As we have already discovered...the history has been swept under the rug-- so how do we create a new sense of wonderment in the park? and still include the history........
What if there were integrated elements of the park that re-produced the feedback of our stations?
Things that would mostly come alive at night...
A drear and dark place...becomes a "spectacle" to passerbys, transit users, and downtown hoppers in the night!
Illuminated park benches....that rehearse the vlogs...and texts of people from the past....this could be where the "historical" emphasis can come to life! The park benches could have an animated, pre-programmed methodology of remixing the information in the data-base. This information being the real-time, current "knowledge" contributed by park goers, and also the historical pre-programmed information.
Imagine text and imagery running along these benches like in a ticker-tape fashion....
A healthy foliage of trees could be the perfect "surface" for projection....illuminating the mundane darkness of the night with new life. There could even be a "whispering tree" that becomes illuminated at night...and "whispers" or basically replays audio from the feedback captured at our stations! Can't help but think of the large elm by adjacent to the fountain.
The Church of Christ Science is a perfect "canvas" begging for projection...It is not being used for anything...what if we could use it as a projection surface!
Keep in mind the active hours of some of the buildings. The Post Office and Court House do not likely function after 6. Perfect time to project something....light up the space! Imagine projecting this onto the courthouse! (possibly reworked with a modern twist?)This could be a way to juxtapose the "textbook" history, and the history being made today...a live rendition of a facebook or twitter....as people online document their lives...and introduce events...the people of San Jose can do the same! and contribute to the spectacle of the park.
The presence of light in the park brings the "spectacle" aspect, and also brings a sense of security...people feel safe in the presence of light. This may encourage the park to be more attended at night...and possibly change the attitude associated with the park.
The day becomes primarily as a time for contribution to the knowledge being collected, which would still be housed on a website.
The day becomes primarily as a time for contribution to the knowledge being collected, which would still be housed on a website.
wow you thought this out!!! in addition to the "personal history" stations, this is a good way of explicating the information as well as decorating!
ReplyDeletei know joel doesnt like the decoartion, but this is an execution that we can apply using what we know.
i really like the whole idea of lighting the park up it will give it a whole new look
ReplyDeletei know its somewhat decorative, but the idea is for it to come alive at night. - wonder if he'll go for that? we would be touching a a totally different feature (but i think thats a good thing) - all the "glowy stuff" will be at rest in the day.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good idea and literally lighting up the park.The only problem i think is executing this idea for the prototype....if were going to be able to put lights on the trees without the city bitchin.
ReplyDeletei think just the idea of it is ok for now...as far as a prototype- it can just be the collection of information from our "personal history" stations, and layout what it might possibly look like. maybe make a simple animation with our collections as to how it might be perceived... and the website of course...
ReplyDeleteIt's apparent you've thought this out extremely well. The idea of a literal activation with a visual representation alongside it would really boost the idea. The "decorative" is not without its "explicative" facets, and it delivers the efforts of the last 5 months in a package I would not have expected.
ReplyDeleteThat said, a prototype will be extremely difficult to execute. Perhaps half an hour before dark, we have our prototype participants leave their histories through whatever fashion, and at the end of that half-hour we have them gather around a laptop screen with their collected histories/videos/recordings/what have you, as a demonstration of concept? The bench at which the laptop sits would be well-lit. (For the sake of the prototype, we don't quite have the resources for a display of such caliber, but any screen of sufficient size would do. I'd be willing to provide my laptop for such a purpose, though I'd be sitting with it the entire time.)
Also regarding the prototype, I know I've pushed the issue rather strongly, and for the larger-scale project we could entirely discard the issue. But. Solely for the sake of the prototype, and the prototype alone, we really truly should have our participants send their text-based histories to a Twitter account relevant to the site. What could happen is, when they send the text to that monument's account, it would feed automatically into the whole park's account via an "@" mention. Twitter has an automatic archive feature, so people could search for it by going to that specific landmark's profile and scrolling down to the date, or just scrolling down on the Park's main feed (giving them TWO ways to access it).
The larger feed would be the full-fledged repository into which the smaller feeds from the monument go. This way the prototype can be executed with minimal need to create an entire Twitter alternative that's specific to the park, we get our archive and array of histories in all forms (TwitVid and twaud.io have our video and audio versions covered respectively) in a form of which most people are already taking part.
By using the already existing frameworks for "just" the prototype, we can already reach the participants in the physical park, give them their option as to how they wish to leave their history (in a means that allows for text, video AND audio), and collect it into a form with which most people are familiar and can access their specific histories very easily. It's a VERY strong framework for our prototype, in that it
• Displays our concept VERY strongly
• Reaches people through a medium they're already familiar with and use (if someone doesn't have a Twitter account for the prototype but still wants to leave a history, I could create a "ParkAnon" account for that day through which they could leave their histories without needing a phone)
• Archives the entries in a way that's easy to sort and find (either through the monument's profile or through the whole park's profile, into which all the other streams flow)
• ...all without having to construct an entire database.
• We could even create a site for the project, if we wanted to, with these flows integrated on the front page. People could see the tweets stream in *LIVE* that way, yet still have access to the aforementioned archives. It could retain its individual identity without being only available on Twitter.
All we'd have to do for what's basically the skeleton of the entire prototype, then, is create accounts for each of the monuments/benches at which people would leave their histories, and one for the main park (and maybe one for non-Twitter members who still wish to leave their stories, "StJParkAnons"), have these twitter names available on each station (with as little as one printed piece of paper), and one laptop (we could use mine) to display it all.
Concept maximized, effort required minimized.
To my above (long-winded) PROTOTYPE idea, we could also integrate Teck's excellent idea for an audio-reading of sent texts via TextFM.
ReplyDelete(We could give our participants the option of having their text-histories READ ALOUD by the service, or just put on the Twitter. "Both" would be difficult to implement unless they're willing to send one text to two 'recipients' or send one text twice.)
i think my decorative tangent is not helping! ahhhhhh....those of you in art history today....i've been inspired! wow, this stuff is just up our alley
ReplyDelete----the decorative stuff would be with the idea of improving the park as a public project....
----maybe we should just stick to the idea of the archived texts, vlogs, etc.....
then.......for the possible aspect of participating in Zero1 (if we did) there would be a way to display the interesting "knowledge" being gathered already in a database...so in a way we a fueling the database and making modern art in the space even more possible????
a game of observation?
ReplyDeletedocumented by the self- finding the intricacies in the park. Everyone notices different things.