Blog Post #4 - Seminar Project Planning

What I’m thinking about is to make a student driven/student centric tagged map. There are two options I’m thinking of for the content of the maps:

#1 is to do a map of where students see art around them in their daily lives- in their neighborhood, at school, during their commute, etc. (This is based on a writing assignment I give in Art & Society class, where students have to find, photograph, discuss the work/location.) I thought this would be a good activity because they’re already using blogger and images and maybe that would be a good connection (since I think the Google maps can be easily linked to blog posts?)

Pros: it’s an activity I can replicate each semester and possibly with more classes, therefore having a greater number of students use DH tools; the material would be easy to gather since it’s already an existing assignment; it’s something doable in the PLS timeframe. Cons: ? (I can’t think of any.)

#2 is inspired by the way I see common spaces used at LaGuardia, and how physical spaces can dictate student behaviors. For example the “Sun Room” space between E an M is always crowded- but very quiet. Students are usually laying down or spacing out or reading- it’s really, really awesome. The physical space just suggests meditative time. Compare that with the courtyard outside of the poolside café, (the concrete platform/stage) where students are always doing more performative things. Compare that with the window ledges in the 1^st floor E Bldg where its kind of raucous and more animated- and a real fashion show of styles.

I think it would be cool if there was a student Guide to campus based on student driven categories- like where’s the best place to study, where’s the best place to people watch, where’s the best place to sleep, which cafeteria is best for what and when, etc. What would students tell each other about these places?

Pros: As a commuter campus, the map could give more of sense of campus life, community, and expose students to new places/people that they normally wouldn’t interact with. Example: I had no idea that we had a designated space for meditation/reflection in Bldg. C because I hardly ever had to go to C bldg. (Wonder what I am missing in the B bldg??!!) Cons: it’s ambitious and probably couldn’t be done in the time frame. Maybe I can just start with E and M bldgs? Not sure. Also, I remember reading that one of Dr. Doctor’s PTK students had made a LaGuardia app? Not sure what that includes but maybe some of these ideas have already been addressed there.

I downloaded and have been messing around with the Google earth tools- I think it seems like making a “sightseeing” Tour would be the logical choice. I think that could be the best way to visualize either of these ideas, by adding markers/tags and images/video to the tour.

(and then there is the third option which is to continue the obituary projects into something larger- I had a lot of good feedback on it so that was encouraging to develop it further- but whether that’s appropriate for the PLS I’m not sure since it’s not student based.)

I'd love to hear your feedback on any of these ideas.