IMAGE MAP PROJECT
The text
on this
page is designed to be a
lesson plan for teachers as well as resource for their students. Users
may refer to pertinent sections of the sample image map by
clicking on links through out the text. There are also many hyperlinks
to additional resources related to the subject matter including where
to download Open Source Software. The lesson plan is geared for upper
level high school students to undergraduate students, but will likely
prove worthwhile for adults of any age who are interested in learning
web design, the study of the sociology of space or artists who are
interested in the concept of space.
Website, Lesson Plan and Photographs by Jenny McMaster
INTRODUCTION
MAPS
NARRATIVE AND A SENSE OF PLACE
LANDMARKS
SIGNS
PATHWAYS
SOCIAL SPACES
GREEN SPACES
SHARING AND PUBLISHING
REFERENCES
INTRODUCTION
This project is about
exploring the
space we live in. The space around us is shaped by many things.
Architects and city planners shape space, but space is also shaped by
city by-laws, cultural customs, social interaction as well as
personal experience and memory. New communication technologies effect
how we use space. For this project you may choose to examine an
architectural space like your school building and grounds or a larger
area like your neighbourhood. We will explore these spaces or
environments through the creation of an Image
Map
and a web page illustrated with digital photographs and journal
entries.
Before beginning lets
examine some
terms and concepts. Sociologist Henri
Lefebvre uses three related
concepts to talk about Social Space.
Spatial
Practice is
how we shape space through different activities. Architecture and
city planning shape space in a concrete or physical way, but
we
also shape
space through our behaviour. Socializing with friends in a particular
place, taking a particular route to school or sitting at a computer
are spatial
practices
as well. Representations
of Space
communicate ideas or concepts. Scientists, engineers, urban planners
and architects represent space and the way we live in it. Maps and
blue prints are representations of
space. Representational
space, or
“Lived in Space”
is the space we move through and expereince. It is shaped by where we
feel at home, where we feel safe and where we
feel lost and overwhelmed. Spatial
Practice, representations of space and "lived in space"
are all aspects of social space
(Slack and Wise, Culture
and Technology, 2005, pp 136-137).
Here
is an example of how social
space
is shaped. Greg works in a college building shaped like a “C”
around a courtyard. In the early evenings students gather in the
space in preparation for evening classes. This is one of Greg's
favourite spots on campus, because students and professors from many
walks of life come together here. They gathered in groups to chat and
snack. “The space that this courtyard has become, is produced by
the many paths
crossing it, activities that take place in it and
meanings that are given to it, by those who pass through.” A
community
space is created. However as time has passed more people
have begun to use cell phones and the space in the courtyard has
changed. People still come but many of them are not talking with each
other any more but to their cell phones. People are not interacting
in a face to face manner as much. “Now the courtyard feels less
like a community than a gathering of individuals” (Slack and Wise, pp
137-138).
In
current age of
electronic communication, cell phones, email, chat rooms and the
internet at large, space has changed a great deal. There is
also a
new kind of space, cyberspace,
which exists physically only in networks of
cables, routers and computers. It has expanded spaces of
communication
(Slack and Wise, p 146 ). We borrow the language of concrete
physical space to talk about cyberspace.
There are web spaces, web addresses, pathways
and chat rooms.We can now hang out
in chat rooms and talk with people
around the world, play games with, or even date people on line.
However we are also becoming physically isolated and distanced from
those who are otherwise close to us.
This
project is an
opportunity to explore the physical environment or space you live in.
It is also a chance to learn how to create your own web space or
practice your web design skills. I hope it will encourage participants
to consider the personal and social realities which shape
their
space and as well
how cyberspace
and physical space have both similarities and
differences.
My own
web page is
a model of one possible approach to this project. It reflects my own
artistic style and personal experiences. Your web pages will likely be
very different.
MAPS
Ideas
Maps
are a way of depicting or representing space
and
how we experience it. Today we are most familiar with road
maps, which are drawn exactly to scale; each centimetre on the map
refers to a given number of kilometres in the city or countryside. This
is important because it gives the driver or commuter a sense
of
how
far they have to go. However there are many kinds of maps. A few
hundred years ago “urban cartographers
were concerned not only with
showing the street layout, but also with depicting the architectural
splendours of the cities they knew.” Map-makers often sacrificed
the precision of a ground plan for the sake of a more pictorial
style. Pictorial
Maps
favoured three dimensional images of city
structures and also some of the imaginative and symbolic qualities of
a work of art, rather than a scientific document which depends purely
on survey and measurement (Elliot, The
City in Maps, 1987, p 9). A map is dependant on
what the
cartographer
wants to communicate and what information and experience
they have.
For
this project we will combine elements of road and city maps with memory
maps.
A memory
map
is drawn from your experience of a place and how you see it in your
mind's eye. While photographing landscapes, artist Marlene Creates
became interested in the personal
and cultural experiences of the people who lived closest to those
landscapes. Creates
states that she
began to understand that their experiences of the environment were
very different from her own. One method Creates used to understand
the differing perspectives of these inhabitants was to ask them to draw
maps which reflected how they saw their home environment (Cole and
Knowles, Lives in Context, 2001, pp
208-209).
The
front page of the website you design will use a memory map
which is coded to become an image map.
An image map is a
bitmap file which has hot spots which are linked to other
pages
on the website or other web addresses. An image
map
is a very handy tool, because it allows the web designer to organize
information pictorially (visually) or
spatially rather than using a
table of contents or text.
Instructions
The
front page of your web site will be a hand drawn interpretation
of a path you take regularly (trace if you need to). It may be a route
from home to school, to a friend's place or another place you go
frequently. It may be a path
with a separate departure and arrival point or it may be a circuit or
circle. It could be a route which you take within the halls of your
school or around campus. The key idea is, the path must
illustrate movement
through a very familiar space. The map should include objective
details like street names and land marks as well as centres of
personal or community interest. It does not have to be to scale but
it should be well drawn and readable. Image
maps which include a lot of personal coordinates or
private spaces should not be posted
on the Internet for safety reasons. If you wish to make your image map
public it should
only detail indoor routes or well travelled outdoor pathways.
Google Maps is a
great place to learn more about the layout and terrain of your
neighbourhood as well as about symbols and techniques used by cartographers.
After scanning or taking a digital photograph of your hand drawn map
you can
covert it into an image map.
If you do not already have access webdesign softeware it's easy to
download open source programs. Using Open Office
Draw you
can designate hotspots
at different points on your map. The open source
software program used to create the
sample
website was Komposer
but there are many other free options online.
NARRATIVE AND A SENSE OF
PLACE
Ideas
Gary
Knowles and Suzanne Thomas researched a group of high school students'
“sense
of place” in their respective schools. Inspired by the
works of Marlene Creates they worked with each student to create an
assemblage which included a map, photographs, a narrative
and
artefacts. They used these elements to explore the relationship
between human experience and landscape, nature and culture. The
assemblages of art work showed the students' understanding of “the
interconnections between people and place, and their developing
insights into links between 'sense-of-belonging' and finding a 'sense
of community'. The students all expressed a sense of “feelings
of isolation,” a “sense of vulnerability.” The students
explored their own
“lived in
space.” They used artistic methods to both research
and express their experience of place. In this project you will use
some of the same artistic methods to explore your own "sense of place"(Cole and Knowles, p 213).
Instructions
and Questions
Each
hotspot
on your image
map will
bring the user to a page which describes a specific
location, using both a personal journal entry and a digital photograph.
You will need to take a walk around your neighbourhood, take
pictures and make notes. Some of your journal entries should talk about
the directions on the route you have chosen to represent and why you
follow those particular directions. Other
entries should talk about why the sites or locations you
have selected are interesting or meaningful. You may talk about
social, personal and imaginative associations you have with the
locations. The photographs you take should not simply be a
visual recording of the location. Look for interesting details and
make an effort to create good compositions.
(First page of sample journal).
Can you describe a place where you experience a sense of
belonging or sense of community? Where do you experience feeling of
isolation or a sense of vulnerability?
LANDMARKS AND PLACES
Ideas
The St. Viateur Church
is an important
landmark in
my neighbourhood. It tells me I almost home when I am walking or
driving
along Cote-St-Catherine. If I had ever
been inside the church it would not longer just be a landmark.
I could describe the church's interior and the customs and social
interactons which take place inside. If
I went to the church for every Sunday service it would become different
again. A place changes depending on our
relationship with it.
Sites in the city often
have respective sites on
the internet. We can visit the websites and find out more about
the organization or business. Usually we can contact a representative
at the site through email. Sometimes we can leave
messages on a note board or blog. We can even purchase products online
and have them delivered to our door without even visiting a physical
place of business.
Instructions and Questions
What are some interesting
landmarks
in your neighbourhood? What prominent structures tell you when you are
almost
home? See if you can find out some interesting facts about their
history. What
are the places you visited along the route of your map? Which
ones
do you just walk past, which ones do you go inside? Why?
How is visiting a website different from visiting a physical site?
SIGNS
Ideas
Street and traffic signs
are one way in
which we can see how laws and by-laws shape social space.
They can help us
find our way around but they also tell us where we can't go and what
we cannot do. Marlene
Creates recently exhibited a series of
photographs entitled Signs
of Our Time which
catalogued road signs. The artist is intrigued by the relationship
between signs and their surroundings. As Lucy
Lippard explains
Creates' works show us how signs 'package' landscapes (Lippard, "Coming and Going" in Signs
of Our Time, p 10). Robin Metcalf states that
“Signs are
human
interventions that name and assert control over the place
in
which they stand.” Sometimes signs can be confusing or humorous
(Metcalf, "Marlene Creates" in CV
Photo, 1998 pp 19-20). (Traffic
sign in sample journal)
Instructions
and Questions
Have a
look at the
signs
in your area. Why are they there? Do the terms and symbols
they use make sense? Do they
bother you?
PATHWAYS
Ideas
Pathways
may
be constructed with asphalt or cement but sometimes they are just
created by foot traffic. If people tend to take the same route across a
field most of the time, a trail will eventually be worn down in the
grass.
Trails are quickly created by foot traffic in the snow. A path
can also be a route from one place to another which exists only as a spatial
practice or a set of directions in your memory.
(Pathway in sample journal)
Questions
Is there anything you
consider unique
about the route you take in your neighbourhood? Do you have any
favourite short cuts? Why do we use terms like pathways
and chat "rooms" to describe things on the internet?
SOCIAL SPACES
Questions
Do you have any favourite places to socialize? How does a
place
become a favourite hangout? Many people argue
that people
have stopped hanging around in public places
and now spend most of
their time chatting on MSN or Facebook. Do you think that this is true
of you? If so, has this changed your
relationships with people, with your city or neighbourhood?
(Public space in sample journal)
GREENSPACES
Questions
Where
is your favourite park or green spaces? Do
we go to greenspaces
to get away from things
or to get to something? Why are greenspaces important to cities?
(Greenspace in smaple journal.)
SHARING AND PUBLISHING
An
important aspect of this project should be sharing. Participants should
have an opportunity to explore the maps and tread the pathways of their
class mates. The differences and similarities between the different Image Maps
created should be discussed. As
stated above, before beginning the project, the teacher and students
should
consider whether they would like to publish their work online, and if
so what
information is not safe to post on the internet for reasons of
safety and privacy.
Final Questions
Was
it hard to translate a physical environment into a webspace? What did
you learn about your own spatial practices? What did you learn about
your collegues spatial practices? What did you learn about
your feelings towards your neighbourhood? Do you agree that we shape
space just by living in it? If so, give some specific examples of this
from
your own life. How is being in physical space
different from being in cyberspace?
What kinds of information and images are a bad idea to
publish on the internet?
REFERENCES
Cole, Ardra L. and Knowles, Gary J.. Lives in Context. Toronto: Altamira Press, 2001.
Elliot,
James. The City in Maps.
London: The British Library Board, 1987.
Lippard, Lucy. "Coming and Going" in Signs
of Our Time.
Halifax and Owensound: St. Mary's University Art Gallery and the Rooms
and Corporation of Newfoundland and the Tom Thomson Memorial Art
Gallery, no date.
Metcalf,
Robin. "Marlene Creates" in CV
Photo. Volume 43 Summer 1998, pp 19-20.
Slack, Jennifer Daryl and Macgregor
Wise, J.. Culture and Technology.
New York: Peter Lang, 2005.