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!