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CAPSTONEDue: 9/5/17
Wild low bush blueberries have been harvested for 10,000 years and with that follows a rich community heritage. Sadly this amazing fruit is on the potential verge of extinction. Reports from some wild blueberry growers in Midcoast Maine show the crop is down by almost 50% this year. This loss is not only detrimental for the blueberry population but also for the farmers who harvest and rely on this incredible fruit for their livelihood. Something needs to be done, something wild! Wild Difference, the Agricultural Wild Blueberry Heritage Center and Virtual Museum hopes to rejuvenate the depression in local Maine economy and preserve and save the amazing fruit.
With the Wild Blueberry comes a vast expanse of history and heritage. There are so many stories to share with the community about the cultural and economic history of the Maine Wild Blueberry we just need an outlet to gather this information. The goal of the virtual museum is to collect audio stories, video interviews, historical accounts and photography, through interviews with local farmers and community members. As well as also featuring culturally respectful inclusions of Passamaquoddy knowledge and tales of blueberry harvesting. Not only does the wild blueberry have a fascinating history here in Maine it also has impressive health benefits. This health research will also be a large part of this project as we work toward creating a new future for the Maine Wild Blueberry and their farmers.
Reading the GrowSmart Maine Brooking Report I came across a few sentences that really hit home with what our goal is for this project. They said “We have a regrettable and costly tendency, here in Maine, to divide ourselves by town or region, party affiliation or philosophy, income, and whether we’re natives or folks “from away." All this division is costing us dearly when it comes to building the kind of future that we all want." (GrowSmart Maine) We as a state are divided. The economy of many Maine towns and cities is dwindling and without action will only continue to do so. I truly believe that with this project we can make a difference in this situation, however small.
The goals of the project are to establish an educational website for the general community to come and learn about the history of our state fruit as well as reanimate the local economy and save Maine Wild Blueberries and the farmers who harvest them. My personal goal of this project is to find a way to represent the multiple layers of history in an interactive way so that viewers can view from the past to the present and understand the connections that are formed throughout the history of the wild blueberry and its importance to Maine culture. This aspect will be achieved through either my own creation of a website using HTML, CSS, and Javascript or I will pursue working with Wordpress to create this site while also still having the ability to add custom CSS. The physical design of this project will be determined at a later date.
Though my part in this project may be more technical I still wish to make lasting connections with the people and communities we meet along this journey. My hope is that these connections will only create meaningful and lasting relationships that will benefit my understanding of this amazing project.
This is a terrific article discussing the difficulties the wild blueberry industry is facing this year. Mary says that "the Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Company, which has 1,000 acres of wild blueberries on tribal land and typically harvests about 7 million pounds, announced it will skip this year’s harvest." This is an incredible loss for the season and for the economy of the tribe. The tribe also announced that it wouldn’t be harvesting this year because of Cherryfield Foods Inc. breech in their contract with the tribe. Typically each year the tribe sells the blueberries to Cherryfield Foods Inc. but this year they told the tribe that they would not be purchasing the blueberries.
The Cooperative Extension: Maine Wild Blueberries of the University of Maine has a great resource on wild blueberry facts. It contains information on Production, Integrated Crop Management, Irrigation, Bee Pollination, Insects, Weeds, Disease, Cultural Management, Organic Management, Marketing and Business Management, Quality,Statistics, and Cultivated Low bush Blueberries.
From the Bangor Daily News Abigail Curtis speaks about the huge losses during this years wild blueberry harvests. She states that "Experts believe the harvest will be smaller this season, that the berries themselves will be smaller than usual and that the prices they bring will be much less than what the growers would like to see for their efforts."(Curtis) This article also goes into further detail about wild blueberry farming competition from Canada. "Production in Quebec went from 50 million pounds in 2015 to 126 million pounds last year."(Curtis) High bush blueberries have also become more popular across the country especially in California, Oregon, and Washington. This causes a huge amount of pressure on Maine Wild Blueberry Farmers and their livelihood.
StoryCorps is an American non-profit organization whose mission is to record, preserve, and share the stories of Americans from all backgrounds and beliefs.
1-in-8-million is a project put forth by the New York times to share interviews of ordinary people telling extraordinary stories. Through the use of sound and images they share the passions, problems, relationships, and routines of the people of New York.
360 Degrees is a project feared toward working with educators and students to develop local dialogs in both schools and communities. They have been partnering with radio producers and journalists across the country to tell stories about how crime and incarceration affects not just the people who are directly involved, but whole families and communities.
“Brookings Report Findings." GrowSmart Maine, 11 Sept. 2015, growsmartmaine.org/resources/chartingmainesfuture/brookings-report-findings/. Accessed 7 Sept. 2017.
Pols, Mary. “There’s trouble in the wild blueberry business." Press Herald, 8 Aug. 2017, www.pressherald.com/2017/08/06/trouble-in-the-wild-blueberry-business/. Accessed 7 Sept. 2017.
“Cooperative Extension: Maine Wild Blueberries." Cooperative Extension Maine Wild Blueberries, University Of Maine, extension.umaine.edu/blueberries/factsheets/. Accessed 7 Sept. 2017.
Curtis, Abigail. “Maine's wild blueberry barrens facing a smaller harvest, difficult season." Bangor Daily News, 9 Aug. 2017, bangordailynews.com/2017/08/09/homestead/maines-wild-blueberry-barrens-facing-a-smaller-harvest-difficult-season/. Accessed 7 Sept. 2017.
Due: 9/5/17
Wild Difference, the Agricultural Wild Blueberry Heritage center and Virtual Museum hopes to rejuvenate the depression in local Maine economy, and preserve and save the Maine Wild Blueberry. My personal goal of this project is to find a way to represent the multiple layers of history through the creation of a Virtual Museum. The museum will contain audio stories, video interviews, historical accounts and photography, through interviews with local farmers and community members. As well as also featuring culturally respectful inclusions of Passamaquoddy knowledge and tales of blueberry harvesting.
Wild low bush blueberries have been harvested for 10,000 years and with that follows a rich community heritage. Sadly this amazing fruit is on the potential verge of extinction. Reports from some wild blueberry growers in Mid coast Maine show the crop is down by almost 50% this year. This loss is not only detrimental for the blueberry population but also for the farmers who harvest and rely this incredible fruit for their livelihood. Something needs to be done, something wild! Wild Difference, the Agricultural Wild Blueberry Heritage center and Virtual Museum hopes to rejuvenate the depression in local Maine economy, and preserve and save the amazing fruit.
Though there are not many websites hugely similar to this as in, promotion of saving the Maine Wild Blueberry, there are sites that have similar values and goals of driving community awareness and goals of community growth.
StoryCorps is an American non-profit organization whose mission is to record, preserve, and share the stories of Americans from all backgrounds and beliefs. They have similar goals to this of this project as we wish to preserve, record, ad share stories of the wild blueberry’s history and cultural connection.
1-in-8-million is a project put forth by the New York times to share interviews of ordinary people telling extraordinary stories. Through the use of sound and images they share the passions, problems, relationships, and routines of the people of New York. This project has very similar goals to our project as well. Our goal is to interview ordinary farmers, and members of the community about their passions, and problems related to the Wild Blueberry.
360 Degrees is a project feared toward working with educators and students to develop local dialogs in both schools and communities. They have been partnering with radio producers and journalists across the country to tell stories about how crime and incarceration affects not just the people who are directly involved, but whole families and communities. Though this project may not directly tell stories about crime and incarceration there is still a deep historical background related to the wild blueberry that at times has been violent and created hardships for communities. It is important for us to show not only the good but also the bad that is related to the rich history of the wild blueberry.
Must be culturally friendly, be acceptable for any age group, display historically accurate information, promote the wellbeing of the related communities.
My personal goal of this project is to find a way to represent the multiple layers of history in an interactive way so that viewers can view from the past to the present and understand the connections that are formed throughout the history of the wild blueberry and its importance to Maine culture. This aspect will be achieved through either my own creation of a website using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript or I will pursue working with WordPress to create this site while also still having the ability to add custom CSS. The physical design of this project will be determined at a later date.
Though my part in this project may be more technical I still wish to make lasting connections with the people and communities we meet along this journey. My hope is that these connection will only create meaningful and lasting relationships that will benefit my understanding of this amazing project.
* Traveling to Blueberry barrens across the state of Maine.
* Interviewing farmers, tribal members, and communities about their experience with Maine wild Blueberries.
* Take photographs of blueberry harvesting, farmers, tribal members.
* Take videos of interviews with farmers, tribal members, and communities.
* Review interviews, transcribe them if needed.
* Editing of videos, photographs.
* Develop a list of use cases
* Conduct interviews to gain idea of how content will be displayed
* Create storyboards
* Review Storyboards with Joline
* Create wire frames
* Review Wire frames with Joline
* Create mockups
* Review Mockups with Joline
* Create prototypes
* Review prototypes with Joline
* User testing with students, community members, farmers
* Review Testing
* Create more detailed prototypes
* Revise prototypes again
* Create complete version of the site
* Web host and domain
* MacBook Pro (Already Owned)
* Possible WordPress membership
* Gas money for traveling to interviews
* Legal agreements for posting interviews online
Due: 9/19/17
Q: How does your capstone measure up according to the definition proposed in Vin Crosbie’s “What Is New Media?” How might you alter your project to fit better?
A: Crosbie's initial argument states that what most people think of as Media, or a Medium are actually vehicles for conveying information within a medium or media. There are three forms of transportation, land, water, and sky. There are also three communication media's, Interpersonal Media, Mass Media, and finally New Media. New media has the benefits of both Mass media and interpersonal media without the downsides. Crosbie states that New media is entirely dependent upon technology and that it encompasses both characteristics of the other communication media and therefore can in turn preform each of those media's tasks essentially taking over for both of them. He also states that New Media is known for being an outlet for one single person to reach multiple people without having to reach out to each person individually. Or in turn many people reaching out to many people, or a many to many media.
I believe that my project encompasses the many to many concept that he was trying to reach. Though much of my work on this virtual museum will be done on my own much of the material gathered for content of this project have been produced by many other people other than myself. Wild Difference also falls under his statement that New Media is dependent upon technology as I am using technology to produce this project as well as technology to keep it running, to display it, and to share it. The physical museum is also going to be many to many as multiple people are working toward building this single building for hopefully huge numbers of people from all around the world. Todays modern technology is also going to be a huge part of the physical museum and will be incorporated in the various exhibits of the building.
This project as a whole fits well with Crosbie's discussion of the New Media and as such shouldn't need to be modified to fit within his understanding of what New Media actually is.
Q: Do you agree or disagree with Crosbie’s definition, and why?
A: Truthfully I do not believe that Crosbie's definition of New Media is accurate. I don't believe it is completely reliant upon technology to be New Media. I believe that New Media is more about following the Many to Many rule and about making lasting connections between people. I do understand why he would say that New Media is reliant upon technology, especially as we today as so reliant upon it ourselves. I still believe it is achievable without the use of technology.
Q: How does capstone measure up according to the definition proposed in Lev Manovich’s “What Is New Media?” For this entry, describe the principle that your project fits best and the one it fits worst. How might you alter your project to fit better?
A: Manovich just as with Jenkins and Crosbie starts with identifying the well know fact that almost all New Media uses a computer or some for of advanced technology as a distributor or exhibitor. Manovich isn't satisfied with this as a definition and believe that it is too limiting, Lev states that "There is no reason to privilege computer in the role of new media exhibition and distribution machine over a computer used as a tool for media productions or as a media storage device."(Manovich Pg 16). This is similar in my opinion to my argument that not all New Media is reliant upon technology. Though my project itself is quite reliant upon technology as a distributor and exhibitor. The virtual aspect of this project is very heavily reliant upon technology as well as the physical aspect but much of the physical aspect will also not be reliant upon technology to thrive.
Manovich then breaks off into principles of New Media as a deeper description of what New Media truly is. Wild Difference the Virtual Museum is defiantly a Numerical Representation as it will at some point in the coding process be turned from HTML, CSS, JS, and images into essentially a bunch of lines of numbers that the computer than can understand and then transmit to other computers all around the world. It also falls under the Modularity Principle. Because this is going to be a website it has to be modular for it to work correctly on multiple screen types and still provide the same effect as the initial design. The automation principle is also relevant within this project as we will be using photo editing and video editing software to create color corrected images and videos that will be displayed on the website. This project is also apart of the Variability principle as it is always going to be changing and growing depending upon the stories, videos, and images that will be uploaded to the website. The physical museum will also fall under this principle because exhibits will be continually refreshed to give users more interest in coming back a second time.
Q: Do you agree or disagree with Manovich’s definition, and why?
A: I believe out of all of the different authors I enjoyed Manovich's article the most. It was out of them all the most descriptive as well as the closest I've ever seen anyone coming to actually writing about what New Media truly is. I believe that New Media is about all parts of the principles mentioned in the article and that though computers and technology may be a large aspect of what new media is I believe that it should have to be reliant upon the factor.
Q: How does capstone measure up according to the definition proposed in Henry Jenkins’ “Eight Traits of the New Media Landscape”? For this entry, describe the principle that your project fits best and the one it fits worst. How might you alter your project to fit better?
A: Wild Difference could easily fit in any number of these possible New Media "landscapes" as Jenkins calls them. It is Innovative, by Jenkins terms because of its ability to inspire aesthetic responses, and has also been taken up and deployed by different communities of users. It is also appropriative as it will be using digital content to provide users with a new technology based experience when inquiring about the history of blueberries and the culture it has. The project is also very networked based as we are working with a vast amount of networked people to create one larger project. It may not initially reach the global proportion but I believe this project has the potential to become a huge part of Maine culture and even New England culture. This project could also be considered generational as it will hopefully effect those of an older generation who have been farming for many years but also hopefully this will influence people of all ages to take action against this shaky future of the Wild Blueberry.
Q. Do you agree or disagree with Jenkins’ definition, and why?
A: I enjoyed the article, I liked that it was broken up into sections of discussion and talked about each of them as landscapes for New Media. This "Landscape concept" is helpful when trying to break down what New Media is but I don't agree with everything Jenkins discussed. The conclusion for example was somewhat discouraging. Jenkins states that "Of these eight traits, the only one which might describe our current educational institutions is "unequal"...Our schools doubly fail kids -- offering them neither the insights they need to avoid the risks nor the opportunity to exploit the potentials of this new participatory culture." This is truly sad that Jenkins believes this and that it has the potential to be true. I would hope that with New Media because of the diversity of courses and the opportunities offered that children are not left basically in the dark about the real working world and that we have failed them.