Pres. Peterson Suggests: Go Learn About Your New City

Last month, President Peterson submitted an editorial in the Technique in which he suggested that students take advantage of all of the fantastic things about Atlanta; he, like me, was not fortunate to spend his undergraduate years in a major metro- and cosmopolitan area.

Given the themes of the course, I think the letter is worth reprinting in its entirety. It's also worth discussing on your blog.

Get off campus and get to know the rest of Atlanta

By G. P. “Bud” Peterson , Institute President

Georgia Tech’s legendary heritage is intricately woven into the fabric of Atlanta. In 1885, just 38 years after Atlanta was officially established, the Georgia School of Technology was chartered to provide an education based on the principles of leadership and industrial expansion. The city was growing rapidly, and Georgia Tech was vital in helping to support and encourage further development.

Today, Atlanta is the largest city in the Southeast, home to the third-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the nation and the birthplace of major media networks such as CNN and TBS. Many of Tech’s faculty, staff and students have been integral to this growth and progress. Iconic Atlanta-based companies such as Waffle House, Delta, UPS and Coca-Cola were all founded, led or significantly influenced by Tech graduates.

The 1996 Summer Olympic Games helped to focus the world on Atlanta with Tech serving as both a venue for events and the Olympic Village.

Thirty years earlier, all eyes were on Atlanta, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led the civil rights movement, converging on the very streets we travel today. And in 1961, Tech was the first school in the Deep South to peacefully integrate, following a student vote endorsing the acceptance of qualified applicants regardless of race.

Today you can not only walk in the paths of former Olympians and Dr. King, but also enjoy events hosted by our Ferst Center, exhibits featured at our Robert C. Williams Paper Museum and a broad range of athletic events. As you embrace the many opportunities on our campus, I also want to encourage you to become acquainted with your surrounding community that extends far beyond our traditional boundaries.

The Atlanta History Center will give you a great overview of our city. You can also tour the Margaret Mitchell House, where “Gone with the Wind” was written. In addition to the rich history of Atlanta, the city has an abundance of parks, music and theater venues.

The Woodruff Arts Center houses the Atlanta Symphony, the High Museum of Art, and the Alliance Theater. The Fabulous Fox Theater, the Atlanta Ballet, the Martin Luther King Historic Center and The Carter Center are among the many other attractions within a short distance of campus that offer experiences that will broaden your perspective of Georgia’s capital city.

Tech is only a short distance from Piedmont Park, which offers plenty of green space for picnics, social gatherings, concerts, and other events. Val and I walked there from campus last month to the Paul McCartney concert. With views of skyscrapers, a pond and trees, it reminds me of Central Park in New York City.

Not far is the Atlanta Botanical Garden, where you can explore an exhibit by Henry Moore and check out what’s blooming. Or visit the Fernbank Science Center for a different perspective on science!

Atlanta is also home to a wonderful zoo and a world-class aquarium. If you want to see animals in their natural habitat, take a walk at the Chattahoochee Nature Center.

For those of you who like to spend your free time at athletic events, Atlanta has plenty of those to offer, too, from the Georgia Dome where the Falcons play to Turner Field, home to the Atlanta Braves.

The Varsity is a cultural icon, but just for a change try Mary Mac’s Tea Room for a taste of home-cooked southern food. You might be tempted to say that some of this is very expensive, but be sure to check out the student rates and volunteer opportunities!

The Atlanta we know today would not be the same without the presence of students like you.

So, while I challenge you to study hard, I also encourage you to seek out opportunities that expand your horizons by taking advantage of the many experiences that are right at your fingertips.

Embrace the many opportunities available on campus, but also look around for other new experiences in the city you now call home.

OpenStreetMap's Atlanta Mapathon

A long time since my last update....my apologies....

Last week, the AJC ran this piece on OpenStreetMap's first ever Mapathon. OpenStreetMap is a nonprofit that "creates and provides free geographic data such as street maps to anyone who wants them," according to their wiki (their blog is also worth reading, and I've added it to my blog roll). Last week, they encouraged as many Atlantans as possible to sign in and add content--all in the the aim of creating "the first comprehensive, open-source electronic map of a U.S. city," according to the AJC.


Check out their Atlanta map....

View Larger Map

Good find, Rajeev!

Rajeev (of Section C3) found this. I deem it great and worthy of discussion.

Blog for Friday

For this week's post, I'd like you to revisit an earlier assignment--reviewing a blog--but now, I'd like to you do it with a bit more depth.

Select any of the blogs (excluding those of your colleagues), and explore its position on what a community should be. This may be implicit, or it may be explicit.

Consider the blog as a multimodal document: how do the different modes available via the blog interact.

Fascinating Article from the WSJ: "Making Suburbia More Livable"

An interesting story from the Wall Street Journal, courtesy of Ms. Brown. The story, "Making Suburbia More Livable," details how suburban life is problematic for the elderly and how suburban towns are "retrofitting" themselves to become more centralized and better meet the needs of their citizens.

Perhaps most interestingly, it focuses on Georgia communities like Fayatteville and Mableton--which (and I had no idea about this) are working with the good folks at the Miami architecture and design firm Duany, Plater-Zyberk & Co. (sound familiar?) to rethink and redesign their communities. The reporter also speaks with Georgia Tech professor Ellen Dunham-Jones' book, Retrofitting Suburbia. The article also includes a brief but really informative podcast--hear actual people use the word "walkability" in a sentence!

Here's an image from the working plan for downtown Mableton. Click here to read their full report: if you're from Mableton or Cobb County, I think you'll find this worthwhile. I've copied the explanation directly from the WSJ.

Local officials are working on plans to fashion a community where people can live more easily throughout their lifetimes. To that end, the plans call for developing several "nodes":

• 1) New housing and retail space and services would enable residents to age in place.
• 2) An arts center would expand an existing amphitheater and add galleries and live-work units for local artists
• 3) A new town center, coupled with greenways, would make Mableton more pedestrian-friendly.
• 4) A civic center would include wellness and fitness centers.
• 5) A historic area would feature restored homes and a commuter rail stop.

New Blog Topic

On Monday, Ms. Brown introduced a wide variety of resources available in the Ga. Tech Library. This week, I would like you to USE one resource either a gadget, a search function, or--gasp!--a book in a way that's relevant to the themes of the course, and then provide an explanation.

SO: you could search for an article, provide a link, and a summary.

OR: you could check out a USB video camera, capture some video of something relevant to the course, explain it (either in text or narration), load it into YouTube, and post it in your blog.

OR: you could use an audio recorder similarly.

Your choice--make it fun and interesting!

UPDATE: Morning Edition's Report on Houston

Thursday morning's report from Houston is even more relevant to the class--partly because Harvard economist Edward Glaeser, author of a recent study on the city, provides a more balanced presentation of the benefits of sprawl (and, in particular, life in this sprawling city). Among the benefits he enumerates: Sprawl fosters extraordinarily high quality of life that is affordable and achievable. When new development is heavily regulated, he argues, housing options are limited, and thus, become more expensive. However, the environmental costs are high.

Listen to the report here, and continue to pay attention to the map in the previous post.

NPR Report on Sprawl in Houston

Steve Inskeep, one of the hosts of NPR's Morning Edition, has traveled to Houston to spotlight hopw the nation's fourth largest city "grapples with diversity and sprawl." I think you'll find his report and article, as well as the Google map of his visit useful as you think about topics for your own projects.

Map

View Houston: Managing Growth in a larger map

Adding a Map to Your Blog

Ok, everyone: I want you to each a Google map to your blog. The map will allow you to see and compare where you're colleagues have been and what they're writing about.

To do create the map and load it into the blog, follow these easy steps:

1. Go to http://maps.google.com.
2. Sign in with the dummy Google account you created for your blog.
3. Enter a street address for the area or community that you'll be assessing for your project. If you don't know a street address, try a street name or the name of a landmark.
4. Once you get an approximate location, a word balloon will appear on the map. Click "save to my maps."
5. You should have only once choice: "Create a New Map." Do this.
6. On the left side of the page, you'll be prompted to save the map. Use your blog title and offer a brief description.
7. On the map, save the specific location and name it with this form: "Place (Last Name, Date)." You'll also be able to write a brief description or upload an image. Do so, if you want to.
8. Save everything again.
9. Now, on the top right corner of the map, click "LINK." Code will appear. You may click "customize" if you'd like. Otherwise, copy the coding from the second line ("Paste HTML to embed in website")
10. In a new window or tab, open your blog.
11. Click "Customize," then choose "Layout."
12. At the bottom of your blog, choose "add a gadget." Click "Add HTML/Java Script"
13. Name the gadget "(GROUP NAME)'s Map" and paste the code.
14. Save it, and you'll be done!

Good catch, Ahmed!

Ahmed from section A3 found this great blog, Sprawled Out: the Search for Community in the American Suburb. I'm posting a link here and on the side....

If anyone else finds resources like this, please send them to me. I'll post them here, and you'll receive recognition in the form of participation points.

Topic for Friday

I would like you to introduce the neighborhood you'll be assessing to your group. Explain where it is and some of the defining characteristics of it. Then, address how it fits with the criteria you brought to the observation and how you might revise the criteria after spending time there. On Friday, you're going to create a google map for your group, which will show where each of you have been.

Topic for Next Blog Assignment

Last week, I asked you to review one of the blogs or web resources to which this blog links...This week, I'd like you to focus on one of the blogs about the Atlanta area. Review it and get a sense of its focus, the topics it addresses, the tone its author employs, and the ways s/he make use of the multimedia capabilities of the blog. Then, try to answer this: why is this blogger compelled to writer about his/her community?

After you've thought about these things, compose a posting in which you introduce the blog andexplain what you've seen, and reflect on why you think this blogger and others focus their writing on their communities? What do you think this person and others like him/her hope to accomplish?

Photo Essay/Slide Show on Forest Hills Garden

Slate magazine posted this slide show on Saturday....relevant to our topic, certainly, but it also provides us with a useful text to which we compare Suburban Nation. Think about how this photo essay uses different modes of argument to offer and support a claim that is very similar to the book's.

Placecasting

This blog--Placecasting--is potentially interesting....The author describes it as:

A notepad for exploring the idea of "placecasting"...making relevant audio available to people based on WHERE they are. People curious about the world around them should be able to find that information while they're standing in that world.

I'm adding this to the lineup; let me know what you think.

Assignments for Aug. 26 & 28

FOR WEDNESDAY

In the eBook, read 4. Words and Images and 14. Analyzing Arguments (a-f).

FOR FRIDAY

Read Chapters 2 and 3 in Suburban Nation, and review and be prepared to discuss one of the blogs to which MY BLOG links.

Also, each of you should post your first entry to your blogs. For this first entry, I'm going to be more specific than I will in the future. The reason: I want you to have some additional guidance and to have a sense of the depth with which these ought to be written.

Please introduce yourself by way of introducing the neighborhood in which you grew up. Think about its geography--both natural and built--and connect your sense of that place to assessments of communities offered by either Suburban Nation or Blueprint America (you may refer to either text, or to both).

Your posting should answer these questions:

• Under the terms offered by Duany, Plater-Zyberk, and Speck, does the community fit the characteristics of suburban sprawl or those of a traditional neighborhood?
• OR: of the places used as evidence in Blueprint America, which place seems most like your neighborhood?
• Does your experience of the place support their contention that the traditional neighborhood is "good" and suburban sprawl "bad"? Why or why not? Or, in other words, what makes the neighborhood livable, and what could be done to make it more livable?
• Or: Of the places used as evidence in Blueprint America, which place seems most appealing to you, and why? Do you believe that your community provides evidence that contradicts the broader claims of the documentary?

As you work through these whys, you may want to consider some of these questions:

• How would you describe the the physical terrain?
• What sort of buildings are there--single family homes, apartments, etc?
• Are the buildings diverse in appearance or fairly homogeneous? For instance, are most of the homes all one style?
• Does the neighborhood qualify as single-use or mixed-use--that is, does it contain just residential properties or both residential and commercial spaces?
• How old is the neighborhood?
• Could you easily access public transportation, could you walk to shops and businesses, or was a car required to get around? How would you describe the traffic?
• How diverse is the neighborhood in terms of AGE, ETHNICITY, and INCOME level?
• How would you describe the relationship of individuals/individual families to the larger community? Is it a tightly-knit community, or one where people largely keep to themselves?

DON'T SIMPLY ANSWER THESE AS BULLETS POINTS. Instead, think about these questions and any other details that you feel are necessary to provide a description of your community. Try to connect your description to what you've read in Suburban Nation AND what you've seen in Blueprint America.

If you can, employ the multimedia, multimodal capabilities of the blog: use pictures, video, and hyperlinks. AND: if you are not the first in your group to post, your post MUST in some way respond to, connect with, or address what your blogmates have written.

Coolest things on the internet (this week)

Just stumbled upon this--as I was procrastinating and not preparing notes for next week's classes...

NPR has started something of particular interest to our class: Mapping Mainstreet, "a collaborative documentary media project that creates a new map of the country through stories, photos and videos recorded on actual Main Streets" (according to the website). Follow the link (I've hyperlinked the title) and check it out. Also, watch the video below:

Open Sound New Orleans is another, associated project from public radio--and something we'll address more directly in the lead-up to our second major project (our first group project). The Open Sound project creates a sonic map of the city: it offers a familiar Google map (in this, of New Orleans); each pin point on the map links to an audio file: an ambient sound (a sound "image," if you want to think about it that way), a recording conversation that speaks to the character of that neighborhood, or--being New Orleans--some live music.

Here's an interview with the creators from a few months ago. Take a listen.

As we begin to think about the textures of different neighborhoods, spend some time with these resources--explore them, find out what interests you. They're rich, robust sites.

For Monday

Please read the Introduction and Chapter 1 in Suburban Nation.

You must also view the PBS documentary Blueprint America: Road to the Future (click the title to find it). I FORGOT TO MENTION THIS IN CLASS, BUT IT'S ON YOUR MASTER SCHEDULE, SO YOU ARE ACCOUNTABLE.

Rhetorical Analysis: Georgia Tech Commercials

In class on Friday, we introduced some basic elements of rhetoric, and we conducted brief rhetorical analyses of a few commercials--two for Tech, one for Atlanta. Check them out below.

We also watched this ad from the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau.

If you haven't seen them yet, review them now. For each, identify:

• claim
• audience
• purpose
• evidence/examples
• any appeals
• how the ads engage the different modes of communication

Welcome!

Welcome to Dr. Hoefer's Blog for ENGL 1101, Fall 2009.

T-Square will be our main resource for communication; I'll use this site to post certain supplemental resources, and you'll be able to use it to link to your colleagues' blogs.

On Monday, be ready--come to class with your laptop charged, armed with access to the Writing & Communication Program's eBook, and with a copy of Suburban Nation.

*Image from Amazon.com