Locative Media & The City

For anyone who may still check in randomly on here...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you and yours.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...
2007... Here we come.

-Will

Paul's entry made me think about traveling and visiting parts of Florida. I helped 2 friends, on two different occasions, move to Florida. The first moved to Orlando. I was down there about 2+ weeks. In that time, I saw the area my friend lived in and got an overview of Orlando. Note that she lives on the outskirts of Orlando, actually near Kissimmee (Disney area - Mickey is not far away), and not in Downtown Orlando. Most of my views of the area took place while riding in the car with my friend. The lovely weather and sun was of course nice. However, it felt so... industrial or impersonal at times. Almost everytime we headed somewhere, we'd either be driving on these huge boulevards or have to travel on the highway. It felt like it was cutting you out of the area. I often take the thruway and the expressway in the Buffalo area to get from A to B, but the side roads exist, are pretty straight-forward and offer a diversion from the highway setting. When I had mentioned this to my friend, she said that "of course you can take the side roads" but that it took forever to get anywhere. Perhaps it has something to do with Florida being more spread out? I am not positive. It kind of seams like it, at least in that area. There are large groupings of buildings and complexes, then stretches of what seems like endless roadways/highways connecting them. (Of course, the Orlando area is very commercial and tourist-y, so this plays a role in many things, I am aware.)

Would the Derive have the same experience interacting within their urban environment, if they were more knowledgable about the historical facts, economics, and specifics linked to the city they're in? How does being informed about a particular place that you may be "deriving" through impact your over-all experience. Seon Hyoung Kim made a good argument for the act of derive, through wander and chance, and letting our intuitive senses be on alert as to where we should go next. "The city and being lost in the city helps to create a personal map of the space and the senses" as she puts it. I agree that thinking and reacting intuitively to our spacial surroundings based on what may stimulate our senses can be more liberating.

I too enjoyed Chris's map of his Buffalo. It seems to get to the point about how we perceive our surroundings, and what we feel are the most important ways to navigate through them. Not having been in Buffalo that long, i too gravitate towards a distinct pattern that involves the North/South corridors of Delaware and Elmwood, pretty much Military to Main. I almost always get lost in Cheektowaga. Internal compass doesn't seem to work there.
As far as cities go, I would say Buffalo was planned out well. Main arteries are very long, and run across the whole city, versus being short and segmented.

I thought the Erwin Redl presentation (11/30) was really great. His work was visually exciting and motivated my creative juices. He has a very interesting musical background and I was totally excited when he mentioned John Cage and his player piano rolls and the music composed by chance. I studied this in one of my own music courses. Cage and Henry Cowell were both interesting musicians we looked into. Cowell recorded "The Banshee" and often played on "prepared pianos." Sometimes items would be placed in between the strings, other times it would be set up so things would vibrate when keys were pressed. In "The Banshee" Cowell used a technique to not strum, but to move down the length of the piano strings to create a sound effect. I used to think I was a bit off when I would play with my piano when I was younger. When I had the house to myself (even when people were outside during summer) I would sometimes take apart my piano... opening the top, taking off the top section... removing the lower panel. I would play around striking and strumming the strings and using the damper pedal. It was quite interesting to me back then. When I studied about some of these techniques in college I was kind of amazed really. I felt... musically "normal" if you will. :)

Chris - I enjoyed your map of Buffalo. :)

I usually travel with other people, and this has affected the way that I reconstruct the relationships between roads.

You kind of hit the nail on the head with the above statement. I'm assuming by traveling with other people you mean not driving yourself. It is far too easy to not pay strict attention to the road when you are a passenger. It's quite an interesting phenomenon. You and the driver are travelling the same roads, yet, the perception and experience are completely different. I could travel a route a handful (or more!) of times and still never commit it to memory, but drive it once or twice and it's almost cemented down permanently.

I have lived in a few cities so far including Seoul in Korea, Brisbane in Australia, Buffalo and Brooklyn in U.S. Every time I move to a new place I wander around the city with a map or without a map. This kind of wandering is letting go of my physical body and following my emotional reactions. Every chance and decision will be made by an emotional state.

I map the place by the peak of the moment, neighborhood, landmark building, aesthetic environment, current of people, context and sound. The act of mapping is very environmental and dependents on the city and at the same time it is separated from the environment and independent of the city.

The presentation on the Murmur Project tonight (11/16/06) makes me feel inspired... to think of projects that involve groups of people. Projects that somehow get people involved can turn into something quite powerful. I guess like all art and art-type projects, it's interesting to make an impact on a community as well as make an imprint on people's minds.

Putting these projects out there can make people think, or give them something to ponder. With this type of project, it can evolve into something greater than originally imagined. This type of project can educate people on history of an area -- a city, a street, even a building or park bench.

I am the worst with directions and locating myself within the structures of a city. I don't know how to read maps very well either. I thought it would be fun, amusing, and somewhat informative to try and attempt to reconstruct my understanding of the way that Buffalo is laid out. I took a marker to a piece of paper and furiously scrawled my poor understanding of the streets of Buffalo. Click this link to see the map - Chris Ferrari's Cognitive map! I will also attempt to attach the file to this post so that everyone can see it.

Something I am noticing in this airport In Boston on my way back to Buffalo is that I can not connect to the wifi connection in order to post my thoughts on this wonderful blog. There is a service with excellent reception, but it wants me to pay $7 for an hour of internet time. This led me to some interesting thoughts that we might have grazed over in class. Perhaps we are beating a dead horse when discussing things like the digital divide, but I feel it is important to think about when discussing things like calm technology, ubiquitous computing, and storing/encoding meta information into a physical space.