After this first week of The Digital Past and the introduction to the New Deal I am looking forward to finding the silver lining and the best parts of the era. I have previously learned about a few of the New Deal programs, the National Register of Historic Places and the Civil Conservation Corps. I find those areas really interesting and I am hoping we explore those more. As far as the tech side I am treading water, using so many different programs is a bit confusing, I am used to a more streamlined way of addressing classes. I know that as a history professional I will need to create digital projects at some point, so knowing how will be a fantastic skill to have. I am looking forward to understanding and trying my hand at it.
I analyzed project 6 this week “Sensory Maps”. In keeping with Posner’s “black box” way of decoding a digital project I headed to the “about” section. I found that the creator/designer is Dr. Kate McLean. Her project is a new way of looking at cities, using how they smell. I instantly thought of Willy Wonka and “smell-o-vision”. Smell-o-vision is the use of incorporating smell to enhance an experience. It is used in tandem with television, one example is when they introduced the smell of chocolate in a screening of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory at The Lincoln Theatre. Disney is also known for the smells they pump down main street in Disney World and DisneyLand. It invites the visitor to follow their nose straight into a confectionery shop. This same idea is what Dr. McLean was studying. How people follow their noses around a city. Her project is a collection of maps of how people experience a city sensory ways beyond the strictly visual. She has made the collection interactive in that the user can click through the collection and determine which sensory experience and map they want to learn more about.
The next part of Posner’s analysis tool addresses how a creator makes their data usable in a digital way. For this aspect Dr. McLean has taken information from “smell walks” she has done, or has done with others. They track what they smell as they move about a city. She then built infographics from the data collected. As for how she did this, I am not sure what tools or the intricacies are to be completely honest. I am hoping we cover some of that in this class. The video was really helpful in learning a framework for examining a digital project.
Sources
Posner, Miriam. “ How did they make that?” Miriam Posner’s Blog.Wordpress. Published 4/17/2014. http://miriamposner.com/blog/how-did-they-make-that-the-video/
McLean, Kate. “Sensory Maps”.2014. https://sensorymaps.com/
https://lincolntheatre.org/film/willy-wonka-and-chocolate-factory-smell-o-vision
It’s very interesting that Dr. Mclean is talking about using smells as a way to get around a city! I’ve never really thought about using smells to guide me around, but it’s actually very true that smelling something can prompt your next action. For example, if I were in a city and I smelled a fresh pretzel, I would immediately try and find it! It’s helpful that she has her smell walks documented along with other people so that the audience has a good idea of the impact of sensory maps.
I find it very unique how you used the idea of smell and connected it back to things the reader can understand like Willy Wonka and “smell-o-vision” and Disney with the smells on Main Street. It is a great way to make a confusing topic understandable to somebody who has never been to the Sensory maps page before. The idea of using smell as a factor is an awesome idea because scent is such a strong sensory experience. Even if you take away sight, your smell is still extremely important. For example, if you smelled popcorn you would assume you are at the movie theater or if you smelled fish you would assume you are at a pier or fish market.
Thank you for sharing a critic of this digital project by Dr. McLean with us. I find it really interesting. When I first visited the website, I was surprised at how easy it was to navigate and learn about the cities. The idea of “how cities smell” to catch the attention of the audience is great. I also noticed that the use of colors on the website plays an important role. Indeed, it helps to highlight the keywords that the author wants us to remember. It also matches the colors in the pictures of each article below. Overall, it brings harmony on the page. Thank you for sharing with us!