Bliss + Symbols = Language for Care?

As I have written before on W2tQ the initial attraction of Hodges' model was its relation to brainstorming, mind-mapping, diagrams and the possibility of iconic languages. In addition, in the 1980s graphical user interfaces GUIs were introduced on microcomputers and PCs. There followed a rapidly expanding literature on icons, visual languages and interfaces. I had also heard of a Charles Bliss [ Charles K. Bliss (1897-1985) ] and Bliss Symbolics. So, to brainstorming ... we can add ideographs and pictographs.

This past week BBC Radio 4 explored the life and work of Charles Bliss and the application of Bliss in literacy, care and special needs education. The programme presented by Michael Symmons Roberts is available for 4 weeks. For its 30 minutes length the programme introduces Bliss himself, his life, aims, the challenges he and his wife faced and the ongoing legacy of his work. It could be argued - and has been - that this is a step backwards to hieroglyphs; but the programme is broader in its reference to 'care'...

individual

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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic --------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

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group

'bliss'	Wikipedia - Portal:Constructed languages
BBC Radio 4 The Symbols of Bliss	Ideal of Universal - International Languages

In the 1990s I received some copies of a journal devoted to 'Unish' a constructed language. The link to unish.net does not seem to work, but the Wikipedia site below includes some details.