Looking back at this quarter I see both my mistakes and my little triumphs. It has been a an interesting ten weeks of the Aqueduct Futures project. It was not what I expected but I have learned a lot and see the potential in what I have done.
The mapping projects that the class undertook could have been pushed a bit more but they became stalled for the right reasons. These maps were to be put on the Google API and the process behind doing so was not clearly understood. The computer science students did a great job of figuring out the program and doing their best in using our semi-accurate maps. One of the main problems that I found, especially for my map, was finding accurate mapped data. All the data on the soil salinity map was synthesized and came from different maps with different scales. Nevertheless, the idea came across on the maps and the struggle to communicate these complex issues was what made this quarter a bit strenuous.
Working with other disciplines was more than just a learning experience on what they could do. I also learned about the extent of which each of these disciplines have to go through to produce their end results. Landscape architecture students go through an intense design and production process and the other disciplines go through a similar tasking practices as well. The initial misconception that things could be inputted on the website and on the API rather easily was extremely erroneous. There were a lot of little glitches with the svg files and putting the maps on a location. We learned as a class that we could not be complicated on our map layers because they would require time and effort to effectively integrate them on the maps API.
The graphic design students were able to create an identity that the Aqueduct Futures project could take on. An issue that arose was that they did not really understand the project very well. They had to do their own research to understand. Their interpretation of the narrative that was being told was a bit different from the landscape architecture students.
Overall, this course however has given me some real world experience with other disciplines that I highly appreciated. I also appreciated the amount of writing that we did and the exploration of alternative media like video making to communicate to different audiences.
Aqueduct Futures 