Come Walk With Me

One was left once again to ponder the meaning of the day’s project given only a title – situational shuffle. In relation to the yesterday’s activity, I guessed that it would have something to with reassigning groups and seeing how small changes would affect our data and social maps. I think we were all a little puzzled when given a pack of cards, chalk, and a basic map of Downtown Auckland with only the raw skeleton of streets and buildings.

We took off into in groups of four to follow the bidding of the cards. With no destination and only directions, we walked around blocks, rotated like eggbeaters and marked our trail on the footpath whilst taking note of objects, passing traffic and people, dialogue and objects.

Where it at first seemed like some wild goose chase with no goal nor destination (and to the general public we probably came off as tourists, what with the map and camera), I then thought about it again in terms of yesterday’s activity. When comparing our social maps and geographical maps, they are both formed around some commonality. Our social maps were created around the common interests within a group while excluding the things that weren’t held in common. Geographical maps are generally focused on roads and driving routes while excluding all the other little things. It is that which is left out that is only discovered upon deeper examination, whether through social interaction or physical exploration.

Which brings us back to today’s activity. Stripped of any detail, our blank maps defined only the basic paths for us to fill in these smaller, perhaps deemed insignificant things. We mapped the city not in terms of any particular destination or route but instead in trees, communication devices, machinery and also in that which will not remain constant such as passing pedestrians and traffic, fleeting conversation, information pamphlets and discarded objects.

I defined the purpose of a map yesterday as a group of geographical locations which have been logically collected and compiled to clarify information about a location. So if we keep to this definition, what have we learnt about downtown Auckland and what purpose will it serve? Perhaps it will not help you if you’re trying to find your class for a lecture or somewhere to eat lunch and it could be debated just how ‘logically’ it was collected but it was about exploring the city which some of us know so well, in a completely different way and defining it as such. If one was to follow our map, directions and markings, they too would be on the lookout for these more often overlooked aspects which are in fact, significant. After all, is city is more than just roads; it is compiled of people, cars, trees, signs and machines. Like our social maps, we often interact based on initial commonalities around our interests, likes and dislikes and interests but it is rather when we bring something new; an opposing viewpoint or belief, a different experience that leads to discovery and new ideas.

So if nothing else has been achieved today, there are probably some confused pedestrians wandering around Downtown Auckland City trying to decipher the myriad of chalk scrawls and arrows along the footpaths.