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Some time ago I became involved with a primitive game called the Geowiki game that was being studied by Clair Dormann a postdoctoral fellow in the HOT Lab at Carleton. The work was being done in conjuction with the Cybercartography initiative.

The game involved sequentially picking three commands, one from each of three categories. The participants would then record their observations made while carrying out the commands. For example, groups of students from a class would go to some location [say the Market] and then pick their first command [something like “Find someone wearing a hat.”]. Once such a person was found, the group would pick a second command [something like “Follow the person until they go indoors.”]. Once the group was at the spot where the hat-wearing person went indoors, they would pick the last command [something like “Identify all the trees you can see.” or “Ask the first person that walks by about the history of this spot.”] The group’s observations where recorded in a wiki and they became entries in an atlas building exercise: the first two commands randomizing location and the last command identifying the info to be collected.

I have a class this term that is undertaking what I think is a similar activity, only this time in the blogosphere. They are finding content by choosing what sites to visit in a series of steps. The observation at each step is a word cloud of the site they have reached. I’m interested in how their “content map” compares to what various search engines reveal; the characteristics of the search paths; etc. This involves visualizing content and extracting content from word clouds.

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Good Evening fellow and fella un conference goers,
I don’t necessarily have my own session to propose, but wish to add some thoughts based on my own experiences and work, as well as on the thoughts already expressed through this forum.
As a grad student researching and working in an online environment I have found it both frustrating and rewarding to use online resources and to be increasingly aware of those in hard copy elsewhere (physically elsewhere). The ideas presented by Peter about the plethora of resources available online is what intimidates me. With the immediacy of many resources I as a researcher often feel as though this almost forces me to cover all my bases and then some.
For example, in reading various newspapers online to extract information for a current school project, I realized that I did not have online access to the closest newspaper (geographically) to the event in question. I did not even have access to it in person at either of two major universities. In my undergraduate years I may have chosen to disregard this source and simply rely on the others due to the simplicity of the action.
Now, however I feel as though I will potentially be criticized for not including this source in my research because it is findable thanks to the power of the internet. Interestingly enough I ended up relying on a tried and true method, ordering microfilm through RACER (interlibrary loan system) and then reading it in a construction site (i.e. our university library). I am very happy to have read this particular source and to have the information which it provided for my project. Had I not read this source my project would be very different.
All of that said, the wide range of available materials is, I guess, keeping us researchers on our toes, forcing us to either stick to a small number of sources (and justify it) or cover all our bases (as much as possible) by taking advantage of the resources available to us.
So in the end, this has led to good, but I welcome your thoughts on the subject all the same.
Best,
Rebecca

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It’s an Android app that uses OpenStreetmap format data. So basically an off line electronic map with routing etc.

In theory it can use accessibility plug ins.

Is any one aware of such a plug in?

Thanks John

Update 2012/9/17
Apparently a blind person has written a plug in for the blind and is using it but no documentation is available at the moment.

Cheerio John

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‘New York’s Smelliest Block’, Kate McLean

Recently on Twitter I saw links to sensory maps by Kate McLean. These put me in mind of Kevin Lynch’s work in the 1960s on the ways urbanites imagined their spaces. McLean’s work is beautiful, and draws attention to alternative ways of understanding the way spaces work. She’s also done work on tactile mapping, representing historic or natural spaces through touch.

Mapping Paris by Smell

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Just seen on Twitter:

Interactive stories motivate dyslexics to read more than the same story non-interactively. #IVA2012 update on this: ow.ly/1OvnW9

— Noah Wardrip-Fruin (@noahwf) September 14, 2012

Abstract: To overcome their substantial barriers to fluent reading, students with dyslexia need to be enticed to read more, and to read texts with carefully controlled lexical content. We describe and show examples from a prototype of the new R2aft story assembly engine, which generates an interactive text that has A) variable plot and B) lexical content which is individualized
by decoding pattern.

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The Technology Quarterly of The Economist has a thought provoking article about the legal, ethical, and moral implications of the latest advances in what could be called ‘cyborg’ systems. Consider this quote by Hugh Herr:

[Herr] described disabilities as conditions that persist “because of poor technology” and made the bold claim that during the 21st century disability would be largely eliminated. What gave his words added force was that half way through his speech, after ten minutes of strolling around the stage, he unexpectedly pulled up his trouser legs to reveal his bionic legs, and then danced a little jig. In future, he suggested, people might choose to replace an arthritic, painful limb with a fully functional robotic one. “Why wouldn’t you replace it?” he asked. “We’re going to see a lot of unusual situations like that.”

In a world like that, the Humanities are only going to become more important, not less, when what it means to be human will be challenged like never before. Perhaps this is something we should be discussing at THATCamp?

Illustration from ‘You, Robot?’, Technology Quarterly Q3 2012, The Economist, by Belle Mellor.

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THATCamp Accessibility is pleased to be partnered with Carleton University’s new ‘READ Initiative‘. READ stands for ‘Research, Education, Accessibility, and Design’, and is under the direction of the Dean of Engineering. From their place-holder website,

celebrate and cultivate Carleton’s expertise in the fields of disability and accessibility. The READ Initiative will build on Carleton’s strong reputation as a leader in this area and will:

• Increase Carleton University’s profile as a leader in accessibility research and design.
• Support increased program emphasis in all faculties in areas of disability, universal design, accessibility and inclusion.
• Support research and projects on accessibility in all disciplines and promote connections among varying approaches with an emphasis on solutions to issues affecting persons with disabilities
• Engage students and faculty at Carleton with people with disabilities and the broader community locally, nationally and globally, offering interactive learning opportunities for students and support and solutions to the community.

The Initiative has great potential to provide experiential learning opportunities to students, both undergraduate and graduate, giving them greater access to academic and community expertise. At the same time, individuals with disabilities and the local, national and international organizations in the disability field will benefit from the research and participation of Carleton students and faculty in the development of new frameworks and solutions to the pressing cultural and practical issues they face every day.

We are enormously grateful for the energy, enthusiasm, and wisdom of Dean Mellway and Dale Stevenson in helping to plan and carry out THATCamp Accessibility!