Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Morgan Leykam

Hey Guys! I know it's been a while since my last post, but I've been up to a lot since then.

Right now, I'm in Syracuse doing some "field work," taking pictures, talking to people, etc. I never knew how beautiful my campus could be in the summer time and the weather has been great. Anyways, I've been taking pictures of my sites. For most of them, I want an exterior and interior view so people can get a sense of what the place looks like from the inside and how to spot it on the street. For the place that aren't conveniently located by foot, I've been calling store managers to get a sense of what the place is like, what services they offer, etc. I've been asking if they'd like to advertise on the map as well and I think I have a few takers.

As for the design, I've been sketching up a storm, trying to get the right color scheme. SU building have this create color palatte of brick/red and stone/gray that I think I want to mimmick. I also discovered our library's map room to find an atlas with a skeleton map I can use.

Is there an application to add events onto the OGM?

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Camille Heyboer

Hi everyone!

So after giving up on my original idea last week, things have been going much better. I had a base map, and I have finished adding icons from all of my sites. I now want to transfer the map to the computer. I am also creating a key for the map, with all of the sites, their secondary icons, and more information about each of the sites. I am hoping to visit some of the sites this week to collect more detailed information about some of them. That is pretty much all I managed to get done this week, as posting all of the sites took a bit of time. I hope everyone's map is going well!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Diana Chang/Harlem/untitled

Hello everyone! I went to the meeting on Friday and it went great. I got many ideas from Andrew and know that I have so many things to think about. First, it's the way that the pamphlet opens. Second, the places that I want to include in the map. Third, the printing issue, I am still not sure if I can get to print out the maps in my school.

So far I have finished the map of the campus. Furthermore, I have to decide the boundary where I want the map to extend.

Next thing I want to do is to take a trip to Harlem which I never had a chance to. I am hoping that I can really accomplish this this week.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Camille Heyboer

So, I learned this week of my complete incompetence as far as computers go, and thus I am changing up my map idea a little bit. I have a base map now, and instead of placing my sites on the map on the computer, I am going to do it by hand. It means that I wasted a bit of time trying to make my map on the computer work, but I think the end product will make the extra time worth it.

This week, I took pictures at another 1/3 of my sites, and also wrote more in-depth descriptions for these sites. I have all of my sites plotted on a preliminary map, I just need now to transfer them onto my actual map. I'm hoping to get at least halfway done with this transfer this week, as well as finishing up my photos.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Diana Chang/Harlem/untitled

Hello everyone! Sorry for the late update. So far I got the map of my school campus and begin to color in with the microsoft paint. I also have researched the rewiews of the places about the neighborhood. Sadly, I couldn't explore about Harlem last week because I was extremely busy with my current job so hopefully I will go there this week .

By Friday, I should have the complete layout of the map with the colors in them and a list of locations that I want to indicate on the map.

David Afable

Hey everyone! This past week went well. I was able to contact my boss at the arboretum and she was more than willing to distribute my map to visitors. She's very supportive, so I'm glad I thought to ask her about it.

Other than that I've made some changes to my map. I've decided to change some colors, and am continuing to add more sites. I plan to start actually constructing the other components of my map (i.e. putting in pictures and the area descriptions) this week.

I look forward to the meeting coming up this week!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Camille Heyboer

Hi everyone!

So this week was actually a very productive week for me. I finally overcame my computer difficulties and managed to get set up on Green Map and Open Green Map. I had a bit of trouble getting some of the files to open on the very outdated programs on my computer, but I managed in the end. I have been able to replace the generic icons I was using before with the Green Map icons, which has really put me in a good position as far as getting the map done.

The sun also decided to shine in upstate NY this week, so I managed to get some pictures taken. I spent about 4 hours on Thursday driving around taking pictures at the Green Map sites in my area. I also typed up short information sheets for all the businesses that I visited, with a little bit of information about Green Map in general and specifically about the focus of the Utica Green Map. I got about 35 photos taken, but it took a long time because the sites are pretty far about. I'm hoping for another nice day this week to finish up the picture taking. I'm going to include the pictures in the media section on Green Map and probably also make the pictures into a powerpoint. I hope its going well for everyone else!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Morgan Leykam

Hey ya'll.  I finally figured out how to start my OGM (thanks to Wendy and Andrew- Thank You so much!).  I've added a couple of sites, only the ones I've already been to so I can add a short description about them.  When I actually get up to Syracuse, I'll be able to add more sites and make sure the ones I have on my to-do list are legit.  I'll probably be up there by the 18th or 19th.  Until then, I'll continue with my OGM and designs for the print-out map.

Andrew or Wendy, when is the best time to ask you about the printing process? like, where I would need to get it printed, what are the size confinements, etc.  I'm pretty sure I want it to fit in your pocket, but not sure about how it's going to fold yet.  I also made contact with a woman at the Syracuse University Office of Student Affairs who is very interested in having my map apart of freshman orientation materials.  I would love to have students sign up to be apart of CSAs would don't have a car to go to the supermarket, or for them to buy a bike instead of taking the bus everywhere.  I'd like to start good habits from the beginning.  But I don't just want freshman to get the map, but upper class men too.  I'll have to brainstorm with my contact about that.

So, a lot of good things are happening this week!  I hope everyone else is doing well too.  

Monday, July 6, 2009

David Afable

Hey guys, hope everyone's had a good week. Last week was hectic for me, so I wasn't able to accomplish much, unfortunately. I did manage to start plotting my sites onto my map and have chosen to add a couple more to my already "finalized" list.

This week, I'll have a lot more free time now that one of my jobs has ended, so hopefully I'll be able to focus on this project more and get a lot of it done. I have yet to contact my boss who runs the arboretum I worked at, but i'll get around to it soon.

Other than that, I just hope I can finish the ap soon and see what my final project looks like! Have a great week everyone!

Camille Heyboer

To begin, I would like to wish everyone a happy 4th of July, and apologize for the slight delay in my post. Last week was again one of bad weather in upstate NY, so most of my work was again done inside.

This week, I finalized the list of sites that I need to go take photos of, as well as decided what Green Map icons will apply to each site. I have plotted about half of them on my map, as well as included a description, phone number, email, etc. I decided last week that I should include the public transportation into my map, because many of the youth that this map is targeted at drive places, when they could in reality use the bus system. It will not only show youth that the transportation is available, but I think that including it in my Green Map will show youth how practical the bus system can be. In the description of each of the sites on my Green Map, I am going to include bus directions from the main bus hub to the site.

Diana Chang/Harlem/untitled

Hello everyone! Happy belated 4th of July and hoping everyone had a great time with family and friends. So far I was pretty busy with my work because of the holiday. I have tried to download the Green Map Icons font and I still have problems downloading the program. Please help ><.

Sadly, I didn't accomplish the goals I set up last week. So on Monday and Friday, I will spend my time listing out all the local businesses, recrational centers, healthy eating places, etc.; and then place the Green Map Icons that represent this places. In a meantime, I will come up with the reviews for each of these places so they provide helpful information to the map users.

As soon as I get everything started, I will post the update on this blog. Hopefully everything will get rolling.

Again, good luck everyone.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Morgan Leykam

Hey everyone! I started a Syracuse map on the OGM system, but I'm having some problems updating it. I can't log back in because it says my log-in information is invalid. Andrew and I are in communication about it, so hopefully we can get it figured out. Otherwise, I've spoken with a few of the sites that I usually frequent when I'm at school, asking them if they know of any other sites I could add. It's been really helpful, but I can't wait for my lease to start so I can get up there!

I've been thinking more and more about how I want my map to be received by my audience when it's finished. I would really like the university to make it apart of their orientation materials and for professors and RA's to promote it. My freshman year, to encourage students to get out, support downtown business owners, and take advantage of Syracuse's cultural sites, everyone was given a credit card with $25 or $50 dollars on it (I can't remember). As you can imagine, no one used it for that. I think a Green Map is a great way to alert students of great places that support the the enviornment too. My next mission is to find out who I should contact about map circulation. Maybe I could just promote it myself and go from class to class and start a buzz, we'll see. I'm also trying to figure out how to make this map apart of my senior project. I want to make an argument for local action effectiveness for sure, but how I'm going to develop that idea I'm not sure. We'll see what happens!