Site investigation

Present an overview of your assigned site and your findings. This can be structured as a informal, work-in-progress presentation rather than a complete document or report.

At a minimum, include:

• spatial representations such as mapping
• a summary of your research
• your impressions and analysis of the visitor experience of the site and its amenities
• other information or findings you may wish to include, but no themes or interpretive design. These will be done later.

Create a clear map or maps (site plans) for your site. You may want to used mapping at different scales to show the site's context and location, but at a minimum show the site's boundaries and your area of study/focus (these may be the same).

Resources for this include Google Maps (and satellite view) published maps, and data from government web sites. IMPORTANT: Share resources, techniques, etc with the class in the #assignments Slack channel.

Think in layers - for example, you may use aerial photography for reference, and then sketch a map on top of that for clarity of presentation.

Mapping: Annotate your site plans to help explain the visitor experience - are there zones where different activities happen? Areas that feel like they have different stories to tell? Obstacles or barriers that may need to be called out? The aim is not to create a production-quality map or maps, but to use mapping to illustrate the findings of your site visit and research. Refer to the library of interpretive plans for inspiration or reference, but your presentation will be much briefer.

Research: Create a summary of your research about the site. Be concise. Don't just dump information into a document. Use headings, brief text and bullet points where necessary. Graphics - site photos, archival images, historical maps, etc., can help tell the story. Your objective is to give a briefing on what the important facts are about the site.

Analysis: Use the impressions you gained from your site visit to describe and evaluate the site - what the experience of being there is like , what areas have potential for interesting visitor experiences, what areas might be problematical or unpleasant, etc. Use site visit photos (and other resources if necessary) to illustrate and support your points. Captions are always useful.

Present your site and findings in class for initial discussion. We will build on this in the upcoming classes.

Due: in class, Oct 10 as an informal presentation.