year 2 – for nick

Something to think about at half 6 tomorrow morning.

http://iamacyborg.com/blog/?p=350

A narrative is, at it’s simplest, a story. It is something that describes a sequence of connected events, fictional or non-fictional and is used in story telling as a way for the author/director/etc to speak directly with the viewer. The method of presenting the narrative does not necessarily require that events are demonstrated in chronological sequence, so long as the story describes a sequence of events it can be considered a narrative, though the success of the story, both commercially or otherwise, will often rely on the chronological sequence of events being clear to the viewer.

Source. http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/pcraddoc/narhand1.htm

What prevents a narrative from being a random collection of events is that, to tell a story, the events must be connected in some manner, that is, after all, the definition of a narrative.

Walking map proposal:

My idea for a map is to create an interactive piece using abandoned building projects as the framework, specifically, abandoned town and village street plans, which are visible from the sky ( http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&client=safari&num=100&q=california+city&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=California+City,+Kern,+California&gl=us&ei=xxoMS5zHOpPclAe5j4WaBA&ved=0CAoQ8gEwAA&ll=35.191206,-117.778416&spn=0.094273,0.180931&t=k&z=13 ).

The project would involve manually mapping the area, through GPS or manual drawing techniques and then create a false daily routine in it. i.e. local worker going to work, weekend activities, etc. Creating clear paths and such through the deserted streets. Like a living ghost-town.

I will add indicators of residential/shopping/industrial areas and colour code those onto the map so that there is an indicator of what everything is, as well as create detailed diagrams (like the ones shown of the GPS paths spelling words and the lawn mowing) that show the motion of humans over time.

My aim will be to map out the paths of an imaginary family, filling in all the little details and creating a realistic but entirely false digital artifact.

Narrative:

What prevents a narrative from being a random collection of events?

I believe that there are two important points to look at when answering this question.

The first is the explanation of Narrative, my understanding is that the “Narrative” of a statement is the thing that binds an event or collection of events together. This content can be presented as an oral or written event and can be fictional or factual, this content can be classed as the “Story”.

The Story on its own may hold no meaning to an outside source, the Narrative structure creates an understandable statement.

This second reason that prevents a narrative from being a random set of events, is the observers understanding of the content. By this I mean the using of past events, texts etc that the reader pulls upon to create a legible statement.

“We understand and construct meaning using our experience of reality and of previous texts” – http://www.mediaknowall.com.

so even if an important part of the “story” is left our or not fully explained, if the observer is already aware of a similar event the mind connects the two together.

We need narrative to make sense of things, but this does not necessarily mean that we are spoon fed the beginning, middle and end.

Sources:

http://www.mediaknowall.com/alevkeyconcepts/narrative.html

http://www.units.muohio.edu/technologyandhumanities/narratology.htm

Proposal for Walking Map:

The idea that I have had for my map is to take a map of a large city and map the areas which could be seen as unsafe, dirty, illicit, unsavoury etc. So for example I would take a map of Tower Hamlets, I would then travel the area and mark points where a bad/unsavoury area starts and begins. The map could be presented in two different versions: A clean map & a dirty map.

The reasons this appeals to me is that if you look at a OS map for example, all streets, roads alleys and buildings are marked in one way or another on the map. The information a viewer obtains from such a thing is useful for traveling in the “perfect” environment, but as we all know the majority of large urban areas are not utopias and require prior knowledge if one is to avoid bad spots.

I liked the idea of splitting the map into two, removing the bad form the good. But at the same time still presenting both as a usable map. This way someone who desires to visit a more “exciting” area can risk it with a “dirty” map. Also I suppose the more you look at it the maps could be used for negative things as well, an unsavoury fellow may find that a “clean” map is a convenient way in which he could find numerous victims.

By using technology like GPS, Googlemaps etc this is an idea that pre digital would have been a much tougher job to complete successfully, and would also prevent the maps from becoming a “live” version and being updated daily for example.

What is a narrative?
A narrative is a way in which we tell a story, we create it like this because this is how we make sense of it and give it some structure, ‘ I told her that literary criticism was not to criticize another’s narrative, but to analyze why they told the story, how they told it, and then decide if it was told effectively or not.’ (Scott Infanger).
http://www.class.uidaho.edu/narrative/theory/what_narrative.htm
Narratives can be used in all sorts of wring such as poetry, song, motion pictures ect, it is a constructive way of creating a piece of writing into something that is understandable

A narrative cannot be a random collection of events because are brains will not interpret this as a story as there is not structure to the randomness. Narratives do not need to be real events but they do need to have a structure or visual clues that help us create the story.

I propose the idea for my mapping
i want to create something that is random and has no human intervention in it so that it is the earth that create the map to do this i propose that my mapping will be of putting a GPS in a glass bottle sealed and place it in the ocean to let it float of and go with the sea, i hope to see what route it takes with the currants.

mnkarts.com/blog
A narrative could be prevented from being a collection of random events by visualizing the orders of the event, riality link and imagination and simplifying information.

My Proposed Idea:

(A visual daily dairy map linked with Google map )
or in another world
(Your own personalized google map based on your daily events)

My idea could be for private use or it could go public and open for all the people online.

A visual daily calendar and to do list map where you can access your daily events and appointment with the location and time through this map in a very easy, flexible, visual way.

For example: if you click on Monday : you will get your Monday events map. with detailed information about each event lets say your schedule will be like the following:

8:00 AM : don’t forget to bring the book i borrowed from the library with me to college.

( once you view the map the times will pop up based on the location, here you will find the location of you home and a note not to forget the book)

9:00 AM – 3:AM : introduction to management class, submit assignment # 3

here you will find the location of your college and all contact info and website link and what class do u have + a link that takes you to the assignment file)

6:00 PM : Attend David’s Art exhibition in London.
(here you will find the location of the exhibition and link to website all the info + you can add any personal info: for example: you can add who’s going with you from you friends and then if your calendar public, you other friend can view the event and join you…)

and so on.

This idea could be through an online software or a downloaded private software.