Seeka666’s Graffiti ThesaurusUCLA – Information Studies – Summer- 2009 -

BacaJessica Thomas

Gra-fi-to \gre\’fe-(,)to\ n., pl. –ti \(,)tc\ [It., a scribbling; graffio, a scratch], an inscription or drawing scratched on pillars, building, etc., as in ancient Rome.

-Webster’s New World Dictionary

Graffiti (g) n., pl. Crude drawings or inscriptions on a wall, fence, etc. 1851, ancient drawings or writing scratched on walls, as those of Pompeii and Rome; borrowing of Italian graffiti, plural of graffito, a scribbling, from graffio a scratch or scribble, from graffiare to scribble, ultimately from Greek graphein draw, writing; see CARVE. The transferred meaning, applied to recently made crude drawings or scribblings, is first recorded in English in 1877. -Barnhard Dictionary of Etymology

Oedipa headed for the ladies room. She looked idly around for the symbol she’d seen the other night in The Scope, but all the walls, surprisingly, were blank. She could not say why, exactly, but felt threatened by this absence of even the marginal try at communication latrines are known for. -Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49

Topic

Purpose Audience

Graffiti Thesaurus (Rhetorical Construct)

Topic – graffiti, broadly speaking. I’ve intentionally left out references to gang-related graffiti because 1. its inclusion would make the thesaurus too big, and 2. I’m not a huge fan of it, especially considering the gang graffiti in my neighborhood on my favorite corner liquor store.

Purpose – To function as a knowledge base and indexing reference. Lots of graffiti terminology is slang, and thus is, as its objects, ephemeral – it is difficult to create an objective authority on something that is constantly changing. Additionally, slang is insular and difficult to learn outside of its geo-spatial boundaries.

Audience – Gallery kids, graffiti newbies, academic anthropologists, indexers.

(Rhetorical Triangle)

The Graffiti Thesaurus – (a work in progress)1. Information gathering2. Facets3. Descriptor/record

creation4. Problems & worries

Information gathering

Libraries – These ended up being a good source for academic literature about graffiti, but turned up no glossaries, dictionaries, or authoritative reference sources. The indexes of library sources were generally more useful than the actual texts. Additionally, the recent publication years of these sources, as well as the lack of linguistic uniformity in their indexes are good arguments for the creation of a controlled vocabulary for graffiti.

Bookstores – While I thought I’d have better luck finding a graffiti glossary or graffiti vocabulary-oriented materials, I was just condescended to by the clerk, who did not have reference desk customer service. I ended up buying one book, which has served as an important vocabulary resource, but the quality of writing in the book is marginal.

The internet – The most useful source, for not only are there a number of (half-formed) graffiti glossaries published on the web, but there are usenet groups and web forums dedicated to the craft. People who frequent these groups and forums are generally members of the graffiti culture, and use graffiti slang frequently and naturally. However, the literacy levels of some of the contributors are marginal, and translation is sometimesnecessary. Additionally, a lot of material is plagiarized.

Ag

en

ts Mate

rials

Tech

niq

ues

& P

ractic

es

Vis

ual

Work

s

Facets

Agents facet

record view: crews

Materials facet

children of Materials facet

Materials descriptors

record view: German Montana

Techniques & Practices facet

Techniques &Practices

Descriptors

Record view: battles

Visual Works facet Visual Works Descriptors

record view: blockbusters

Problems and worries … Page 1

My questions are language-based and hierarchy-based:

1.Language: a. Are there better terms for the categories like “graffiti tools specific to spray paint,” “brands of spray paint common to graffiti culture”? Suggestions?

b. lettering/letters Should the descriptors be

i. bamboo lettering or

bamboo letters? ii. wildstyle

or wildstyling?

2. Hierarchy questions (aka categories and concepts I’m having trouble organizing)

a. lettering/letters/fonts Does this concept belong under Techniques &

Practices, or Visual Works?b. characters Does this concept belong under Techniques &

Practices, or Visual Works?c. paint sticks Under the Materials facet, does this term

belong arranged under paint or markers?

d. graffiti styles Does this concept belong under Techniques &

Practices, or Visual Works?3.Final Question –

Do I include scope notes for categories/descriptors like

“paper-based visual works”?

Problems and Worries… Page 2

1. Complete Materials records (inks, markers, paint sticks)

2. Complete scope notes3. Correct grammar and

hierarchical structure4. Link records to flickr

images (for web presentation)

Thanks for your time and help!

Evaluative Remarks

The EndThanks

everyonefor your time and help!!!

Jessica Thomas, 2009