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Production Project - Geo-Narrative

Chloe Mackenzie - u3085885

Click here for my geo-narrative.

My interactive map was a result of discussions with friends and strangers about dog parks and places to take their dogs for exercise. I spoke to people about issues related to exercising their dogs in Canberra. As a result of this I created a geo-narrative.

The name of my Geo Narrative is “Where to take your dog in Canberra”. This idea was developed because I wanted to create something that hadn’t been done before. At the time everything I knew about places in Canberra had to do with socialising. Although I did know about dog parks as well because I have two beagles. 

My first idea was to create a story about a day in the life of dog. I researched this by asking people who owned dogs where they take their dogs and why. I found there was a much greater demand for information about where to take your dog in Canberra than was available. There wasn’t a lot of information on this subject on the Internet, so I went to these places to do my own observations.

I covered 23 areas throughout Canberra. 8 are dog-prohibited areas and I marked with a red drop pin on the geo-narrative. 15 others vary from off leash areas to controlled areas and on leash reserves. They are clearly marked at the bottom of the information pop-ups with bold writing and ticks to inform the reader what is available at that site.

All pop-ups contain a short paragraph providing information about the site. It also includes an image an image, an address and a list of facilities available.

8 of the 23 photos are my own and are referenced to my flickr site. The rest of the images I found on creative commons (google images and flickr) and are referenced accordingly. I referenced the images by creating a hyper-link. When the cursor hovers over an image the referenced site will come up in the bottom left hand corner.

I found some information to support my analysis, but no other webpages covered as many places to take your dogs as my geo-narrative has. The sites that were most helpful included the Territory and Municipal Services site and a Hall Veterinary Surgery post.

These sites identified the dog-prohibited and dog friendly areas in Canberra nature reserves. I visited these reserves myself to investigate but the websites were most useful in providing information. I believe this site is useful to Canberra's dog owners. I will continue to add and edit this geo-narrative for myself and others.

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Meta Post

Deciding my top posts was difficult because I had spent so much time on each of these posts, they all meant something personally to me. Three posts did stand out because they explain the process of my blog. 'Where it all began' was my 6th post. I noticed my blog was dominated by political opinion and generally disturbing media however I wanted to show my audience that the idea of this blog actually came out of something wonderful. The url of my blog stemmed from this decision. My blog is bitter sweet.

It was discussed in the first workshops how to discover your theme. One of the points my teacher made was that I should look at the material I already have. I recently volunteered in Mexico for three months and travelled through America/Europe for another three months. I decided to expand on what I had learnt volunteering in Mexico. Ever since traveling there my interests have been focused on world affairs. I decided that would be my theme 'World affairs'. I noticed very early on that other people in this course were posting and networking however I was really hesitant to begin because I wanted my blog to contain high quality rather than contain high quantity. I didn’t finish my first post in the first week. I actually posted it around 3 weeks into the course. I believe it is still one of my best posts because it took me so long to complete.

'Is There a Beginning?' contained all the qualities I aimed for during each post. Its structure was relaxed and had comic relief. The subject was related to our first lecture The History of the Internet and the was about my experiences in Mexico.

As I became more comfortable posting on my blog frequently I progressed to the next stage - entering the blogosphere. I set up my Google analytics and realised the only people looking at my blog were my Grandparents. I started using tags to get my information out to a wider audience. My subject matter related mostly to the site Lightbox hosted by Time magazine. I made tags involving lightbox, people involved in the post and images used. My posts were opinion pieces/a taster of the original news article or photo essay. I heard of a popular tag called Prose and started involving it in all my posts hoping to increase my audience. I went through the long process of following every person with a blog in Networked Media Production, hoping for a follow back. I custom created an about me page using all the HTML and CSS knowledge I learned in the workshops. I added two widgets to my about me page (A TIME magazine news bulletin board and a poll). Everything was going smoothly and I was very pleased with how my blog was turning out. However I noticed a problem.

My NMP blog was added onto my personal blog and this didn’t seem to be a problem until I noticed I couldn’t change the primary blog. Every time I followed someone (hoping for a follow back) they would get a notification saying my personal blog started following them. This became an issue because everyone was following my personal blog instead of my NMP blog. Once I realized there was no way of changing my primary blog, I came to realise that I needed to create a whole new profile. I was hesitant to do this because I had gained so many followers (over a 100) with what I had achieved already.

I decided to stick with my account and start advertising my NMP blog on my personal blog. I monitored my blog views with Google analytics whenever I posted an advertisement. I tested different kinds of advertisements such as serious adds, funny adds, adds with just images, adds with gifs and desperate calls for attention adds. I found that the best time to advertise was Sunday afternoon and that funny gifs prompted the most page views. I didn’t receive as many follows as I would have liked to, however I scored a returning visitors percentage of 66.2%.

The third of my top 3 posts was 'This week on earth'. I believe this post symbolises what I had been really trying to communicate from the beginning of the semester. I didn't usually write such obvious opinion pieces. But after what happened in world affairs that week, it really annoyed me how Australian news stories dominated every news program ignoring the international events. That week I realised why Lightbox interested me so much and why I wanted to bring it to people's attention. I want everyone to appreciate what we have in Australia. I want to be part of a Worldly Australian Generation.

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A Final Embrace

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ABOUT ME

I made an about me section on my uni blog. I needed to get my coding skills into it for marks but could not be fuuuuucked with making a whole new background (plus i like my background) so I made this.

http://theresashesfallinginmylemonade.tumblr.com/aboutme

It seemed all my coding knowledge went out the window when I began so I would like to give a big thanks to HTMLdog tutorials!

Aaaand heres a funny gif to get your attention

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Finished my Production Project

AHAHAH I’M NOT FINISHED

Though I’m getting there.

It’s an information map, that guides you around canberra to desired locations.

The title is Where to take your dog in Canberra.

How the the theory became practice:

1. I started with this because I wanted to show people places in Canberra that they may not of known about in the first place.

2. I own two Beagles

3. One day my mum was complaining about that she never knew wether she could take our dogs to a certain place or not and what was to expect of these places.

4. I was talking to some people at my local dog park (Lake G dog park) and asked them why they always came here instead of walking their dogs. Most of the answers where, “They have a busy life and don’t have time” but others said they “where comfortable here because they knew what to expect.”

5. I came up with the idea of locating and analysing popular and efficient dog parks/walks an owner could take their dog.

6. I started by actually going to different places all over Canberra and taking notes of the surroundings. I talked to people there and asked their opinions of what they thought was effective about the space and what wasn’t. I took photos of the places I went (when I remembered) and used them in my Geo Narr.

7. As an owner of dogs I often actively search out new places to take my dogs. From what I have seen I understand there are many other dog owners in Canberra that would appreciate this kind of easy to reach information.

8. How else better could I get this information into their hands other than putting it together on the internet.

SO WOLAH that’s as far as I have gotten.

A lame idea I know. But the information IS in demand.

Hopefully they don’t shut me down with the fact that it’s not a narrative….

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This week on earth...

This week has been an intense week for world affairs. 

America deals with bombs north and south of the country.

Syria continues to deal with war and suicide bombings.

A plane went down in Bali.

England farewells an Ex Prime minister (in a very costly fashion).

India celebrates and protests and is shunned for animal cruelty.

China deals with bird flu.

soooomething happened with the pope.

But fuck all happened in Australia... 

I believe that if Australians were more interested in world affairs they would appreciate what we have a lot more (Appreciating our government would be a start). 

I believe if we teach our children about current world affairs (however brutal they may be) they would be able to get a better perspective on all facts of our daily life. 

We shouldn't wait for our kids to be old enough to go out and find out the news themselves. These kids have the information right in front of them on their iPads, computer screens, Smart phones. Prompt them, discuss with them world issues. 

We need a worldly Australian generation. Because as much as you want to believe, we really don't have one yet.

The best place I received information about last weeks activities was from Lightbox.

This photo above them all got to me so much.

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This is a video created by the company hitREcord. The face and director of the company is Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

I watched this video first without the sound. I wanted to interpret the film without the narrators voice influencing me (or distracting me gaahhh). I kept thinking, this is the raw image of humans today. Flickering lights.

I imagine if someone had a birds eye view of the world at night, this image would be incredibly accurate.

Each flcikering light can represent one person. Like each star light can represent a sun, a planet, A SOLAR SYSTEM! It's like we've copied the nights sky. We've turned on our smart phones, computers, iPads, iPods, laptops, televisions; just our bedroom lights and we send a message to the stars saying "We can see you, we've been watching you for thousands and thousands of years. Now it's your turn. Look at us, look at what we've become, what we have achieved, who we have become!"

The irony of the situation is that the more lights we turn on down here the less stars we are able to see up there.

But for most of us that's okay because we have our very own star light right here, in the palm of our hands.

Watch this video and let me know what you think. I'm yet to watch this with the sound. Was I accurate or completely off topic?

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Delving into the archives.

The year 2000. I was in year 1. I didn't understand the concept of time but I was sure I could count to 2000.

What I deffinetly wasn't aware of in the year 2000 was the worlds news. I decided to go through Lightbox's articles of 2000 and see what I recognised.

There was a lot of stuff I didn't know about. But what I did find surprising was the headlines were familiar. Different content but same headlines. 

Incredible things have happened over the last 13 years however a lot of things are still the same.

When it comes to world news we still focus on the movements of America, Africa, North Korea... the only time we really look at Europe is when the pope farts or falls off his perch. 

Due to the recent coverage of North Korea I found this photograph interesting.

I found the image nostalgic. The image is of the late leader Kim Jong Il rubbing shoulders with South Korean leaders. They meet to talk about helping North Korea and its mass poverty.

His son is now leader... his people still live in poverty... his son is playing war... and South Korea are more focused on the next Gangnam Style song.

This image doesn't seem so mighty anymore. In this image Armstrong had just won his second Tour (Le Tour De France) and would go onto win 5 more. What we know now has turned this picture bitter.

Headlines seem to recycle themselves. It just proves how predictable humans are.

Reading all this and knowing the current world affairs. I feel like we could almost predict the future. 

One last thing... I DID NOT KNOW THIS UNTIL NOW AND IT SCARES ME.

Click here to see the selected images of 2000.

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I kept coming back to this photograph. It says so much to me yet all I hear are waves.

Photograph by Sebastião Salgado—Amazonas/Contact Press Images

Photographer Sebastião Salgado went to the ends of the world to find the memory banks of earth’s early, unspoiled glories. See the work on LightBox here.

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A 10 year war

The war in Iraq drawing is to a close; everyday troops are being sent home. Time magazine has come to aknowledge that this war may be the most photographed war of all time. Those thousands of photos are thanks to some incredible photojournalists that have risked their lives to report the truth.

In a recent article on lightbox.time.com; Bobby Gosh stifled through the collections of Yuri Kozyrev, Franco Pagetti, Kate Brooks, James Nachtwey, Robert Nicklesberg, Lynsey Addario and the late Chris Hondros. The article unveiled the images that affected these photojournalists the most personally. 

Reading A Decade of War in Iraq: The Images That Moved Them Most and viewing its pictures was difficult. I felt emotionally drained by the heavy content. I wanted to share with you the photos that effected me most. Ones that I still have stuck in my head days later. View these photos and read Gosh’s article for the photojournalist that worked so hard to get them in front of you.  Out of the 56 photos I chose the 3 that held my eye. 

The first image is of a solider just outside of bagdad before it fell in 2003. The invasion force had moved from open desert to more urban areas. In this particular invasion Andrew Cuarturo said “the soldiers had been told to expect a bloody street to street fight for the capital.” This solider had chosen to present what he felt on the inside and show it physically on the outside. 

The photojournalist that took this second image was one of the many causalities counted up over the 10 year war. The context of this image came to be understood after his death. Chris Hondros’s laptop was uncovered and files within it brought light to the circumstances surrounding this photograph. 

The last image stayed with me because it was something I hadn’t seen before. The soliders that came home early. This photo, for me, represents all the soldiers that were so badly injured during combat and had to be decommissioned. I have heard more about the emotional toll that war took on people once they’ve returned (probably because it war effects everyone involved to some extent emotionally) however I never really thought about the soldiers that were so badly injured they had be to decommissioned and sent home early. This photo by Nina Burman really captures that complicated factor of war and the snowball affect it has on peoples lives.

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I've decided to do my own research and graphs. However first I need some data to go off. So please take your time to go on my page and click one of the options down the left hand side. Go on... do it

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Where it all began

My blog is mainly about world affairs and this decision was promoted by my around the world trip last year. I took lots of footage with my Nikon 1500D, my gopro and my samsung smartphone but now looking back on it all… I don’t think I took enough. So this morning I woke up and decided to begin editing.

This I a VERY quick edit of most of my footage. Lets think of it as a draft…

The places captured begin with Mexico (Cuernavaca, Acapulco, Tepozlan and Mazunte), New York, Berlin, Spain (Granada, Madrid and Barcelona), Amsterdam and then Sydney.

I hope you enjoy!

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Lightbox - Pictures of the week: March 1st - 8th, 2013

Time magazine posts a segment called pictures of the week. This week Lightbox posted 65 photos containing topics of warfare in Haiti, Mali and Syria, to the businesses of the popes resignation.

It followed the celebrations all over the world on International Women's Day and the election day in Kenya.

It features photos of grieving Venezuelans due to their presidents death, after his battle with cancer finalized.

My favorite photos were from the Holi One Color Festival. Held in Cape town, South Africa.

Holi day was originally only an Indian celebration. It has been taken on all over the world to celebrate the beginning of spring. One of the most impressive festivals is held in Cape Town, South Africa. Here is an insight to the Holi One festival held last year in Cape Town. Festivals like this are popping up all over Europe and some states in America. Not all the festivals have traditional methods or rituals however what is continuous is mischievous behavior and colour.

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This is an alternative source of social media I use every week. It is the inspiration for most of my posts and will continue to be till I find something better.... but this is pretty good. 

The site is linked to the world famous Time Magazine. I focus on the photo essays because to me pictures speak louder than words. Most of the photo essays are alternative subjects compared to your local world news broadcast. 

The lightbox really does enlighten. Let it enlighten you.

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Happy 80th Birthday Nina Simone

I lost my HTML v plates... this post is completely made up of HTML coding.

I don't know if your mother ever told you but loosing your HTML v plates is a big thing. It's a scary and unknown. It's that website you took for granted and never understood how it worked until you stripped away its layers and start fooling around with until you felt good about it.

This is my first and I hope its not awkward and sloppy.

To make this more exciting than a simple page with a bunch of text I've decided on content that relates to today, the 21st of Febuary 2012. Nina Simones, would be, 80th birthday.

P.s you all have sick minds

Nina Simone or otherwise known as Eunice Kathleen Waymon was born 21st Febuary 1933, was a singer song writer and civil rights activist during the apartheid. Having perosnal and direct experiences with discrimination Nina had that much more passion behind her voice in America in this time of hate and change.

I studied the apartheid during my years at highschool and even though she didn't stand out in all the history books, she was mentioned as a strong spokeswoman through her song lyrics.

Alfred Werthimer's collection dedicated to Nina Simone

Today lightbox posted Alfred Wertheimer's collection on their front page to celebrate her would be 80th birthday. Lightbox remembers Nina Simone and how her life shaped history.

What instrests me most about Wetheimer's collection is that he does not picture Nina is a blissful state and often shows her tired and worn. A majority of his photos are of her in her various motel rooms all of which she is wearing a bathrobe, with a towel around her head and no make-up. To me is seems as if Nina has a tirering career. Making the statements she did in her songs or speeches it must of caused a lot of retaliation and anger. I believe that Wertheimer was showing she is only human. This confronts the racisim that was wide spread in America during the 60's. <a href="http://lightbox.time.com/2013/02/21/happy-80th-birthday-nina-simone-photographs-by-alfred-wertheimer/?iid=lb-gal-viewagn#20<

Even though her career caused many people to feel hate towards her, many people were behind her and appreciated her. Not just for her active role in the fight for black rights but for her pure musical talent.

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Is there a beginning?

As a first post I spent many days stressing over the content. This is the first brick to be laid! What if I completely screw it up? That would make the foundations of a unchained, detached, SCREWED UP wall.

I researched to find a beginning, an idea to be the beginning of the beginning! I thought elaborately and inquisitively... basically I was just wracking my brain... and suddenly it hit me.

Does there have to be a beginning? I could come back later and change it all! That's the beauty of the internet. 

Ironically and finally I had an idea. Is there a beginning?

For years there has been discussion on wether the beginning of the internet can be pin pointed. Some say it was Donald Davies who came up with the idea of packet switching yet his program never got enough funds, thus his idea never came to life. Some say the internet was based and began through programming, which means we could go way back to the 18th century when looms became electronic and a form of programming was associated. 

I believe that the internet never began but was discovered through the process thought.

An example of how things evolve due to the process of thought and time came from a personal experience I had in Mexico last year. I was there for 4 months and was able to experience many difference ancient cultures and ruins. 

On a trip to 'The Sun and the Moon Pyramids' I came across something that I found interesting. Something that I believed to be timeless. 

 This was taken in one of the many skirting chambers/temples around the sun and moon pyramids. These walls date back 100 A.D, though since its rediscovery (and re-naming) it has been restored to replicate what this area may of looked like.

Walls varied from original to completely restored. The picture above shows the pattern used to indicate non-original walls. This pattern caught on all over mexico and has become quite a common pattern in construction through the country. In certain sites this pattern represents restoration and in other site it just represents a typical mexican design. 

This to me is a good physical representation of how the internet did not begin but was developed out of idea.. which became another idea and then another idea and then another.

You can see the changes over time and the history is literally touchable. You are able to walk in the steps of ancient cultures because of modern ideas, researchers and developments.