What are the effects this may have on the physical inhabitants of this space?
My idea for Project 2 revolves around the idea of ‘home’ — home as in the user’s home
(or whatever location they define as their home). So, if anything, the site will lead
the user to some place only inhabited by the user themselves. In a way, the website
brings a physical presence back into the space — instead of disturbing whoever is
already physically inhabiting that space.
What kind of relationship does your site create between its virtual visitors and the corresponding real world space(s)?
Ultimately, the site lets the user concretize the concept of ‘home’: How do they define
‘home’? Is it their physical, actual home? Is it somewhere else? Is it their home here
in LA or elsewhere in the world? The site encourages the user to ground that concept
in reality, by providing a way for them to conceptualize how far away they are from
‘home’ and a way to navigate there in the real world.
What are some of the benefits of your location-based media? What are some challenges that may arise?
A potential challenge that might arise is how the user chooses to navigate ‘home’, in
the physical sense. The site can only serve as a general guide as to where their home is,
so it is up to them how they choose to follow those instructions in the real world. For
instance, they might have to decide between going around a building or through it, which
touches on discussions of whether the site encourages trespassing. However, related to
this discussion, a benefit might be that by using the site, the user discovers new ways
of getting home — we tend to take the same route home every day, but by delivering vague
directions, the site could inspire the user to break their routine and follow an
alternative path.