11 - Idat 210 - Evaluation

For this project I wanted to look at the journey I make through the digital world and real world and see if there are any connections or correlations. The journey was based around a holiday I had planned during the Easter holidays to Oban. Building a map for an area you know could lead you to create a map which is influenced too much by personal experience rather than from the data collected to create the map.


The keywords I chose for this project were:

- Interface

- Journey

- GPS

- Social Networking

Interface was a chosen keyword because ultimately it connects the physical world to that of the digital world. Journey is the main basis of my project, this project proved to be a journey in itself. GPS is the main technology used to put movement through a physical space and put it in a digital format and last but not least social networking, a very popular digital creation changing physical interaction between people into a digital form of communication.

Creating the maps was my first challenge, finally working through the process’s I found that simple was better using only four key points on the map created from the position of keys on my keyboard. The walk took me round both tourist and residential areas of Oban which I would not necessarily have seen. I also found McCaig tower which sat pretty on one of the hills I walked over. While walking the journey I saw even more the connection of the digital world. Advertising is a prime example of the connections. We grow up with having adverts prominently displayed whether it is in the form of a sign, poster or even on the side of a bus we pass the with ought thought. But if we are online and a pop-up comes up (forced advertising) it can annoy us, and yet if a lorry drives past with its advert in huge font on the side we just do not think about it. Lorries and buses are the pop-up advertising of our physical world.

A connection more related to my journey is taxis. If you dint necessarily know how to get to your destination you would ask a taxi driver and he will take you there. Much like Google would take you to possible web destinations when typing keywords in you are taken to a page where your request is possible displayed. People may argue that doing things digitally is a lot more time effective. This project has made me think otherwise, f you shop online you have to wait for delivery, if you physically go to the shop your purchases are instant and you get environmental benefits of getting out of the house which the digital world does not offer.

The digital world is a developing one and the connections between it and the physical world will always be there because we build the digital world with influence of what is around us.