Mapping Atlanta

Project 3 Reminders & In-Class Work

Remember to consult the assignment sheet, available here. I’ve also listed some reminders below about Project 3.

Your multimedia component should combine the visual and the verbal and must include the following:

• 1 image from each site (picture or video taken by *you*)
• written or spoken text by *you*
• audio – spoken text or music by you or someone else to which you’ll give credit
• online access: you must be able to link to your multimedia piece from your sites on the class map. That means you’ll need to use something like a podcast, a blog or easy website creation tool, or YouTube to host your multimedia component.

Your multimedia piece can be one combined for all of your sites (which means you’ll include the same link for each pin on your map) or you can create separate multimedia pieces, perhaps one for each site (to which you’ll link individually to your pins on the map). If you choose to do a podcast, you can attach your images the pins on your map, rather than creating a separate slideshow, though you could do that as well. Remember to give credit to any outside sources by including a References or Works Cited slide within your project.

Your multimedia component should be a digital representation of your sites It should complement, complicate, or extend the physical places. Or, as we discussed with the reading by de Certeau, it should transform the places into meaningful spaces. Remember your audience, and try to create something that would be engaging for them.

Some options for how you might use your class time today:

• Create an outline, storyboard, or plan for your multimedia piece.
• Organize materials you brought.
• Draft your written/spoken text component.
• Conduct additional research.
• Watch Lynda videos or Google guides to help you with the technical aspects.
• Read the “Multimedia” chapter on uLearn.
• Consult the “resources” link on the website to learn more about the labs available to you on campus so you’ll be able to work on this project in the coming weeks.

Does graffiti make a public argument?

Let’s look at some examples: http://atlantagraffiti.tumblr.com/

Work with a partner. Choose one of the images from the above website. On a sheet of paper, jot down your group’s answers to the following questions:

1) Does the graffiti you selected make an argument?

2) Why or why not?

3) How would mapping or knowing the location impact our  understanding or interpretation of the piece?

Mapping Atlanta Proposal: Due 11/13

Please post your answers to the following questions on your blog before the start of class on Tuesday, November 13th. Answer each question fully and to the best of your ability at this stage in the project. I understand that your answers and choices might change as we move forward with the project, but I’d like to get a sense of your plans at this point so I can give you some feedback.

1. What public sites are you thinking about working with?

2. Why are you interested in those sites, and why do you think they would be meaningful to your audience?

3. In what ways do you see these sites as individually or together making/suggesting a public argument?

4. What are your plans for visiting these sites? In other words, when will you go; how will you get there; how long will you stay/observe; will you take pictures/videos?

5. What are your plans/ideas for the multimedia component?

6. What additional research, beyond visiting the sites, do you think you may need to conduct to complete the multimedia component of your project?

7. Do you intend to collaborate with others on this project? If so, who will you be working with; what are your plans for division of labor; and how are your sites related/inter-connected?

8. What questions, if any, do you have about this project at this time?

Project 2 Reflection

Post your answers to the following questions on your blog.

1. What did you learn about electronic writing and publishing as a result of project 2?

2. What do you like about your project or think you did well with in project 2?

3. If you could change one aspect of your project 2 final draft, what would it be?

4. What did you think about the assignment overall? Some questions to consider, but don’t feel obligated to answer all of these: Did you like it, dislike it? Do you think it was beneficial to your learning in this course? Do you think it gave you an opportunity to study and practice course concepts? What would you keep the same or change for future instantiations of the project?

Maps, Music, and Video: Using Google Earth and Street View in Multimedia

Visit The Wilderness Downtown website, and type in your childhood address.

“Upsidedown” Map of the World

Is mapping an interpretative act?

Is mapping a political act?

Is mapping a form of electronic writing and publishing?

Another Website with Sample Infographics

Students, you might click here to visit the blog for NC State’s Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media program. As I mentioned in class, the infographics on this site typically rely less on numbers and statistics and more on text and quotes. This might give you some ideas that are beyond the chart-heavy versions of infographics.

In-Class Activity 2 10/18

Activity 2:

Select one of the infographics below:

• Digital Divide 1
• Digital Divide 2
• Internet Use and Home Broadband Connections
• Smartphone Research
• Generations and Their Gadgets

Work with a partner to answer the following questions about your selected infographic:

• What is successful/effective about the infographic?
• What is not successful about the infographic?
• Does it make an argument? If so, what is it and how does it make it? If not, what’s missing?

In-Class Activity 1 10/18

Activity 1:

• Go to this website: www.yahoo.co.jp
• Explore the site.
• Then, post an entry to your blog that answers the following questions: 1) Describe your experience exploring the site, 2) What is familiar and what is unfamiliar?, and 3) What (if any) kind of social, cultural, and/or cognitive barriers existed for you?