Here’s the URL to my video documentation:
Documentation of Maraya Project
Alrighty, so I just finished editing the video documentation of my project. I did not use every clip from my travels because a lot of people said no to a button, but all of my positive responses are there. I am exporting it now and will be uploading it to youtube as soon as possible. Will post the URL when it is finished.
First Walk
Ok, so yesterday I went on my first distribution walk. I had planned to go all afternoon but then it hailed, so my time was shorter than I had hoped before I had to go to work. I ended up starting at granville island and walking to science world before I had to stop. I handed out some of my buttons and for the most part got a decent response. Most people were surprised but otherwise happy; a couple people didn’t take the button (one person went so far as to say he “wasn’t in the mood for it” that day); one person asked me why I was doing it after happily accepting her button; one man seemed very happy to take it and even assured me he would pass it on to the next person he thought deserved it. I have buttons leftover and will therefore be going out another day to hand them out.
In Class Run-Around With Props
Well first we stuck a vinyl sticker on the screen of a tv. We were looking around for places that would disrupt people. Galen wanted to put it somewhere that security gets called on a regular basis, I just wanted to put it somewhere where it would disrupt people like a prank. I was hoping to put it over a keyhole or something where it would really bother someone, but the tv was a good compromise.
We also had fun with the pet rock, splashing some water on the ground and reprimanding it for wetting itself. Lastly we took the caution tape and while Galen looked for a place to put it, I followed behind with a piece over my eyes; “Caution! I can’t see!”
Project Proposal
As demonstrated by my post from last week’s class, the thing that captures my attention most while around false creek are the people and how they differ depending on what part of false creek you go to. For my project I will be combining the area of false creek with an pre-existing project idea I’ve had surrounding people.
In this project I will be conducting a social experiment that was contrived from some of my own experiences; I find that depending on the person, compliments are either well-received or dismissed. I will be making a set of buttons (approx 40) and handing them out around false creek. Each button will display a phrase akin to “I am a good person”, and with each delivery of said button I will say to the receiver that whether or not they think so, they are a good person and someone out there knows that they can rely on them without question. I will document their reaction and catalogue it for the final display.
The only thing I have trouble with for this project is that I’m unsure what the specific boundaries of “false creek” are. Does it stretch to the main st sky train station? How many blocks in from the seawall still count as part of the false creek area?
False Creek Writing Assignment – Places To Go For People You See
Here’s my writing exercise from today’s class on the people in False Creek,
One thing that always stands out for me when I go to false creek is the variety of people you can observe depending on where you are on the seawall. Around yaletown, most of the people along the sea wall fit into 3 categories, though some can be a bit of a mix.
The first category is the fitness runner. Whether its sunny or overcast, you will no doubt see at least 3 or 4 different people jogging along the wall, stereotyped by lululemon-esque clothing, headbands and earphones. These people keep mostly to themselves, they keep their eyes either downcast or above a normal person’s height, in order to stay focused on their run and to discourage people from approaching them.
The second category is the dog walker. This can be connected to the jogger, if their dog has enough energy and stamina, but there are many dogs on the seawall that are being taken for a leisurely stroll by their humans. These people tend to be a bit more open to having people talk to them, seeing as they have the approachable animal. In my opinion it’s rather silly to have a dog and expect people not to want to pet it. So these people must be used to strangers asking if they can pet their dogs, and the answer will usually be yes.
The last category is the parent with the child(ren). Often combined with the dog-walker and usually associated with younger children out for their playtime in the park, these people may be more inclined for conversation if you yourself have children as well. Random approaching strangers who try to begin conversations tend to give off the “creepy” air since there is nothing to break the ice except the children and well, that can seem a little weird..
Then you get the random factors of course. Under the bridge there is a small playground where these random factors can usually be found. On the day of our walk there was a person there who was practicing bartending tricks, taking advantage of the squishy, slightly giving ground that is installed there so as to have less of a chance of damaging his practice pieces while throwing them around like a pro. Not that day, but on other walks I’ve taken there I have also seen kids practicing their skateboard tricks on the concrete, as well as basketball players shooting hoops in the same area.
Other places around false creek have a greater variety of people. On hockey nights, multitudes of fans in jerseys can easily be seen. Towards the end of the creek you can find more people that fit in the Downtown East Side mold; not rich, but varying degrees of “poor”. More fitness jockeys can be found to the side of Science World, where the dragonboat teams meet and practice in spring for the Dragonboat Festival. Most of the people seen around Olympic Village don’t actually live their, since it’s practically a ghost town. Past there but before Granville Island, there are more dog parks and joggers, though in different numbers. There’s an elementary school so there are kids to be seen at different times of the year as well. Then you get to Granville Island, where there is everyone from kids, teens, art students, young families and older ones, all intermingling and enjoying the area. At either end of the areas described, the false creek seawall blends smoothly into the boundaries for English Bay and Kits beach.
False Creek Walk
Here’s the post for my photos of our false creek walk. Over the week I’ve been thinking about what would be differences between our seawall and Dubai’s and I’ve come to two parts; First is the use of the water.
Since the bay of sorts was created in Dubai to have waterfront homes, it would make sense that the water would be used for recreational boating (yachts, maybe kayaks?) since it would have an upper class kind of community. The difference with false creek being that it is also used as a practice and competition area for things like the Dragon Boat Festival in early summer as well as being simple transport by way of the aqua busses.
My other point has to do with Chris Dikeakos’ piece. It incorporates multiple prominent cultures that are found in Vancouver. Something like this would be much harder to create and place in Dubai simply because they do not integrate other cultures by way of immigration or granting off citizenship. They keep their culture closed off even though they bring workers in from other areas.
Class 2 Response
Something I found interesting about our discussion in class was that there were multiple connections people made between social media and video games. Minecraft was brought up twice as a way of connecting people through the game by passing a file on after your character dies. The study on addiction to World of Warcraft also spoke to me because I know people who are obsessed with that game and games like it (starcraft). On the one hand these games are a good way to develop certain kinds of critical thinking and social relationships with other players, but on the other hand it distracts from schoolwork and the like, as well as cutting off social relations in the “real life”. I have seen these obsessions and would from my views qualify it as an addiction and that is precisely why I have chosen to avoid such games.
Another presentation that caught my attention overall is the groups that encourage people to climb random structures. It reminds me of parkour/free running, which is something that I have wished to get into for a few years now. The group shown says that anyone can do it and I think that’s rather reckless; you do need a certain physical capability to partake in those kinds of activites and to encourage people who may not be able to accomplish these things to just go ahead without help, instruction or someone watching them is very dangerous.
