Visually Complex Maps

http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/

A friend sent me the above link last night, and I found it very interesting. The site centers around visualizing complex networks. From Protein complexes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae to CIA World Factbook Visualization. The maps are very complex which is not exactly what i want for my project, but in thinking about the types of networks that people will have, those systems (visually) could be complex. Seeing this site and being able to see a visual representation of many networks that you may not think of as networks, allows room for thought about how Experispace's network could be linked.

Obv. there are many threads, Everyone who grew up in a certain town to everyone who learned how to ride a bike on Nov. 7, 1990. My project isn't aiming at being complex, on the contrary, but i think it is important to see how systems are networked when you are creating your own.


visualization of the amount of pedestrians in a given area. Thought this was similar to the type of networking that would be happening in my project. The similiarity of imprints on a space.

A song for sleep.

Last night I was watching a foreign film "Pan's Labyrinth", which is about a little Spanish girl who's mother marries a coronel during the 1944 Spanish Civil War. She finds a Labyrinth with a minotaur living within it's confines. He gives here three tasks from a book he gives her. The coronel is a horrible torturer, and she must find time to sneak off to do these quests. Without giving too much away (because everyone should see it on their own), I realized during a part where one of the maids sang Ofelia (the little girl) a lullabye, that those are the small simple yet important things I want to deal with. While she was singing, I thought it would be great to have audio clips of lullabyes. Lots of children rely on lullabyes to go to bed each night and is a memory trigger. Maybe not being a focal point, but could be an interesting idea for promotion.

Approaching a Homepag

this was sort of a rendering, I am not completely happy with it, but it is a decent start!

Logoing it Up

I dislike both of these, but I am still working. I want to achieve something that remains natural yet has a digital function, maybe i need to step away from the tree idea....

the 2nd logo is about half done, i am creating these in illustrator, and I am not used to creating my own graphics, but I figured i should for this project:

Logo 1:



Logo 2:

I enjoy the idea of the carving but i don't want people to get the impression this is only about the outdoors. it is about homes, vacations, experiences, so i have to broadened my spectrum...maybe do a cluster.

Fav Icon : enlarged


Fav Icon : Actual Size : :




I was thinking about doing a series of these, ones of cities, houses, and then the fav icon on the site could change with each logon using javascript.

other than that. i need to branch out of the tree idea (pun intended! bing) I have been having a very hard time thinking up of a name, and kind of logo / scheme feel for the site... :( more brainstorming required.

By Other Means

Either because they feel their instructors require it or because they cannot think outside a particular technological box, many capstoners start with a technological approach to a given problem: "I don't know what I want to make, but I know it's going to be a Web site/video/interactive installation." Or just as bad: "I don't know what I'm going to make, but I know it won't involve programming/design/editing." It's certainly easier to envision finishing your capstone if you stick to a technology you're familiar with, whether it's HTML, FinalCut, or Max/MSP. Unfortunately, no matter how competent your manipulation of a given medium, your capstone will fail if your approach to the subject matter is naive or not thoughtful.

To help you think outside the box of a particular medium, this assignment asks you to envision an alternative version of your current intent without employing "typical" new media--ie, no Web sites, videos, or interactive installations. Your goal is not to come up with a totally different project, and you may end up returning to one of these media in your final choice of capstone. But for this one assignment, I want you to imagine and propose some activity or object that gets at the heart of the issue you're interested in without using one of these technologies.

Describe this alternative vision of your project in enough detail so I can see what happens in my mind's eye when I read your post. Where and when does it take place? How many people are involved? Are there objects they hear, see, or handle? Then tell me how you think this alternative version would speak to the same issue/s that interest you about your original, technology-oriented intent.

This is not an easy assignment, but just think about the themes from your Daily Me that got you interested in the first place, and imagine them playing out in a totally different space: the dining hall, a sports arena, a forest, anywhere but in a Web site, video, or interactive installation.


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I think I have been in a good boat because with my project, most of the research I have been doing has nothing to do with technical issues, and i am really still thinking which platforms I want to use.

When i was thinking about this lately... I have been thinking of new names and things for this project like "whereabouts", which sounds more fun or something to do with Homage to the Places, which sounds more like an installation, but I need to come up with something soon.

When envisioning the core of what my project is really about, most simply it is about our experience with place which also has some relation to time. There are a lot of complexities within the tone of the project for me though as far as what qualifies for an experience worth retelling and in some respects reliving. In some ways the project is made itself in the respect that people hold the keys to unlock the doors to the project, and i simply want to bring them together to share. The New Media aspect I believe at the core is the connection of our lives to each other, something for the people and only for the people that has a deep investigation.

In thinking of different ways this project could be presented minus the website / installation ideas I have already been playing around with, I thought of some sort of way where people as they were experiencing or going to a place they experienced could transmit information. For example, if I used to go to an old fishing hole all the time when I was little, and I remember the time I caught first fish, i could go back to that spot and with some kind of device take pictures/write text/etc, which stores it. More simply, something that can give as much information about the place including the person's personal experience. This would obviously be a new device, one more handheld, but there are some cons in that idea. The fact is I feel like we glow to much in front of our screens, and the purpose of this is to relove places outside of a digital space.

In the end, I will probably use digital means to portray the physical spaces, but if there was a way to portray the physical spaces with physical information that would be great. I think the biggest analog version of that is the stereotypical engraving into trees. Lisa <3 style="font-weight: bold;">A QUICK STORY :
A friend was telling me last year a story about how when she moved into the dorms she got a call from two girls at about 1 AM. They proceeded to tell her all about how much fun they had as roommates in that room, and all the things they did. Maybe my friend did not care, but regardless in some way she learned more about that room knowing the types of people who had been there before. The good times or what no.

That is the kind of felling I am trying to convey, the "hey, here's what has happened here"

Intent Three : Mapping our lives

INTENT THREE: Mapping our lives

We have all experienced a time within a place on this crazy little green ball mostly covered in blue we call earth. Every person grows up with a certain set of standards in their life marked by certain milestones. These milestones are there until the day we die including relationships, jobs, etc. Milestones are a big part of our lives, but also small experiences can imprint themselves into our lives. I want to create a project that networks our experiences with places and time together back to the places and through each other.

This project aims at bringing together those milestones and small experiences to a map. When we experience things whether it be a first kiss or a wedding, they happen someplace that means something in reaction to the stories that they hold. Though these experience may be positive or negative in the case of a fatal car crash or a miscarriage, many times we remember the places these things happen because they hold significant meaning to us.

Mapping experiences seems to be a very visual way of connecting us together. Through implementing a tool set where users can mark experiences on a map, common threads of experiences over a given time can show us how much we relate to place and each other. In the grand scheme of things, the point is to allow us to investigate places because in some cultures place is just as important as people, but I feel we neglect and take for granted a larger portion of places.

An interface of a map will allow people to toggle through time reading people's stories, uploading their own as well as pictures, and any sort of mementos that the place holds. Many times people live their entire life someplace, but each year marks new experiences, and some places have had many people living there over time, and each person may experience the place differently, but also people may leave part of themselves behind in a place.

Intent Two: Mapping the fun

INTENT TWO: Mapping the fun

Mapping programs have been used for a lot of things in the last few years. We have been able to find directions for road trips, been able to mark our friends on the map, and even at times been able to write about worldly events on a map. These things serve as practical and political uses, but what about just for the fun of it.

I hope to take mapping technology to a fun place. Using maps and a given set of tools, users will be able to map all their fun road trips, slumber parties, concerts, or whatever they feel like it, but wait there's more. Is there a world you live in that no one else does? Make it up and put it on the map. Have a childhood lab when you were little, sure that's fair game. Want to map Desperate Housewives's Wisteria Lane or Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Sunndydale in a visual episode guide? DO WHAT YOU WANT. The map is yours for the taking. Add friends, and share maps, creating your own networks and play until every map place , fiction or non-fiction have a place in this world!

Intent One : Mapping the Weird

THE NEXT FEW POSTS ARE INTENTS THAT I WROTE FOR CLASS TO CHOOSE A MORE SPECIFIC DIRECTION , I am thinking "Intent Three" is the one i am pursuing most, but i find them all interesting!

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INTENT ONE: Mapping the weird

Time is one thing that we rely on each day yet cannot fully fathom. Time can degrade people and places, but what about the mystery of time and place. People often leave behind a legacy of themselves over time at given places. Native American cultures will stay on land for a long time honoring their ancestors, whereas new neighbors claim their house be haunted.

Time is a very mysterious thing that is hard to visualize. Once we are gone, do we remain? Does time give us insight into itself with deja vu? That is what this project hopes to investigate. The mysteries of places. Many times we see shows of haunted places, read in books, but how are all of these things connected.

Using mapping and tagging technology I hope to investigate times decay on places. Many times we feel like we have been somewhere when we have Deja Vu, and these experiences may be related to the paranormal. Historic layers and personal experiences can be helpful for this. From hearing a weird creak in the bathroom or having a dream come true, the unexplainable may become more visible on a visual space, and maybe visualizing the weird things that happen to us can better help us deal with them!

Mother of All Posts

This is a compliation post of some different links I have been sent through the last few days with some really great information :)


\\\\ 1 \\\\ layering our now history

Geopolitics: Beirut before & after
http://workshop.evolutionzone.com/2006/07/31/geopolitics-beirut-before-after/

This was one of the projects that I felt really spoke to what I want to do with my project. The site shows Beirut before the bombing because sparks of questions like "why is beirut now burning on google earth". These are the exact same things I want to approach in my project, layers of history etc, so if you went to beirut in 2000 it may look one way and a day or 6 years later could be completely different.

Beruit BEFORE / AFTER

a link through this article there is a google earth blog at:
http://www.ogleearth.com/2006/07/haret_hreik_bef.html
basically what this blog creates is image overlays to the current theme of google earth. These are before and after's which is one thing i 100% want to create in my project. In my initial blog entries I talked about layering, and I think this is a great resource for this.

They use KMZ files to utilize more features with google earth, which I do not know a lot about but I am sure it is something that i will need to do.

Ogle Earth has done a lot of projects about putting art on google and other things, which is a close relation to what I want to do. These seem to be more like political etc, features which i am still flimsy in my mind which route i want to take it, but I know i want a large portion to be for the people. Especially now I know some people are doing things with google earth.

This is also expecting that I end up using a google earth interface. I posted about "mapping sex in america" a few posts ago by the museum of sex, and I really like their interface too, so taking that to another level could be something for me.

I am keeping Ogle earth in my SAGE so that I can keep up with the types of things they are doing with mapping!

\\\\ 2 \\\\ the lebanon bomb

http://almashriq.hiof.no/lebanon/300/350/355/july-war/index.html

Lebanon has been going through a lot with their bombings, and as a visual culture i think we are sometimes strained to see the things going outside of our vapid american lives (opps). The site above has included KMZ files of the lebanon bombings and exactly where they have happened, and to date. This is the exact type of feeling I want to get with my project, mapping for a reason. I want to have people mapping their lives, but things that really matter to them, milestones, things that changed their lives.

Lebanon, mapping the bombs

It reminds me of this summer at Upward Bound staff training, we all had to come up with three important events in our live, and tack them onto the wall in a timeline of when these milestones happen. It was very linear, and I did not care for it because things happen different for everyone, and those are the kinds of things I want to foucs on whether it be a happy marriage, or a horrible sexual abuse experience. I want to incorporate the things that make us, us. I think there has been some groups doing some of the things I am aiming for such as this Lebanon mapping system. The bombs that go on in our life rather than the physical bombs that go off in the world. Sometimes people need to see networks, and these mapping KMZ's are making it better for everyone.


I would love to be ambitious and come up with my own system, but i am seeing that KMZ files could be a way to go technically if things aren't going as planned in my mind

Also, like i said before I really liked the mapping sex in america interface, and think that could be a great system.


\\\\ 3 \\\\ Tagzania

Tagzania
http://www.tagzania.com/item/14070/tag/flickr/

Tagzania was great to look at for my project. There are icons that when clicking on a map have something to do with. Basically this just takes a location and gives it an icon, which is an interesting idea, tag names is already something i wanted to incorporate into my project, maybe iconic stories could be something.

Tagzania seems to be doing something relatively close to my thoughts, but how I want to make it different is not just tagging the planet. I saw on the site it tagged a place in India where there is a shipyard. Basically, what they do is say what is going on, with a small picture, where I want to network and tag similar experience of the people, that way we can see how we relate to each other on this earth, sometimes by events is a good thing but sometimes by personal experience can connect us so much more.

Indian ship yard tagged

So far the things I have looked at are about sort of work events, etc. So I am feeling comfortable with heading on with people and their experiences.

\\\\ 4 \\\\ Paula's Outrage

http://paulalevine.banff.org/

A similar site in interest paralelled with the Lebanon bombings, was this site by Paula Levine, a cry out to stop the bombings. Though I had a tough time with loading a lot of the parts of the site, I found this site to be very closely related to what I want to do with people. The purpose is that baghdad and san francisco is superimposed so people get a feel for what bombings in Iraq are like right now. Clicking on certain places in either will bring up a picture and description of what is happening in that location.

A paralell of San Francisco and Baghdad with civilian, military, and bombing marks

I really enjoyed this interface too, something like this for each state may be something I want to look into, which would include learning flash, but that is something I would do if that seems like the best route. Maybe more discussion will lead me into which way is better for what I want to do!

This gives me an idea that people on my project should be able to create new types of maps, etc.

\\\\ 5 \\\\ thinking outside

http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/008975.php

This was an interesting article about a soundscapey type project where the user hears environmental sounds with headphones on. Basically environment and music could have a symbiotic relationship where harsh sounds get eliminated but you are not trapped away. This was a very interesting addition to reccomendations for me. I have said before i wanted to do something outside of a net project, which I feel my project has a very appropriate place on the net, but I also want to do something in a physical space for tone.

Audio Environment, how do we experience sound of a place?

This audio project is a perfect experience of what I am trying to capture, feeling , hearing, and experiencing our surroundings.

I want to investigate the physical part of my project more, because though a net presecne is appropriate, we experience outside of the net the place we live. play, work, etc.

\\\\ 5 \\\\ I found you.With.AJAX

http://www.seomoz.org/ip2loc/ip2loc.php

Aside from the fact that this site (IP LOOKING - lets you put in your IP and find yourself on the map) says I live on Broadway in Bangor, i found this to be powerful for my project. If people can somehow much in information about something they want to network with their experiences, say they put in a PHONE NUMBER they could track history of their old phone numbers, which I believe is a place a lot of young teens spent their time instead of exploring the outside world, but even if they were keywords

Look its me, but not really, BUT a tool worth using!

say you were focused in Maine, and you put lobster it would popup all experiences pepole had with lobsters, i think AJAX is something I will have to look into for quick searching of people's locations and experiences.

This could be powerful in this story telling domain where tags could be extended into such a system!

\\\\ 5 \\\\ My Final Thoughts

There were a lot of great suggestions with some similar projects to mine, which helps me create more of a focus for my own project. I like how there are places already layering events that matter in our culture because i want to layer events that matter in our personal lives, and really investigate those things. I got some ideas for interface whether that be google earth files, or some flash interface, and really saw that mapping is something that people care about (as well as I do), and I know we care about ourselves, so I think as far as the "you and your audience should care about your project" goes, that is all set, which makes me happy. Now in writing my intents I know I have my solid milestone one, but for a branch off I may use some of the events, and maybe some other things to portray some possible tones to the project, which is really the last thing i need to define more. Other than that, I think this has been a very productive day in capstone research :)!
\\also thanks jon for all the great links! VERY HELPFUL!

Which Way

I found this image and wanted to incorporate it into a page. I liked how there were directions going everywhere, in this picture they are different places, which is an option for a sort of menu in the experience.

Also each of these direction signs could be a different place within the site. I want the navigation to be simple, but creative, and that is why i put the "welcome.." portion in the image :)

A Multitude of Stories

I wanted to portray a given amount of images with some examples of stories.

I figured pets, scenery, family, and depression were symbolic categories, for emotions, experiences, road trips, etc. Just a kind of quick image of the things going on in our lives :)

Plug-in your Life

This was a quick idea about how to integrate story sharing with easibility. People are able to upload stories with a simple plugin.

Also if needed, a cell phone extension could be implemented for GPS positioning with the site :)

Heart of the Hearth

I talked to Joline about my last parti, and she talked a little about story related to the home and the hearth, so I was going to do a piece with objects on a hearth that were representational of family, friends, stories, etc.

As i was looking for "hearth's" this desert was a picture, I went to the page and it went on to say -- "Aboriginal Hearth". That really spoke a lot to me and what I kind of want my project about. For some of my approaches I wanted to focus on the outside world of the house. I find it very important because I know growing up, i made most of my memories with my friend Angela throughout the town. We used to go to the playground a lot to have talks, and just walk around town.

Then the meditating womann kind of just completes a serene feeling showing at the hearth can be anywhere you feel at place.

Though i think physical homes are interesting too, and will be a focus, i thought this parti could be more about the anywhereness of the project.
:)