Randy Sarafan defies easy description. He’s clearly a polymath of some sort, a provocateur

of more than one sort, and a cannon (perhaps loose perhaps not) on the deck of technology. Even a quick look at his work makes it clear that his excellent contributions to “appropriate technology” don’t preclude the occasional foray into inappropriate technology. He’s also the author of the funniest collection of unanswered (((To be more precise, many of “Laszlo Toth’s” letters were, in fact, answered)) correspondence since The Laszlo Letters ((Bob Garfield interviews Don Novello about the Laszlo Letters on the WNYC show On The Media)).

Mr. Sarafan has posted a recipe for a simple chalkboard-surfaced table on the outstanding  and ever-useful Instructables.com.

Chalkboard Table design by Randy Sarafan

While Sarafan’s design assumes Ikea trestles, this can be managed with sawhorses, or leaned against or mounted on a wall.The only indispensable items are chalkboard paint, a relatively smooth surface (Sarafan’s table was made of MDF) and chalk.

The point is that, with inexpensive, easily available materials, it’s possible to create a graphic representation of, for instance, a neighborhood – for planning purposes – or even in the midst of a crisis. While rolls of butcher paper are also available quickly, they’re not easily erased as revisions and updates are required. There are, of course, more sophisticated variations: magnetic white boards permit the use of objects and markers (for streets, vehicles, people); acetate overlays over maps permit drawing with grease pencils; GIS applications permit much more nuanced data manipulation.

But this will work-

and can be seen and worked on by more than one person at once – without electricity, without much more than a smooth surface, chalkboard paint, and chalk.

We’ll try to post some other variations on simple “sand-table” solutions in the near future.

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