's comment, I was certainly around in the field of mapping 20 years ago, and I don't recall it. I agree with him that it is a horrible term, and I do wonder about it's derivation; the root "graph" means "writing". Paul >>> [log in to unmask] 20 December 2006 11:33 >>> I was also confused, but Wikipedia seems to know: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphicacy -----Original Message----- From: A forum for issues related to map & spatial data librarianship [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of A Paul R Cooper Sent: 20 December 2006 11:26 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Graphicacy in British vs Japanese geographical education: article Does someone want to guess what "graphicacy" means? Paul >>> [log in to unmask] 20 December 2006 11:12 >>> The following article may be of interest to some subscribers to 'Lis-maps' and/or a more relevant discussion list (so feel free to forward); in order to to possibly reduce weird hieroglyphics on your screens I have omitted all diacritical marks (chiefly superscript 'bar' on 'i' and 'u' in this present case):- Eikoku chiri kyoiku ni okeru gurafuikashi gainen no shoshigaku-teki kento = The bibliographical study of the concept of graphicacy in British geography education / SHIMURA Takashi. - In Chizu = Map : Journal of the Japan Cartographers' Association (Tokyo : c/o Japan Map Center), 2006, vol.44, no.22 (174), 1-12 : fig., tables. - Bibliogr. (in Ja & E sequences): p.8-11. - Summ. in E: p.11-12. - Keywords given: graphicacy, United Kingdom, map learning, geographical and spatial information, visualization This periodical (oddly now lacking - at least on this issue - its former ISSN of 0009-4897) is taken, e.g., by the RGS-IBG Library (e-mail: [log in to unmask]) Francis Herbert [log in to unmask] -- This message (and any attachments) is for the recipient only. NERC is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the contents of this email and any reply you make may be disclosed by NERC unless it is exempt from release under the Act. Any material supplied to NERC may be stored in an electronic records management system. Your attention is drawn to the fact that this email originated from a source external to Network Rail. ************************************************************************ *************************************** The content of this email (and any attachment) is confidential. 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