Dr. Tony Stebbing, who helped me with very early research, described that “Cornwall is like the bow of a ship. This part of Britain is heading south due to climate change”. He and Sarah Myles of the Cornwall Wildlife Trust both said that this part of Britain was an important area for people to map change. Loe Pool was chosen as the first area for theirwork to map because of its positioning and watery habitat. It lies very close to the most southerly point of Britain. In addition, as William Howarth points out, wetland areas have become important places to examine because they help us to see how place functions, and help us to see new ways in which to think about a place (2001: 65). ‘In their wildness, wetlands dispossess readers of old codes and lead towards a new syntax, where phrase may begin to reassemble’ (ibid).

Here’s a meeting I had with Sarah about some of the GIS data held there

Get Howarth’s brilliant wetland essay if you haven’t read it (2001) ‘Reading the Wetlands’ in Adams, C., Hoelscher, S. and Till, K. (eds) Textures of Place: Exploring Humanist Geographies, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, p65.

The brilliant eco-exhibitionist Matt Groshek pointed me towards this book. Later, I will give away more about Matt.

I’ve just come back from Dublin as Emmet and I decided it was time to meet face-to-face again. The main goal of the meeting was to discuss the future direction of theirwork and to look at its current status in relationship to other online Green mapping projects.

We made these decisions.

-The summer is about collecting new data and putting it on the map and on flickr
-The late summer is about standing back and looking at the data
-The autumn is about making contact with Green Mappers to check on our direction
-The late autumn is about finding and writing a grant so the project can develop

The main Green Map project we looked at was the Glasgow Green Map project because it seems like us; one of their main goals is to release an open-source way of Green Mapping. Their code was originally taken from the Cork Green Map which was developed by Diarmaid, and his code was developed from Emmet’s code via this cool wee project he did some time ago - Galway Free WiFI hotspots

Here’s in part how the project was introduced to the Green Map network this February.

“My name is Kevin McDonagh. I am a web developer and programmer living in Glasgow, Scotland. Recently I have been part of a community project to make a green map for the city of Glasgow. It is our aim to make both a paper and web based green map that will attractively outline eco-friendly resources in our dear city. We are working with the code that was originally developed for the Cork green Map. Seb and Diarmaid begun developing their map with the intention that it could one day be open sourced as an ‘Open Green Map System’. This would be a fully developed open source software package that anyone could use to develop their own Green map for their community.”

Here’s notes from this blog about how we planned to develop the project.

Realisation that there is no out of the box solution to help Green Maps get online (unless they are going to use Google Maps)
Discussed usefulness of the project as an open source release aimed at getting Green Mappers off the ground
Noted a big difference in the *type* of data that we’re going to use on a map - soft data, stories - not just hard data, points.
A new aim - to bridge the gap between environmentalists/designers, and open source programmers/developers
Stated that open source programmers need designers, Green Mapmakers need designers, designers need programmers

Whilst I was in Ireland, Emmet introduced theirwork to a Glasgow team member online. I hope in the autumn, once we have more data, and we can see further how they are developing, we can meet for a chat. Emmet and I went to visit Sustainable Ireland to have a catch up too but it was closed. I usually try and catch Eric or Ray whilst in Dublin and tell them how we are getting on. (I often see Davie there, putting out some of the latest green products in the shop.) I am sure it was Eric’s bike that was parked beautifully outside. Next time, I will book in with them.

In general the rest of the trip was about hanging out and taking a breath. In the past, we have just caned a bunch of work and put in a few Guinness’s. This time, Emmet and his girlfriend Paula and I did lots of walking, talking and eating. We did some computing and drinking of course. All in all I am refreshed to run the next set of theirwork workshops which I will post up here soon. Technically things will be on hold until decisions about direction and developers are found. Emmet’s cancelling out our wiki development area and has set the project up on Google Code instead, which is way cool. We can now at least link to Glasgow this way, and this is their blog.

This time last week I had just landed back in from Galway. Since then Emmet and I have been feverishly working away, and I forgot the achieved should be up. Here it is in note form.

FRIDAY NIGHT
–

STRUCTURE building the code

Instances of the map
Discussed the structure of the site (URL hierarchy) and about the structure of the code. Decided to place instances of the map on a subdomain (http://loepool.theirwork.org/) and all info related to the project on the main domain (e.g. http://theirwork.org/blog/, http://theirwork.org/forum/).

Centralised code base
Discussed possibility of a centralised code base that controls all instances of the project, and how this relates to open source. Decided that we need to look into providing a choice between these two approaches (and Emmet needs to research the technical aspect of this).

Fork
We hope that other developers will contribute to the project, or perhaps fork the code to create the starting point for a decent open source mapping system.

The project could eventually develop to become a fully hosted mapping system that non-technical people can create and configure through a web-based admin section.

openstreetmap
Discussed GIS vs Locative in relation to theirwork, looked at the Jo Walsh’s post again and the http://openstreetmap.org project
Got totally inspired by the openstreetmap of London.

Trackpoints
Looked at track points that were downloaded from the GPS unit. There are lots of different proprietary file formats. We need to investigate the best method of map generation from trackpoints. (Trackpoints are a series of points (polygon data), waypoints are individual points of interest.)

Importantly, once we get to output the trackpoints as a map, we can discuss how to present the map i.e. raw output format, traced in Illustrator, hand drawn/traced - how do we want it to look? How do others want it to look?

SATURDAY
–

INTERFACE design development

Map
How many Places do we show? For now, we decided, we show all on the map as a default, but going forward, we may have to limit this to the top X places.
We’re putting an explanation line below the map, with a click for more.
When the mouse hovers over a ‘red dot’, a small amount of info is displayed (title, start of description), with a click point for full info (people see the Tab - Places).
Map will be scrollable, somewhat like Google Maps. Every instance of the software will need to define the map’s bounding box and default centre map position defaults to a place defined in the config file.

Tab - Tags
Height of tag box will be variable - it can go on as long as the tags do. All tags will be shown.
Clicking a tag shows only places with that tag on the map. Going forward, it would be nice to combine tags (our ref: del.icio.us).
When a tag is selected, we need a button to clear all tags (e.g. “Viewing all places tagged with ‘badger’ - [Clear tags]”)
Tags to be displayed alphabetically and sized according to popularity
There will be an expandable explanation box at the top of this section (and each of the tabbed sections).
Explanation - Tags are keywords or labels that you can use to describe a place.>
When adding a place, you can tag it with descriptive keywords that will help you to find it later. You can also find other places on the map that might be of interest to you by browsing tags. The larger tags below are ones that have been used more frequently to describe a place.

A note on users - For now, we’re not going to have a user login. The main advantage of user logins is to allow people to view only their own points or places. We will advise them to tag points with their own name.

Tab - Places
Explanation - Places are the individual points of interest that people have added to the map.>
A place could be a story, picture, description or fact about the person’s experience in that area. You can view places on the map to get an idea of how other people feel about the area, their experiences and thoughts, as well as data and information. If a place has not been selected on the map, display the message - “Please select a place by clicking on one of the red dots on the map. Information about that place will be displayed here.

When a point is selected, all data about that place is displayed - Title, Description, Co-ords, Photos (?), Tags. Tags are clickable, and will bring you to the Tags Tab, showing all relevant tagged items on the map. The Wiki aspect on the Tab places will let people edit the information or add more information about that place.

Tab - Add
Input area for all data to do with a place - Title, Description, Co-ords, Photos (?), Tags.
Each input box has a ‘?’ link to a popup explanation
To add the X/Y point data, user can add in GPS Co-ords, or click on a popup map to define a point
Validation required before place gets added to ensure that it is within the bounding box of the map (should be defined in config file)
In ‘tags ? popup’, we should suggest that people can tag points with their own name if they want to easily find their own places again.
Need to add link to details of the CC licence that covers submitted content

General development of page
Possible future development - there shouldn’t be restrictions on the type of map that gets added (look and feel). It would be quite nice to have different styles of maps for each different instance, reflecting the character and individuality of each area. Satellite photos, bought OS maps, hand drawn maps, open street maps, gps tracks…

Dom to try to get some real data before Xmas that we can use to test the system, and possibly to use as initial data for project launch (this should start coming from the interviews/walks?)

Dom to introduce the eight pilot users to the Wiki by sending them the transcript of interviews/walks via the Wiki with suggested coding of transcript. They are asked to approve transcript and encouraged to edit and add to codes, and if they want, edit transcript.

About
Worked on copy for About section of website http://theirwork.org/wiki/index.php?TheirWork

Redesign of Blog
Move tags to top of page
Increase contrast of tags
Make main text column narrower
Add sidebar
Added links to Key Posts to sidebar
Make RSS links more prominent (sidebar)
Add link to del.icio.us feed (sidebar)
Add intro sentence to top of sidebar
Add monthly archive links to sidebar
Add CC logo

Blog entries
Emmet to blog about tech stuff - plan going forward
Dom to blog about Turner Prize and other stuff she has in reserve…
Dom to try to get guest bloggers to comment on posts
Agreed we need to try to blog smaller posts more often, like once a week

SUNDAY
–

TIDBITS conferences and licensing

Conference
First draft of Plan submission written

Design review
Design review with three people. The feedback was positive. This will be blogged separately under Design review, user tests, but for the moment we need to test the look and feel further, and with different style combinations.
No one said it looks fun or intriguing, so that’s not great. However, they said it’s very friendly and about protecting places, so that’s great. But we need the both to be given out because it needs to be more evocative to entice people in. At the moment it’s too myownhistory looking - a little dull and old in style.

Next presentation
At the Plymouth presentation, Dom will talk about the focus session and qualitative coding. Emmet will talk about building development, the open source structure, etc. Get feedback on home page design from user tests.

Creative commons
Creative Commons licence chosen - discussed how we were choosing the licence on behalf of the users who will be submitting data. Need to have some footer items on the site - licences, privacy policy, contact details…

How to make a map
Need to document how to make a map. We will make two blog posts for the moment, then we’ll draft a document and release it with the source code as a help file.

Qualitative fieldwork
What open questions would Emmet like to be asked in the interviews? Again, this will be blogged separately, under open questions.
Had a discussion about tagging, or coding as it’s called in qualitative research, and how it’s a really important part of the work.
Discussed how Dom wanted to work with the participants to tag the data, so they become co-researchers.
Discussed the first workshop and how the co-researchers might have their transcripts on the wall, with their tags pulled out.

This time last week I had just arrived in Galway to work with Emmet. We spent the weekend working through our agenda, and dealing with issues that had surfaced in the past few weeks (as well as enjoying a Galway Halloween):

FRIDAY: focus interface

Posted to some non-profit organisations we know and one I belong to (Green Map) ‘Why we are not using Google Maps’
Such projects are discussing whether to use Google Maps
Reviewed the content of our post and agreed, once again, that we should not take the Google Map route
Acknowledged the fact that, ironically, Google Maps is probably going to make it more difficult for independents like us to create open source mapping projects
I described how Green Map System works as a network, the tools the project uses and the tools that are needed
Reviewed an initial framework built by Emmet. It merges the map and wiki into one interface
Agreed that this framework is working and should be developed during the weekend
Emmet discussed how he could possibly adapt some of the wiki code into the map interface
Emmet explained about AJAX, and how and why he was using it for the interface
Talked about using tags in the interface
Discussed homepage and whether it should just be the map, or should it be the idea of a ’shop window’ that leads you into a mappage
Invitation to make the source really literary, include dissertation in final distribution of source code?
Emmet explained the double meaning of ‘include’

SATURDAY: focus homepage

Introduction to Processing by Emmet - explanation about how it’s considered a good introduction to programming
Looked at programmatic visual sites such as levitated.net
Agreed Processing is not really useful in terms of visualising information but that the lines it can automate are evocative
Looked at the use of tags in wikis? We haven’t seen it before and decide to bring it out of our reserve of ideas
Outlined content requirement for homepage features
Brainstormed wordage e.g. improve, protect, get to know, sustain, understand, look after, preserve, connect with, think about, collaborate, come together, learn, share, record, engage. explore, contribute
Wrote copy for homepage
Came up with basic layout for home page
Studied information on Green Map blog - (see that it’s using wordpress too)
Looked at iPod Nanos in real-life (like this one online best though)

SATURDAY EVENING: focus mapmaking

Met up with Green Map Galway Mapper
Realisation that we are Green Mapping
Realisation that theirwork is a very different approach, especially from the perspective of a traditional Green Mapper e.g. setting criteria
Realisation that there is no out of the box solution to help Green Maps get online (unless they are going to use Google Maps)
Discussed usefulness of the project as an open source release aimed at getting green mappers off the ground
Noted a big difference in the *type* of data that we’re going to use on a map - soft data, stories - not just hard data, points.
A new aim - to bridge the gap between environmentalists/designers, and open source programmers/developers
Stated that open source programmers need designers, Green Mapmakers need designers, designers need programmers
Talked about printing the information off - very different from traditional static Green Map, as it’s dynamic
Encouraged Galway Mapmaker to set up an Ireland Green Map Wiki

SUNDAY: focus starting to design interface

Discussed the embodied energy within an object (we need to link this to the theirwork audit)
Designed framework for forum - two categories (General Discussion, Technical Problems)
Talked about the experience of boards.ie Emmet shared discussion he was just involved in at techcamp
Redesigned blog on paper
Talked about licences - we may be going for two licences, one for the content of the site (probably Creative Commons), and one for the source code
Finalised what we want to have in the mapping interface, did some layout sketches
Deliberated over users - we’re not going to include them in interface (yet anyway)
People can tag stories with their names or a group they might be mapping with if they like, as this will allow them to filter and show only their own content
Looked at logo issue - development will be discussed with an excellent typographer/graphic designer I know
Studied Ubuntu quickly. I had my first run on it
Looked at approach to online marketing - not going for viral marketing approach, don’t like it - need to get a list of blogs together that are likely to link to project
Realisation that now we are introducing tagging to the map interface, qualitative data is being coded by the end user
Realisation that interviews and workshops should be coded by the end-user, and not by an open source qualitative research software tool or by qualitative researcher
Realisation that the enduser is a co-researcher from the start
As an aside, I could code the data (interviews/workshop material) by machine after allowing end-users to code data - different results could be compared
Explaining tagging to people should be part of the workshops - explain tagging, and the importance of good tagging
Question of how do you bring 6 to 8 coded data sets from individual interviews into 1 set of contrast questions for a workshop - I have to investigate this
Made a note about recording of workshops - need to video people using the tool in workshop, allowing us to react to responses
Looked at time needed to make changes to the tool if necessary
Dwelt on the editing of data - people will be able to edit people stories, and we are hoping that it will be a self regulating thing
We hope that people will be able to make the distinction between personal data and locative data and historical data…
Different roles - we are taking on very specific roles
My role is about directly working with people and I have to analyse usage and worth. Emmet’s role is about technical stuff and site development
The forum will be the first aspect of online work introduced in focus session
Users will be directed to forum and encouraged to hang out
Timeline was set for project. Version One to be released at the end of January 2006
To do lists created

This weekend I travel to Galway to work with Emmet. I’ve forgotten to work my miles out and get trees planted - tut. I will have to do that fast upon my return. Anyhow, we’re going to get on with a bunch of stuff. We’ve both been very busy since our last meeting, so it will be great to get some new focus and in a new place setting - that is, for me.

The two main areas I’ve been concentrating on since I last saw Emmet are qualitative fieldwork and specialist meetings. For the qualitative fieldwork I’ve been carrying out voluminous amounts of reading and note taking. Some of it has been pouring over old notes, but a lot has been about consuming new books that have been recommended. The books have given very good examples about such things as coding soft data and using drawings to retrieve memory. From this reading, and also from mentorship, I have decided that after the focus session, (which I do not have a date for yet) I am going to run the one-to-one interviews. Workshops, of which there will be one or two, will follow the interviews.

With regards to the specialist meetings, I have one lined up for next Wednesday and another two in the pipeline. Next Wednesday’s meeting is with the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. It will last two hours with the goal of determining how point data and polygon data can be accessed, if needs, by theirwork. There are problems with both types of data, and the problems are of copyright.

Recorders collect the point data across the county of Cornwall. The Cornwall Wildlife Trust is the custodian of the data but the original CR lies with the recorder. This means, if theirwork wants to display any species data, the recorder has to be contacted.

The polygon data is tied up with Ordnance Survey CR. Say no more - watch this space.

The Cornwall Wildlife Trust will help us address these issues, and are keen to help with the project. They are willing to work one step at a time.

The other two meetings that are nearly lined up are with community facilitators/qualitative researchers. Once these are in place the focus session can take place, and then we can start collecting and experimenting with soft data.

As Emmet and I are walking Loe Pool this week, I thought it was time to revisit and share notes I have about the place. The following words are taken from a meeting with Sarah Myles of the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, which took place some time ago, when I first started research for this project.

After Reviewing 179 pages of Loe Pool habitat flora and fauna data, Sarah Myles shared her knowledge of the area. Together, we were then able to visualise how this data could be articulated to represent the lake in a way that would inspire…We talked about how it’s a place

Where sea meets fresh water
Where saltwater fish meet freshwater fish
Where dolphins are stranded, where whales are sighted
Where birds of prey cross, and she said imagine it’s a place
Where the Monarch Butterfly approaches from America
Where Clouds of Yellow Butterflies appear from Spain

It has cliffs, wetland, a pool and a forest
It has running water, freshwater and seawater

It’s a very important area for wintering birds
You should show where the birds of prey cross
Remember all the different gulls, this could be a place to help people learn how to identify them

Highlight such features as wind direction - show things like,
Where the Clouds of Yellow butterflies are coming from
You could show how the autumn hurricanes are connected to butterfly sightings

Highlight day and night - show bats and moths
Show that the Lesser Bat is found in the South West of England, and here it is in Cornwall. You could show daylight cliff sightings of humpback whales and dolphins

Highlight climate change - it’s a very important area for this
To help highlight this you could map Leather Heads, Logger Heads and Trigger Fish

Highlight the Bluebell wood, which is very important to Europe
It’s one of England’s oldest Bluebell woods and so it’s also of national importance – the Spanish Bluebell is what people plant, however it’s not the indigenous bluebell. The indigenous bluebell is loosing ground across England to the Spanish Bluebell

After reviewing the 179 pages of flora and fauna data, and exploring its potential, Sarah concluded the following entries were important for me to think about pulling from their records, and were important to visualise. Criteria were two-fold - it was important that we centred on what was of interest to the public because it would help to educate them about what was rare, indigenous, of national importance, of climate change importance, could indicate seasonal changes, was under threat. However, it was also important that there would be entries that would be attractive to the public because of their history or beauty or novelty or humour.

Please note, the list does need to be signed off by the Wildlife Trust, and my data agreement needs to be updated. Also, some names have yet to be noted in full, and spellings need to be checked off. I will clean this list up in due course.

Moths
* Tiger Moth
* Rustic Sand Moth

Butterflies
* Clouded Yellow Butterfly – migrants, come in with warm weather from Spain, love the food plant Clover
* Monarch Butterfly – it’s American, coming from Hind oven [?]
* Meadow Brown Butterfly – found on the cliffs
* Greater Butterfly – it’s with orchids [?]
* Tortoise Shell Butterfly – found in the nettles
* Blue Butterfly - on the cliff, it likes grass, likes sedge and egg and bacon [?]
* Gatekeeper Butterfly - in meadows and in grassland
* Eggs and Bacon / Puss and Boots / Poached Egg plant and butterfly[?]

Snails
* Reversed Tree Snail - likes the lichens
* Wandering Snail

Birds
* Sand Martin - found on the cliffs
* Little Owl – dienial [spelling] - goes to sleep on a branch, you can see them at night
* Lots of waders…[make list]
* Sedge Warbler – wetland bird
* Celt [?] - all warblers [make list]
* Reed [?]
* Common [?]
* Tree Creepers - walk up trees, but they can’t walk back down
* Holcus Lanatus – like [?]
* Nut Hatch – is the only bird that can walk up and down a tree
* Coot – white, the Moorhen is red, something that people need to learn
* Pied Flycatcher
* House Martin
* Swift
* Swallow – the whole family is there
* Green Woodpecker – remember the story of bagpuss
* Reed Warblers – in the reed grass
* Yellow Wagtail
* Grey Wagtail – like running water, by the bits of rivulets joining the pool
* Owls – include them, [make list]
* Red [something] King Grey [something]

The sea
* Pollock
* Basking Dolphin [?]
* Basking Shark
* Sea Bass – European type, found in Falmouth and Helford

This site for the Sea Bass is one of the main breeding sites in Europe, and this is why the place is a designated area [follow up].

We discussed the difficulties of representing flora data. The difficulty allies with the problem of how to represent geographical data because it’s about polygon data and is attached to OS copyright licences. Although fauna can be difficult because it moves, it can still be mapped using specific point data – whereas flora spreads out, and is a maze of ‘things’ and is mapped out as polygon data.

Sarah explained how I should develop an abstract picture about certain plants to help give some overall feeling of the landscape – so I couldn’t get hung up on too much data. To help with this she suggested I go out with a botanist to build this picture. For instance, at times, places on the cliffs are pink and the Sedges are the dominant grass found on the cliffs [and something else]. She said I could compare the cliffs and their Pink Thrift to that of the harder outline of the Hottentot Fig, which arrived from Africa [and is causing problems].

Flora
* Pendulous Sedge - a wetland plant
* Lesser Spearwort - in the marsh
* Moneywort - if it’s there, recorded in 1959
* Wild Thyme – spotted conne marine [?]
* Mushrooms – ones that are red and yellow and waxy [?]
* Kidney Vetch – attracts a lot of insects, butterflies like it, it’s on the cliffs,
* Small Heath – look at the heath and coastal grassland
* Natural Reed Grassland - on top of the cliffs
* Sea Holly - on the cliffs
* Sedge
* Reed
* Hostache [spelling] - salt living plant
* Willow Carr
* Woollen Heath [spelling] – robust, doesn’t damage easily, good for walkers
* Pink Thrift – patches of it
* Common [?] Grass - now on the wayside of motorways, due to salt on roads
* Yellow Iris - on the side of the lake
* Spindle Tree – in the woods, it’s very rare
* Wildserver Tree – from the1800s, this is an ancient woodland

Importantly, Sarah was interested in combining aerial with elevated material as well highlighting the fact that freshwater and seawater meets. In a further meeting, she also responded to a first prototype idea I had built at the time, in which you could move the mouse through an elevated map of the lake and produce different speeds of travel. One speed was as if you were walking the lake, the fastest speed was as if you were biking the lake. She liked the idea of walking, biking and standing at certain cross roads that belonged to the lake. She pointed out that this project should seek to clearly present the bridal ways of the lake. She highlighted the fact that it’s an important area for fishing and bird watching. She said it would be interesting to link in the archaeology of the area because this would develop a human factor to the project. At this time, I had only explored flora and fauna on the prototype, although I had viewed a GIS database that totally concentrated on historical data about Cornwall.

Suggested follow up material:

Book
Colour identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles
ISBN 0-670-80354-5
Cornwall Butterfly Atlas

Paper
Tony Stebbing has published a paper on warm species

Copyright
Look at artist Philip Hughs. He did paintings about the tin route in Cornwall. He uses a bronze finish to the paintings and it’s about abstract painting. He got permission to use aerial photographs to create a 3-storey banner. He is creating landscapes by using painting and aerial photographs

Wildlife law
http://www.ukbap.org.uk - list priority areas in Britain. Say whether legally protected
Look at Wildlife and countryside act 1991. Updated in 1997.
European laws – look at Europe and habitat designations