Assignment 2 - Geo-Narrative Rationale
I chose the geo-narrative option for the final assignment. The reason I chose this option was so I could write a creative story and display some pictures. As soon as this option was described to us in class I already had the idea of creating a story based on my travels to America in 2007. I found this assignment very fun to do and quite enjoyable.
I started off the assignment by writing the story of my trip. This would let me decide of what I was going to use and which pictures I would need to go along with the story. My main goal was to include events on which I had images to and would be an interesting read to the reader. As there was a limit to only 12 images to be used, I found that I wanted to use more images than allowed. I overcame this problem by creating a photo montage with Photoshop. This allowed me to use multiple images to create one image. Another requirement of the assignment was that we use some photos of other people. I found a few images which suited my story perfectly. I found these by using Flickr.com with the creative commons search filters. I contacted the owners of the photo advising that I would like to use their image for a school assignment. Once approved, I added the images and linked to the original source and to their photostream.
Once the story was written and pictures sorted, I then moved onto creating the map using Google maps. This was a new learning curve for me as I have never used it before. Nathan (our tutor) was able to assist with this and showed everyone how to use it. I was amazed at how easy it was. When creating the maps I decided to use different colours to explain different modes of transport. For example; When I was traveling in a car I would use a black line, when I was walking I would use a green line. I would also use different icons on the map to give a easier explanation on where I was. I used a plane symbol for the airport, house symbol for the hotel, and so on. Once the map was created, I then added the text of the story.
Next step was to add the pictures to the story. I first had to upload the images. I chose Flickr to upload my images. Once uploaded I then added the images to the corresponding storyline. The geo-narrative was near complete. Some final touch ups were needed with the image size, I was able to adjust the size of the image by using the HTML feature in the Google map text entries.
Before I submitted my map I decided to get some friends to read the story to get some feedback. I wanted to make sure that the story was enjoyable for a stranger and not just me as I was the one to experience the trip first hand. After a few friends read the story, they assured me that it was enjoyable from a stranger’s perspective. With that completed I decided to submit. Overall I was happy with the final product.
Click here to see my Geo-Narrative.
