there are notes in boxes that are empty
every room has an accessible history
every place has emotional attachments you can open and save
you can search for sadness in new york
The predictions of the HeadMap Manifesto (recently made available for downloading again) are becoming reality with the onset of location-aware mobile phones. I was recently directed to Woices.com by Mapperz and was really impressed by the concept of geolocated voices (the echosphere).
Here’s a Woice from my daughter. We’re going to complete a few more from this location. It’s a poem she wrote as an eight year-old visiting Race Track Playa. She left a copy in a kettle at TeaKettle junction!
More from Woices…
An echo is an audio record that is attached to a physical real-world location or object. Echoes are words, left by one person at some precise place, that can be listened to by anyone, as if their author was still there. Echoes can speak about any topic and respond to any user’s purpose. They can speak about local history, art, curiosities, personal memories, and so on. Just something you think its worth to leave that may make the world a more interesting place.
What is the echosphere?
The echosphere is the new virtual space spanned by all echoes left by people. Surrounding earth (and you), the echosphere contains all echoes and can be accessed through your computer or mobile phone.
The site implies that there will be an iPhone client on it’s way. There is a special mobile phone optimized page to access echoes quickly via an ecode. The ecode could be printed off and left at a real location for others to listen to - similar in concept to Yellow Arrow
UK teachers as usual, are very quick off the mark to spot the potential. Tom Barrett has written an inspiring post on how he intends to make Woices part of his digital storytelling project at his primary school. Tricia has created an example of a walk along the Thames. I’m going to use Woices next time I do a local enquiry.
I’ll update the post when we’ve completed our Death Valley walk.
I’ve reposted (with permission) a recent message to the blog from Jamie Woolley of Greenpeace.
I thought you might be interested in a new Google Earth letter I’ve just
launched, which is following Greenpeace’s ship the Esperanza, as she carries out environmental campaign work, (and created with the Spreadsheet Mapper).
I’m on board and we’re currently sailing from New Guinea on our way to Jakarta.
The purpose of this trip and the campaign as a whole is to highlight the
importance of forests in efforts to tackle climate change and the threats posed
to Indonesia’s remaining forests from logging and palm oil plantations. We’re
documenting what we find along the way, both the magnificence of the forests
which are still standing in this fascinating part of the world and the rampant
deforestation happening right now. But it’s also about how we can protect these
forests, both for the amazing cultures and biodiversity they harbour but also as
a vital buffer against climate change.
Indonesia is the third largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world and that’s
largely down to deforestation, so what happens to the forests affects not just
local communities (whose traditional rights are being trampled on in the rush
to make money), but everyone on the planet. That’s why Greenpeace is investing
so much time and resources into this trip, and the international make-up of the
crew (including Indonesians, Russians, Argentinians, German and Papua New
Guineans) reflects the global concern around what’s happening here.
I’m posting from the ship and over the next few weeks we’ll be travelling the
length of Indonesia to see exactly what the state of play is. If you’d like any
more information or would like to use any images, please drop me a line (we’re
GMT +9).
Here’s my entry for the One World Film competition organized by the ring leader of the particpatory geography movement in UK secondary schools Dan Raven-Ellison. Not a great production by any means, but I loved the concept of 60 second films to explain a point, and would really like to to get more of my students making short films for their own (and the wider community’s) benefit. Although I made the film several months ago, I can finally show it in a lesson since Year 11 are about to embark on a coasts topic.
Some Year 10 students showed some short films they’d made about Dubai today. I was really pleased to see how far their editing skills have progressed since Year 9. I noticed that some of the students had discovered BBC Motion Gallery independently, though no-one had actually done any original filming. How I would love a few Flip DV cameras for my classroom!
David Rayner has recently explained on the SLN site that the BBC News School Report represents a great opportunity for KS3 Geography students to develop their investigative and reporting skills. What better motivation to get students into short film making?
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