Jiyeon Kang Prof. Shannon Mattern 14 September 2016
Research Proposal (1) a topic description
Topic: Fifth Avenue (New York, N.Y.)
(Image source: Getty Images)
For the topic of the mapping project, I want to focus on a historical investigation on Fifth Ave of New York City. In a broad sense, the research question that I want to investigate is how I can connect the present to the past by using digital mapping technology.​ I would like to research on the rapidly changing new york city by exploring historical photo archives. ​It will be a capacious social research topic that enables me to investigate the cultural, historical and political backgrounds of the city. Through the research, I want to create an interactive photo mapping with storytelling on the geographical map by using some mapping technologies. Specifically, my research domains could be geohistory of New York City and photo mapping. Regarding technology, I will be studying on API (Application Programming Interface) and other interactive mapping programming tool with javascript for making prototypes, so my actual prototype will be a website which shows an interactive data visualization and cartographical mappings with some archived media like old photos, sounds, and informative storytellings.
(2) a discussion of your topic’s personal relevance, larger critical significance, timeliness, etc.;
Since I came to New York City, I have worked through the fifth avenue every day because Parsons New School is located on Fifth Avenue and I lived in the school dorm in University Center in the whole first year. I’m still getting used to the city, but I already had lots of memories on Fifth Ave. Furthermore, the photo mapping can generate a different feeling about the city we are experiencing now. Nowadays, New York City has been called as “Gotham City” which often describes the dark side of current bustling Manhattan. By remembering the history of the city, we could contemplate about our presences in the street with a holistic sense of where we are and where we head.
(3) a preliminary discussion of how your topic might lend itself to spatial/cartographic investigation (i.e., what can you learn by mapping it?);
I have been fascinated by the archived media and artifacts in public libraries. So I want to utilize the valuable data resources of the public library, inspired by the previous tour to New York Public Library map division. From my research on NYPL digital archive, I have found lots of valuable sources for digital photo mapping from NYPL digital collections. By collecting local and regional pictorial publications, which explains the strength of 19th- and early 20th-century books capturing New York City and vicinity in the Library’s holdings, NYPL digital collection has 212 past photos that show the scenes of old Manhattan in early 20th century. Also, the library collected the 82 photos from a publication named Fifth Avenue New York from Start to Finish written by Welles, Burton F. (Burton Frederick) in 1872. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/fifth-avenue-new-york-from-start-to-finish#/?tab=about Each photo also includes each geographical information of the sites such as hotels, landmarks, musical and cinema theaters, department stores, brand boutiques, fashion stores, cosmetic stores and bookstore, food stores, restaurants, and apartments in the early 1900s. Technically, I want to learn how to use API for geographical mapping, and also how to combine archived data from different sources. As a multimedia designer, It will be a great start to conduct a project that deals with big data as well. Furthermore, I want to investigate the possibility of creating a crowdsourced mapping. I also plan to compare the current appearance of the street by posting geolocated photos on the google map. Furthermore, if people voluntarily post their self with buildings located in the same locations, it will end up becoming fascinating interactive virtual media space that people are constantly creating altogether.
(4) a description of the geographic area(s) and scale(s) you plan to focus on in your maps;
Fifth Avenue in Manhattan (from Washington Square Arch in Washington Square Park to Marcus Garvey Park located in 120th.) Fifth Avenue is the heart of the city, which intersects the east and west side of Manhattan, as a most famous avenue in the New York. Not only famous luxurious brand shops and boutiques, department stores but also along the avenue, standing the sacred cathedrals and churches which all stand for the city's attractions. The Fifth Avenue has Manhattan’s monumental architecture such as Empire State Building, Flatiron Building, Rockefeller Center as well as the famous museum mile on Fifth Ave, including The Frick Collection. Neue Galerie, Museum of The City of New York, MoMA, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jewish Museum, Guggenheim Museum, El Museo Del Barrio, Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum, and African Art Museum. Also, Fifth Avenue is well known as a luxury shopping street to tourists. Below is a well-explained description about the socio-geological history of Fifth Avenue from NYPL digital archive.
(Image Source: National Geographic Traveler)
Fifth Avenue, the street that became the social and cultural spine of New York's elite, first appeared on the Commissioners' Map of 1811. At that time, it was merely a country road to Yorkville (then just a tiny self-contained village), but in the proposed grid plan it would be a grand boulevard. As the City grew and prospered Fifth Avenue became synonymous with fashionable life, the site of mansions, cultural and social institutions, and restaurants and shops catering to the elite. In 1907, alarmed at the approach of factories, the leading merchants and residents formed the Fifth Avenue Association. The "Save New York Committee" became a bulwark against the wrong kind of development. Perhaps inspired by this contemporary movement, photographer Burton Welles used a wide-angle view camera in 1911 to document this most important street from Washington Square, North to East 93rd Street.
(5) a tentative bibliography of at least seven sources (some scholarly publications, some popular publications, some precedent maps, etc.)
Precedent Maps
http://umisyam.com/geek/2016/4/pastpost http://slowfa.de/pastposts/
Precedent Services http://www.whatwasthere.com/
Bibliography "Fifth Avenue." Wikipedia. Accessed September 14, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Avenue. "Fifth Avenue, New York, from Start to Finish - NYPL Digital Collections." Fifth Avenue, New York, from Start to Finish - NYPL Digital Collections. Accessed September 14, 2016. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/fifth-avenue-new-york-from-start-to-finish#/?tab=about. "History of New York City (1898–1945)." Wikipedia. Accessed September 14, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_New_York_City_(1898–1945). "Street-Level Photos for Everyone." Mapillary. Accessed September 14, 2016. https://www.mapillary.com/. "Visit 5th Avenue — Visitors Directory of 5th Avenue New York for Prestigious Shopping & Major Attractions." Visit 5th Avenue. Accessed September 14, 2016. http://visit5thavenue.com/.