We talk a lot about Human-Computer Symbiosis on this blog – it’s a systems design approach that guides us in our construction of our technology stacks. Given that, we’re always on the lookout for example of HCS systems built by other people.

Here’s an unlikely example: the layout of names in the memorial was made according to ‘meaningful adjacencies’ (as described by Jer Thorp in his blog post, All The Names: Algorithmic Design and the 9/11 Memorial):

The project was to design an algorithm for placement of names on the 9/11 memorial in New York City. In architect Michael Arad‘s vision for the memorial, the names were to be laid according to where people were and who they were with when they died – not alphabetical, nor placed in a grid. Inscribed in bronze parapets, almost three thousand names would stream seamlessly around the memorial pools. Underneath this river of names, though, an arrangement would provide a meaningful framework; one which allows the names of family and friends to exist together. Victims would be linked through what Arad terms ‘meaningful adjacencies’ – connections that would reflect friendships, family bonds, and acts of heroism. through these connections, the memorial becomes a permanent embodiment of not only the many individual victims, but also of the relationships that were part of their lives before those tragic events.

Read on for details on the approach they used and how it embodies HCS architecture (not to mention, a video of their tool in action).
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