View Design Study #2 Map- LIACOURAS WALK in a larger map
This walk will be an interactive and comprehensive view of the history of Liacouras Walk at Temple University from the early 20th century to present day. In the very beginning, the participants would text me on my cell phone saying they are ready to begin. When this happens, I would transfer them a list of voice recordings through MMS. Also, I would pix message them pictures of an old "Park Avenue" Atlas from 1904, as well as a recording describing that time period on LW.
What happens next is that each "trigger point" after this one has a historical picture of Liacouras walk, as well as the narration (which is on the participants' phone) relating to a particular time period and trigger point on the path. The trick is that these are sadly not in chronological order. The participants will have to, by using the narration as clues, at the end match up each picture and narration (numbered #1-#9) to its respective TIME PERIOD (as marked at each trigger point) in order to succeed, thus making it specific to each participant.
I should clarify. Here’s how it would play out. The participant walks up to the trigger point. They see a picture of that trigger point in some previous time in Temple’s history. They hear the narrative, which describes the time period of the picture and more importantly, its relation to images depicted in other pictures. For instance, one narration could say, “This is where Curtis Hall used to be before it was torn down to build Alter Hall. Curtis Hall was here before the kids gathered to speak about peace on Liacouras Walk, and even before the building of Founder’s Garden”. Then, in another narration, it could state, “This is Founder’s Garden. Founder’s Garden was built to commemorate Russell Conwell. It was built after Curtis and after color photos had already been popularized, but before LW was full of shops.” When they see the color picture, it will clue them in on where to place the picture of Founder’s Garden on the time line. This seems like it would be extremely difficult to match up, but even just by looking at the pictures you can gain and idea of when they are from based on cars/buildings.
With that in mind, I want to make it clear that there are a few choices I made specifically to convey meaning to the project. I wanted to make this walk seem like a trip through time, basically making the walkway a giant timeline. The choice to make the path not straight however comes from a couple of different reasons. The first reason is that most of the things that make Liacouras Walk what it is aren’t the walkway itself. Rather, it is the buildings that line it that tell a true story. The other more abstract reasoning behind it not being completely straight is that personally, I don’t see history as just a timeline. Rather, I see it as a crooked eternal path that takes us in several different directions. Some of these directions lead us in more severe ways than others however, which I have acknowledged by making the largest misdirection leading to Founder’s Park and the grave of Russell Conwell, for without him, Temple University would not exist today.
What I think is most interesting about my particular project is that its story is non-fiction, but still just as entertaining (at least in my opinion). I think it is fascinating to see how the same space has evolved over time, even just the past 100 years. What is even more fascinating is to think about the PEOPLE who inhabited these same places before us and how their actions shaped Temple into what it is today, but importantly, what they may have done to shape the world today. (Shout out to Bill Cosby)
Thusly, the narrator I chose to tell the story of Liacouras Walk was Carol Hamlin, who works at the Temple Archive, or Templar, where I got all of my pictures used for this project. I figured, hey who would better tell the story and history of this area better than the person who’s JOB it is to know about this area. She also was a really nice lady I think people would like to listen to. I also had the idea of having her at a couple of trigger points speaking of her own personal experience on Liacouras Walk. (These would both be added to the very end, and then would have to be figured out what time she was descrbing just based on the information…no pictures here.) I think by doing this it adds an ENTIRELY new level to the whole project, because when all is said and done, people are the ones who experience history, not the books in which they are written. The anecdotal aspect would also help solidify all the facts as a narrative, because we would be able to hear the experience of a real person in a different time period.
Furthermore, the reason I chose to make the participants put the timeline together themselves is because if it was just told to them in chronological order, it would just seem like a history text book. By making them participate in the creation of this giant timeline, it lets them participate in a form of art as well as participate in their own learning. This becomes apparent when they have to analyze the photos and documents in a way as to give them context without the pictures and documents screaming it in their face.
Because of the structure of this, with picking different times in history that are more general than specific, the overall “narrative” is more episodic than climactic, meaning it is merely telling of different events that are inter-related rather than all building up to one specific climax. However, while this seems like it would be more boring, I think the climax of the narrative is being able to match all of the pictures up correctly with their respective time period.
Here are the specific instructions for navigating Liacouras Walk during this:
1. Walk to the intersection of Liacouras Walk and Norris. Turn facing South.
2. Text Jake’s cell phone numbers saying you are ready to begin.
3. After receiving the pictures of the 1904 Atlas and narration voice recordings, make your way to the first trigger point, marked with a blue flag.
4. Once you have reached the trigger point, pick up the photo and play the recording. Take notes if you have to on specifics the narrator says to pick up on the time period.
5. When you reach the Seven Eleven, stop and read the news article. You can take this with you the rest of the way to help aid you when placing the items in chronological order.
6. Repeat Step #4 until you reach Montgomery Ave. Know some points will have more than one photo; that’s OK, just group them when applying them to a time period.
7. For the next step, you will have to take all the knowledge you know, and place the photos in order of their date taken, NOT the date built of the structures in the pictures. Since you know which narration goes with which photograph it should not be too difficult. Once you think you have put them in the correct order, dial Jake’s number and read off the order in which you placed them in by reading them off by the numbers on the back of the photos. You will be notified at this time whether or not you were successful.
8. BRAG TO YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU KNOW ABOUT FREAKIN LIACOURAS WALK. (I am not liable for the loss of friends).
Personally I think I have already assessed the project a couple times already, but I’ll formally do one now:
I would like to begin my assessment with the following Guy Debord quote: "All that was once directly lived has become mere representation." In my project, I think I prove this to be wrong. I say this because it refutes the idea that technology has made us unable to process human emotions without this medium of TV or movies. Now, while my project uses photographs, I think it is apparent how much interest and learning can come out of photos and historical evidence of a certain place. The documentation of these things it was draws us in and makes us feel emotions; it doesn’t stop it from happening. When you strip out the political motivations of movies and TV, and have someone like me who just wants people to learn about something objectively, technology is at its purest form: to simplify our life, not complicate it. In relation to the Janet Cardiff Readings, my project has a completely different style, but I think they both are effective. While hers is more expressionistic, mine is more expositional. While she wants to put you in the middle of this story she has created, my goal was to make you create your own story about the evolution of this great thing we have here at Temple University that has been the center of attention for so long.
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