Points of View Abstract

Project Abstract
Points of View is an archive of stories about New York told through their eyes. The project will consist of two parts. The first is an interactive mobile walking tour that allows participants to explore New York City in an intimate way.

Users will be able to access the tour through a mobile web application. With the application open, the user will walk through the city. As they walk, the app will play different audio stories that take place in the locations they are walking through. Users will also be able to record their own personal story about the city through the app as well.

The second part of the project will consist of a New York City Payphone that will be installed in various places around the city. Users will be able to use the payphone to record their own experiences in the city and add them to the map. Their stories will be immediately added to the database and incorporated into the application. I hope to encourage users to participate in the telling of history and it’s important that I use the exhibition to encourage more users to add their own unique perspective of the city.

The web is amazing and grants us access to vast amounts of data and information. One might expect that this would result in us being more open and willing to learn about other perspectives. However, we don’t often use the internet to learn about new points of view. Instead, we tend to use it to confirm our preconceived ideas about the world around us. I want users to see the city of New York through someone else’s eyes and feel a connection to the other people that share this environment.


Project Details

  • Goal: I want users to see the city of New York through someone else’s eyes and, through many user stories, feel a connection to the other people that share this environment.
  • Audience: New Yorkers (and, perhaps, tourists).

Design Questions

  1. What is the project, and specifically what is the form (performance, app, game, etc)
    1. I see this project as an archive taking the form of a mobile application and an installation:
  2. Mobile App
    1. The first is an interactive mobile walking tour that allows participants to explore New York City in an intimate way. Users will listen to stories that New Yorkers have left throughout the city’s landscape and will also be able to leave their own personal perspectives throughout the city’s landscape.
  3. Installation
    1. I also want NYC Stories to act as an archive of the many, varied perceptions of this great city.
    2. I plan to install a small New York City Payphone in various places around the city, as well as in the thesis exhibition. Users will be able to use the payphone to record their own experiences in the city and add them to the map. Their stories will be immediately added to the database and incorporated into the application.
    3. One of my main goals is to encourage users to participate in the telling of history and it’s important that I use the exhibition to encourage more users to add their own unique perspective of the city. I feel that this installation in the exhibition is integral to the success of my thesis project.
    4. FYI: I do not plan to display a smart phone with the actual NYC Stories web application running on it in the exhibition. I plan to simply advertise the URL of the application and will encourage users to view the application on their own
  4. Why are you doing it (the idea or question?)
    1. The web is amazing and grants us access to vast amounts of data and information.
    2. One might expect that this would result in us being more open and willing to learn about other perspectives.
    3. However, we don’t often use the internet to learn about new points of view.
    4. Instead, we tend to use it to confirm our preconceived ideas about the world around us.
    5. Obviously, this is about trust – because there is so much out there, it’s hard to know what information is trustworthy and what information isn’t.
    6. I’d like to challenge the way we learn about our history.
  5. What precedents are you drawing on?
    1. One important precedent is Humans of New York.
    2. This American Life is another precedent – The famous radio show tells the stories of average americans
  6. How (very specifically) will it work?
    1. Users will be able to access the tour through a mobile web application. With the application open, the user will walk through the city. As they walk, the app will play different audio stories that take place in the locations they are walking through. Users will also be able to record their own personal story about the city through the app as well.
  7. What specifically will you need in order to show or present it (practical needs, like screens, platforms, lighting, outlets, speakers, audience, tripods, live animals, source of water, etc)
    1. Mobile App
      1. The user needs a smartphone.
      2. I will need to put all of the following pieces together:
        1. Access the device’s geolocation through the web and refresh the reading every minute or so.
        2. Add the Google Map API (although, I might not use the map in the end on the mobile portion).
        3. Create a MongoDB Database that the user can submit audio files and the latitude and longitude for each location
      3. Installation
        1. Acquire an old payphone
        2. Build a wooden stand for it
        3. Power (Outlets or perhaps a large battery pack…?)
        4. Computer
        5. People to interact with it…

User Narrative

Below is a narrative of an ideal user scenario…

Mark was on his way to meet a friend for lunch between classes. They were meeting at a new ramen place in the West Village that his friend had found on Yelp. It was September and seemed to be one of the last sunny and warm days of the year and because he was early, he took his time walking south on Fifth Avenue and crossing Washington Square South to enter the park. As he passed under the archway, he thought he saw a payphone just to the west of the fountain.

“Has that payphone always been there? he thought to himself.

He stopped in his tracks and squinted to get a better look. Sure enough, it seemed that a payphone had been installed in the park.

“Huh… I wonder if it works,” he thought.

Mark continued towards the payphone and picked up the receiver when he got close enough.

As he put the receiver to his ear, he heard a woman’s voice say “Washington Square was always my favorite park. We lived a few blocks away at the corner of Bleeker Street and Jones Street…”

After listening to the story, Mark hung the receiver back up. “Who was that?” he wondered. He examined the payphone a bit closer and realized that the phone looked a bit different than the old payphones. The glass window above the receiver that always housed instructions on how to use the payphones, instead included a different set of instructions.

Mark began reading the instructions: “Use this payphone to record a story about an experience you once had here in Washington Square Park.” The instructions continued below, “1. Pick up the receiver. 2. Press and hold the two button…” Below the instructions, it said “To do this online, visit http://nycstories.io on your smart phone.”

Mark took out his iPhone and entered the URL into Safari. A map of his location appeared along with a notification asking him to grant the site access to his current location. Mark noticed the time. It was 11:54 AM. He only had six minutes until he had to meet Josh and Lily. He hurried across the park and down Macdougal Street to the Ramen place.

Halfway through his lunch, Mark was started thinking about the mysterious payphone again.

“Did you see that payphone in the park?” he asked.

“No…” Lily explained.

“Payphone?” Josh asked.

“Yeah, there’s a weird payphone. When I picked up the receiver, I heard some woman telling a story about the park.”

“Oh weird! Let’s go check it out,” Josh said, enthusiastically.

“Actually,” Mark began, “I think we can see it on my phone. There was some URL posted that I copied before I got here with a map.”

Mark took his phone out and showed the others. The map appeared, centered on the Ramen place they were at. The map had a number of markers on it, one near the fountain in Washington Square Park, one at the northern end of the park, and one just a block over, near the corner of Thompson Street and Bleeker Street.

As he tapped each marker, text appeared saying “Navigate to this location.”

“Should we check it out?” Lily exclaimed, excitedly.

“Well, when is your class, Mark?” asked Josh.

“Not until 1:30. I think I have time to check it out.”

The three paid their bill and left the restaurant, heading south on Macdougal Street. As they turned onto Bleeker and then onto Thompson Street, the phone buzzed and an alert appeared, asking that they put on a pair of headphones.

“Crap, I don’t have headphones. Do you guys have some?” Mark said.

“Yeah, they’re in my bag. Hold on,” Lily explained.

She dug through the outer pocket of her backpack and pulled out a pair of turquoise headphones. Once they were plugged in, she pressed “Continue.” A man’s voice began “One day in the winter of 2010, I was walking down Thompson Street. It had just snowed the day before and everything was blanketed in white…”

Lily continued listening to the story, imagining the bustling street and warm day, instead, as a snowy, quiet and peaceful scene. When the story ended, Lily removed the headphones.

“So, what happened? Was it another story?” Mark asked.

“Yeah. This guy was talking about hearing the news that his Dad had died. It was on a cold and snowy day right here,” said Lily.

“Huh,” Josh said. “What else happened?”

“That’s really it. But it kind of reminds me of the last time I spoke with my aunt” Lily explained.

Lily examined the screen again. This time, it asked if she had a story she’d like to share. She quickly clicked “No” and handed the phone back to Mark.

A few a months later, as Lily was walking down Thompson Street, she was reminded of the story that she had heard about a man’s experience on the same block on that NYC Stories website that Mark had shown her. She whipped out her phone and typed the URL into her phone. The map appeared with a number of different markers added to the map.

Lily wandered around the neighborhood, listening to a number of other stories. She then decided to record a story of her own.

This time, when the prompt cam up asking her if she had a story she’d like to share about an NYC location. This time, she tapped “Yes.”

She was then prompted to walk to that location and tapped “Use This Location” when she arrived at the dorm she lived in during her freshman year.

She was then asked to record her story. Lily looked around her. There were a few students smoking near the entrance of the dorm, but other than that, she was one of the only people around. She held down the “record” button and spoke about her experience speaking with her aunt for the last time.

She then pressed “Submit.”

 

Project Introduction

Points of View is an interactive mobile walking tour that allows participants to 
explore New York City in an intimate way. Users will listen to stories 
that New Yorkers have left around the city and will also be able to leave their own personal perspectives throughout the city’s landscape.

Can an exploration of multiple perspectives help us to develop a better understanding of our past, present and future? 

How It Works
I am starting out with a collection of stories of different people’s experiences in the city. Each story occurs in a specific place in the city and I am tagging each audio file to that specific location. The user will be prompted to visit a nearby location on the map. The audio from these different stories will be activated when the user steps into the specified location. The user can also choose to record their own story in a location of their choosing.

The user will be prompted to visit a nearby location on the map
The user will be prompted to visit a nearby location on the map [image from dunnnk.com]
The audio from these different stories will be activated 
when the user steps into the specified location.
The audio from these different stories will be activated 
when the user steps into the specified location [image from dunnnk.com]
The user can also choose to record their own story in a location of their choosing
The user can also choose to record their own story in a location of their choosing [image from dunnnk.com]
Project Inspiration
I was inspired by a podcast on NPR about the changes in Texas’s history textbooks that present history from a particularly whitewashed version of American History. In the podcast, a Texas history teacher explained that her approach to teaching with these new books was to encourage students to examine history from many angles instead of from one textbook. So, I’d like to create a people’s history of New York City that the average person could add their own perspective to.

Project Goals
The goal of this project is to encourage people to see their everyday environment in a more playful and explorative way and forge a sense of connection with the other people that share that space. I’d also like this to be an archive of personal histories of New Yorkers.

Design Values
Physical RelationshipsI want to use technology to encourage a relationship to our physical environment

Participating in History: I want users to participate in the writing of history, rather than being passive recipients of someone else’s story

Intimacy of Sound: I want to use sound and spoken word to evoke feelings of connection and intimacy

I’m also interested in exploring some of the following ideas:

Solastalgia: People feel distressed when they experience changes in their home’s physical environment. New York City is constantly changing and it’s hard to always feel a part of the city.

Experience of Space: We also live in digital spaces and I want to bring people back to relating to physical spaces

Historiography: Historiography is the approach to studying and understanding genres of history. I want people to participate in writing history, rather than being passive recipients of someone else’s story

Early Design Questions

Concept Statement
I am creating an interactive mobile application that allows observers to explore multiple perspectives of New York’s history and leave their own personal perspectives and experiences throughout the city’s landscape. As they go about their daily lives, users will receive a notification when they physically enter a zone that has been marked by the application, using geo-location. The notification will lead to a historical fact that occurred in that specific location. The user will then be invited to share their own perspective on that historic location in the form of text, image, video, or sound. The user can then experience other people’s personal connections to that place. I want users to learn something more about the city, feel a greater connection to it, and establish a broader definition of history.

Screen Shot 2016-02-09 at 1.39.55 PM
Listening Screens
Screen Shot 2016-02-09 at 1.41.43 PM
Recording Screens

Design Questions

  1. Who is it for?
    This project is for new Yorkers from all different backgrounds.
  2. Where does this audience encounter it?
    The audience would encounter it on the street as they move through the city.
  3. When does this audience experience it?
    I want the audience to experience this as they go through their daily life. The experience should be an interruption of their daily life, forcing them to stop what they are doing and reflect.
  4. What are they doing while experiencing it?
    Users will be moving through the city.
  5. What does the project ask of its audience?
    NYSecret asks its participants to be open to interruptions in their daily life. It also asks the audience to be open and respectful to multiple interpretations of history.
  6. What do you want the audience to take away from their experience?
    I want users to learn something more about the city, feel a greater connection to it, and establish a broader definition of history.
  7. What are some adjectives around how the project will make its audience feel?
    I want the user to feel connected, appreciated, respected
  8. Ultimately, what problem are you trying to solve/ideas are you trying to express?
    I want the audience to view history as many perspectives of one point of view. With this project, I hope to shed light on the subjective nature of history and the need for multiple perspectives in education.

Initial User Journey

“Story Spaces” User Journey

The user begins their experience at a specific location and hears a sound clip about the location they are standing in
1. The user begins their experience at a specific location and hears a sound clip about the location they are standing in

 

The participant will then be instructed to navigate to another, nearby location 
and listen to another sound clip.
2. The participant will then be instructed to navigate to another, nearby location 
and listen to another sound clip

 

This will continue until there are no more locations on the tour.
3. This will continue until there are no more locations on the tour

 

When the participant reaches the end of the tour, they will have the opportunity to add their own story about a nearby location
4. When the participant reaches the end of the tour, they will have the opportunity to add their own story about a nearby location. Each time a user adds a story, the length of the audio tour will grow.