Fork the brand of Metamaps.cc from the core technology
As we get more clarity about the difference between the core engine and the specific instance that lives at Metamaps.cc, we're considered calling them different things. Currently its difficult to differentiate them from one another. This discussion is about deciding to make a clear differentiation between Metamaps.cc and the engine which powers Metamaps.cc.
Poll Created Mon 25 Nov 2013 10:07PM
Adopt the name "Veqtor" for the core engine powering Metamaps.cc Closed Wed 27 Nov 2013 10:00PM
Veqtor it is. Robert is going ahead and buying the domain name - we'll migrate the playground to veqtor.cc and change the branding to prepare for the hackathon that we'll run on the 14th and 15th of december.
First proposed by Ishan in a chat - seconded by Connor in an email proposal below:
“I’m excited about the name Ishan brought up, personally I like it a lot, and as Ishan mentioned it would be great to have a different name for this very different technology that we are actually building the next generation of metamaps with. I would be pretty happy to see things within the metamaps-playground slightly rebranded/tweaked towards Veqtor, and also about moving it to Linode, and hosting it at some veqtor domain name of our choosing :) What say you?”
If we go ahead to do this, we will start referring to the core engine as “Veqtor” and start to build out this presence in the creative direction and design.
Results
Results | Option | % of points | Voters | |
---|---|---|---|---|
|
Agree | 80.0% | 4 | |
Abstain | 20.0% | 1 | ||
Disagree | 0.0% | 0 | ||
Block | 0.0% | 0 | ||
Undecided | 0% | 3 |
5 of 8 people have participated (62%)
Ishan Shapiro
Mon 25 Nov 2013 10:11PM
lets do it!
Robert Best
Mon 25 Nov 2013 10:18PM
Veqtory!
Connor Turland
Tue 26 Nov 2013 11:00PM
I do feel as if the name veqtor can represent the complex and deep technology that we're building.
Benjamin Brownell
Wed 27 Nov 2013 4:06PM
Still ambivalent, for reasons offered in discussion here. Willing to go with 'consensus minus one' protocol to move ahead swiftly, as I don't have quite the same depth of insight or ownership as of yet!
Benjamin Brownell Tue 26 Nov 2013 3:01AM
Transposing some of my fave alternatives from email thread:
sentis
n.edgr (pronounced "nedgar")
orgNL ("organelle")
and a new one that might be my current top pick:
Librium
Ishan Shapiro Tue 26 Nov 2013 10:09AM
thanks for your input. I hear your associations, i’ll take the opportunity to expand a bit more on it:
a few reasons i like veqtor:
- we are building a semantic vector space.
- a vector space is a coordinate space
- implies scalability (graphically) - post-pixel
- unique name enables differentiation and findability
- as for the q, potential for unique visual identity
- relevance to the tech’s fields of inquiry
i also quite like this - dispersal vectors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispersal_vector
i get didn’t get a strong positive response from any of the names that you proposed - though some might be interesting as different identities to inhabit and form. especially as it gets more lifelike. i think veqtor is an identity that we can inhabit for awhile before it metamorphasizes into something new.
Robert Best Tue 26 Nov 2013 12:41PM
Two quick thoughts this morning before I'm on the subway.
1. Thanks for the other considerations Ben.
2. Whatever name we go with, I definitely think this is important. Are we going to brand what we give to reap with a watermark or something like "powered by vector"?
Benjamin Brownell Tue 26 Nov 2013 8:11PM
It is a fairly significant 'brand' decision - I don't see this core tech bundle as something that will be morphing through different identities. As I understand it, this is to become an open source software foundation, something that many different platforms and identities will be built on top of.
In essence, it is a visual programming environment for semantic information systems, correct? So yes, 'vector' is a pertinent and energetic label on that level, although it doesn't hint at any of the richer implications of emergence, systems, learning. I would like for something of that nature to resonate in the name.
I do quite like Librium, although it goes a bit in the opposite direction and loses the sense of structure and dynamism. A thought: Librium actually came to mind out of the phrase 'vector equilibrium' championed by Bucky Fuller (patron saint of Black Mtn!):
http://cosmometry.net/vector-equilibrium-&-isotropic-vector-matrix
...and I wonder if the two (veqtor + librium) could somehow be complementary aspects of the open source Metamaps framework? I'm thinking of the potential for a new distributed storage system, or federated database, that will eventually be a crucial piece of the picture here for truly scalable and collective implementations.
Benjamin Brownell · Mon 25 Nov 2013 10:59PM
I don't have a clear response yet - it's somewhere between 'abstain' and a no. If it was my own private project, I think I would choose another name. If Veqtor seems to work for everyone else, I would still ask for a moment's reflection on any other possibilities that may come up within the two days allotted for decision.
My hesitation comes from:
the spelling tweak of 'vector' is a slightly cheesy touch, in my mind, in line with a lot of other 'flash in the pan' silicon valley startup branding...unless there is some other significance to the spelling choice here
Vector, as a concept, to me references only a small portion of what the platform is about. It sounds like more the level of a plugin than a robust kernel or ecosystem
the phonetics are kind of clunky: Veck. Tor...not very lively, spatial, organic, fluid, or um...feminine?
another common reading of vector (in epidemiological sense) has negative connotation
I gave this question a bit of thought last night on way to sleep, and the only other term that popped to mind was the "Verge" label that I put on recent MM game experiment. I'll see what else comes up tho, and get back with ya here soon!