The Project So far... again.

Since the last time I wrote about my project on this blog, a fair bit has changed, in a good way. I spent several hours looking over data, research, other information and so on; then I spent many more hours creating the foundation of the website – words, around twenty or so single spaced pages of descriptions, explanations and so forth. While it may sound like a lot, when broken down and separated across The Gray Ratsnake Project website it is a very manageable amount. Some of the site pages feature no more than a couple of paragraphs, while other pages feature a page or two worth of typed information.

That being said, it’s not all gloomy and wordy, or at least it won’t be when the project is finished. Over the past couple of days and the weeks to come I will be slowly transforming the website from a jumble of text into a more visually pleasing online exhibit. The most prominent feature of the exhibit will be photographs. Over the course of the summer I took well over a thousand pictures and a fraction of these photos will be placed on the website to divide up the text, provide better explanations and examples, as well as just give people something to look at.

Along with photographs, there will be some short video clips as well as a handful of maps that will help in creating “big picture scenarios” such as helping see the overall movements of radio telemetry subjects. While there will be lots of imagery of the surface, there is still a lot of valuable information beneath, for this is not an “all sizzle and no steak” type of project. Vast data bases have been referenced to help better describe the snake’s population and the movement of the snakes over the course of the summer. I have also turned to some moments of personal experiences, having been the Gray Ratsnake Technician to compliment the information I talk about on the site.

While there is still a lot to do, and a lot of polishing to come after that, I am reaching the end. I am in contact with the park biologist at Murphys Point every now and then to get additional information and images, which has been more than helpful. A general suggestion to anyone creating a website; its helpful to be closer to your main source of information than I currently am. A five hour travel gap means most of your information needs to be collected remotely, which can prove difficult at times.

Social Media and Work

As social media branches into our lives more and more it becomes a part of different aspects of our lives that we never envisioned it in. As I plug away at my website, I can't help but remember the role it played in my job this summer, and the problems it also creates.

Social media has been renowned for creating problems in the work place, mostly as a)a time waster/distractor but also as b) a censorship issue. The first issue is quite obvious, even if you are doing something such as updating a twitter account directly related to your work, it looks highly unprofessional to be on your phone while in the workplace, especially on a social media site. In terms of censorship I am referring to the fact that once you say something or share a video, even if it is meant for a personal audience, everyone, including the people you work with see it. Therefor the moment you share something that is in bad taste you are being evaluated by current, old or future employers. The question is, is this right? Should employers be looking at stuff you post? Or better yet, should you be posting stuff that you know your employer will see. It is something that makes me cringe every time I see something controversial come across a facebook feed. In turn this bring on the question of; is being on social media to such a large extent starting to censor people who are concerned about being called out by a supervisor? Who know, maybe I shouldn't be as bothered by it as I am, but I think that in a world where everything is so readily available to the public it is difficult to remain professional at all times.

While social media plays into employment in the above way, it also can be beneficial. For example, a facebook and twitter account set up for the park I worked at helped to keep people up to date on what was going on. I used my phone to regularly update a twitter feed about the research I was doing. Click here to see the twitter feed. Its a great tool for attracting people who may never had heard of the project outside of the park. But at the same time, using a phone regularly at work, even if it was for work tasks did, in my opinion, look unprofessional. There is also the issue with the likes of accessibility. Lets just say the Canadian Shield does not provide the best cellphone service, which can make regular updates difficult from time to time.

This less than impressed looking Barred Owl was quickly shared to social media 

What do you think, is the interaction between social media and the workplace a good thing. or a bad thing?

Google Earth

Google maps has become the standard way of most families to plan out their route, be it searching for a remote hotel, a store you in a busy district or finding that one relative's house that is so far off the beaten track that you wonder what you are doing going to visit them in the first place. Of course, is this is all you desire to get out of a map then google maps is a great place for you to start. However, if you need to get more out of a digital map, and don't want to go out and purchase expensive mapping software, then look no further than Google Earth and Google Earth Pro (which is now free, so might as well grab it instead of plain old Google Earth.)

Google Earth enables you to complete a range of things, outside of exploring a large digital map of the world that is. It comes with your standard satellite imagery, and scope of different layers (roads, places, etc.) but it also allows for you to create your own markers, pins, insert your own imagery and so forth. Any pin you create can be titled in the manner of your choosing and the icon can be altered to be more suiting to the location. Creating one of these pins is as easy as clicking a button (there is literally a button with a pin on it), and then selecting the point on the map where you want to place it. Don't like its positioning? Each marker has a "preference" option where you can change its location by entering precise gps positions (although as a warning, there are times where the LANDSAT imagery is misaligned, so your pin can be slightly out of place). Images, descriptions, and web addresses can also be linked to points, if additional information is required. All of this can then be saved either as an image, or a .kml file which then can be easily shared with other people who may want access to what you have created.

If you wish to use Google Earth even more you can create polygons,(seen in red in the image above) to highlight desire regions, and you can even overlay maps onto the satellite imagery (you can alter these maps a bit, but by no means will it match Google Earth imagery perfectly, due to differences in perspectives etc.). None the less, its minor flaws can easily be overlooked due to the fact that the program is free and it is incredibly user friendly, especially when compared to sophisticated GIS programs. If you want to try it out for yourself, click here, you might as well, its a fun, cool tool, and its free so you have nothing to lose.

The History of Sustainable Housing, a review

Matt’s capstone project will be composed of a website that will focus on Sustainable housing both past and present. Personally I think this will be an excellent website and good resource, especially for new home owners who are looking to make their homes a little greener. There are many positive things to say about this site and very few if any negative and I will highlight them as I proceed.

This site tackles many aspects of the rising sustainable housing industry. As a history student, I do find the aspect at looking at the history of sustainable housing to be quite interesting. I think it could prove also beneficial, and it seems like Matt was leaning in this direction too, to include a general history of housing seeing as sustainable housing seems like a more modern concept. Showing how inefficient houses were during the, say 1800s, compared to what we have now could prove rather interesting, especially in terms of heating. Anyways, I think this timeline aspect of housing evolution will be quite cool, and also be a benefit to the class’ overall scheme.

From Matt’s presentation and paper I also gathered that the project will spend the majority of its time looking at the achievable sustainable housing upgrades. I really like the fact that his emphasis on upgrades will be placed on reasonable ones that your “average joe” will be able to complete, in most cases, on their own. Matt also made mention that most sites looking at this topic are more blog based; so it will be good to have an easy to navigate website. While sites, like the Home Depot’s and other home improvement stores may have sections on sustainable housing it will be beneficial to have a site strictly dedicated to the matter at hand.

Asides from providing general information on improvements and the history of sustainable housing Matt also aims to tackle the current inefficiencies he has seen in modern housing. His goal is to outline the flaws on his site and prompt critical conversation which will in turn lead to better strategies in house renovation and construction. I think this is a bold yet excellent step. It could be hard to get the ball rolling in the conversations and difficult to see this have a quick impact on the home construction and renovation industries, but if it really takes off and given time I think that it could help people bring some major changes to housing, be it on a small or large scale.

This is a good idea for a project and the only thing I place emphasis on at the moment is that you may want to start building the general structure of your site sooner than later. This will give you a good idea on how long it will take to complete various aspects on your site and will also better help you assess which applications and methods you want to use to display information on the site, be it Sketch Up, maps, images, videos and so forth. I look forward to seeing the final product!

To read Matt’s project proposal click here.

The Gray Ratsnake Project - Proposal

For my Hist*4170 capstone project, my aim is to create an all encompassing website on the Gray Ratsnake and its history (both past and more present) within the boundaries of Murphys Point Provincial Park. In turn, the project will take the form of an online exhibit or even museum if you wish, as the site itself is divided into separate portions. The site opens to a home page where you can then decide where you wish to begin. Most who are new to the site and the species will commence with the identification portion, then look into the history of the park that has been linked to the Gray Ratsnake, this is followed by a section on the park’s current standings with the Gray Ratsnake and then the last core exhibit of the site will be based on research that took place over the past year or so. The site will also include easy to navigate subcategories for each core section as to provide both ease of navigation and to split the information up. Additional subheadings will be present that offer information on what the site is, where people can find resources on the Gray Ratsnake and so forth. The website will be full of visuals, and be written to appeal to an audience of teenagers and older, that being said I do believe anyone could use this site if they so pleased, as it will serve as a great source for a wide range of Gray Ratsnake information.

It is understandable that since the project has such a heavy focus on the Gray Ratsnake there may be a concern on how this relates to the digital humanities and the teachings of the course. It is true, that some portions, such as the identification section of the site, will not feature a heavy dosage of “humanities” related information; however this section is essential as it provides critical information on the species that is required to better understand the snake and to better understand human interactions with the species. Where it ties in with the humanities is in the potions of the site that deal with human interactions and the park’s history. These potions of the site look at how people have shaped not only the habitat of the Gray Ratsnake but also its population numbers. The snake after all, is a species at risk and by no means is it at risk because of climate change or over predation. We have directly impacted their population through the destruction of critical habitat, interference in their movement, and a general hatred towards snakes. This just goes to show that talking about natural history proves almost impossible without involving human/cultural history.

The website will be made using the website creation site known as Weebly. The source comes at no cost and allows for a wide range of website features to be completed. I will be working heavily with programs such as Photoshop to create display images very similar to what you would come across in a museum. Images will all be obtained either from my personal collection or the Murphys Point Provincial Park photograph archive. Some sections will feature aerial images as well as maps to help demonstrate a scope of information (from snake movement to the impact of humans on a region and so forth). Data from a range of research project that have taken place within the park will also be used, to help demonstrate a number of things, but mostly to show snake movement patterns as well as flocculation in the snake’s population within the park. It is at this point I should also mention two important things. When using this data I will be not only be using it to prove a point but I will also most likely be critically evaluating it as, like with most data, it does have its flaws. The second thing to be mentioned is what I have discussed in my blog and in class a couple of times. Due to the fact that this information is regarding a Species at Risk and was not obtained by myself, but through the not for profit organization The Friends of Murphys Point Park, I have to go through the proper channels in order to maintain a professional relationship with both the Ontario Parks organisation as well as with the Friends. I have of course done so and the Friends have graciously allowed me to use all of their information and the Park Biologist at Murphys Point has agreed to help me gather any photographs etc. that I may need (as there is four and a half hours distance between us). I have also checked with the biologist to ensure that me creating this site, as a third party would be alright, and not a violation of any policies as I do wish to continue working for the Friends and or Ontario Parks in the future. In reality the only “sensitive” part of this project comes in terms of the Gray Ratsnake and GPSed locations of critical habitat and movements, which simply means that when it comes to information on the snakes location the areas that they have been in will be far more generalised.

When it comes to pre-existing information/literature available on the Gray Ratsnake, we do see a wide range of facts, from identification to habitat and behaviour. However this is no more than you would expect to see when you open your standard field guide. Most of the online information that can be found on this species is comprised of online fact sheets, many not as detailed as they should be in order to provide a proper identification. This website becomes more so unique when you combine the snake with Murphys Point Provincial Park. At this point in time the only other source of information that runs in that direction is the Blog on Gray Ratsnake conservation that the Friends of Murphys Point Park run. This site encompasses a range of sources from field guides to pamphlets and interviews, all combined with my personal experiences with the park and the Gray Ratsnake to provide an in depth looks at the snake. At the moment there are no ongoing digital humanities projects that focus on either the Gray Ratsnake or Murphys Point that I am aware of or have come across, which is yet another reason why I feel this project provides a great opportunity.

Overall I feel it could be said this project takes on the feeling of an environmental history project, the emphasis will be placed on humans and how we interact with the species of snake, however there will still be great emphasis placed on the Gray Ratsnake, for you cannot look at the history of human interaction with a species without also looking at the species itself. It should also be said that a relatively decent sized fraction of this site will look at the Gray Ratsnake in a more recent history, as thorough documentation of the species within the part is a more recent occurrence. This means that while there are parts of the exhibit that look at say a hundred years ago, a lot of the history will be placed within the past decade, and the telemetry section will all be within the past year. This may not lend to our traditional views of history, but it is still essential to look at to better understand the species and their history.

All in all

the site will take a thorough look at the Gray Ratsnake and its history with Murphys Point Provincial Park, however it will also have a secondary objective, that being that, with a better understanding and knowledge of the species, people will be more accepting of the snake. We know there are a number of people who are not the biggest fans of snakes, yet it is my hope that with this new information, people may will be more respectful of the snake and maybe even take an interest, even if they still remain less than comfortable around the Gray Ratsnake. After all, knowing is half the battle.

The Gray Ratsnake Project

While it had a name before, things have become a bit more official. I have tidied up the main page as you can see in the following image. More importantly however, with a complete skeleton on the site completed I then felt confident enough to submit my plans to the required sources in order to get confirmation on whether or not it would be okay for me to complete this project. As it stands, they are very intrigued with what I have and where I intend to go with it. The concept of an online exhibit seems promising in their eyes as well as mine, especially in terms of serving a purpose and minimal amounts of upkeep required once it has been published.

At this point in time the site stands to be a third party server, so basically I am outside of the two key organisations that I will be referring to most on the site (Ontario Parks, and the Friends of Murphys Point). It will remain a third party server until it has been completed. Once completed I will propose the site to the entire board of directors for the Friends of Murphys Point Park to see if they would essentially like to "Brand it" and take over, or the site will simply be a temporary exhibit that will be scavenged for parts once it is complete and then taken down. Either way the results are positive as not only do I get to continue with creating this site, but also because I have been graciously given access to all of the data, maps and so forth that the park has in relations to the site. Of course as mentioned before, not all of the collection of Data and maps will be published as some of it is sensitive, but some of it will most definitely be used.

The overall goal of this site is to act as an online exhibit for the Gray Ratsnake, focusing on the population within the boundaries of Murphys Point. The site will be appealing towards and audience over the age of thirteen or so, that being said it will obviously be open to everyone. The site will cover all sorts of aspects on the snake and the park, ranging from snake behaviour, identification, habitat, history of the snake in the park during certain time periods, current interpretation of and human interaction with the snake, as well as research and studies.

The ideal goal of the site, as I have briefly discussed with the Park Biologist/Senior Natural Heritage Education Leader at Murphys Point is to promote the snake species, the park and the Friends of Murphys Point Park, along with, an most importantly, provide a resource for elementary and high school students to learn more about the species in potentially more of an interesting way than flipping through a field guide. The site will also host basically a bibliography/additional source page which will enable people who use the site to gain a larger scope of information if they so wish,

That's it for now.

A Quick Update on the Project

As mentioned before, due to the nature of this project and some of the groups and information it encompasses there is a need to get some sort of approval before the project can go into full swing. Therefore, what I have done is created the skeleton for a site using Weebly. This site has allows you to do all sorts of cool stuff and is pretty basic. Along with it I have also relied heavily on Adobe Photoshop Elements to create some of the graphics you will see.

Essentially the reasoning for this pre-emptive skeleton is so that I have something to show and use to explain what I want to do, and also demonstrate the quality of the site I will be creating.The site opens with a large splash image, with the whole "click to begin" kind of ordeal, and then you are brought to the homepage which gives you a brief introduction. from there the site is divided into 4 main sections, and each section tackles a bit of a different subject but still focuses on the theme of Gray Ratsnakes. The overall goal of this site is to not only deliver a form of exhibit to the public but also to demonstrate to people that while the GRS may be an intimidating creature, it is not one that we should be fearful of, and it is indeed a species that has been heavily impacted by the human populous.

 The main page features links to social media websites related to the park, as well as the charitable organization "The Friends of Murphys Point Park" who fund the majority of the GRS research. There is a brief description of the site and then below there are links to the 4 categories that the exhibit will explore. The site also has a bar that runs across the top of the page with drop down menus for easy access and so forth. At this point in time the site has NOT been published.