Medium It

MEDIUM it!

THE OTHER MAPS OF CAIRO

Work by Hana Sadik Rowaa Ibrahim

Supervision Nermin El-Sherif Dina Waleed Marco Michel

CONTENTS CONTENT

ABSTRACT As we were reading into the course ‘The Other Maps of Cairo’, what skiped our interest from the start was the power of symbols and representation.

Throughout the years the aspects of representation have changed.

Especially notable is the change in the medium of communications in the last century alone. There is nearly no limit to the flow of information through the internet and therefore news, information and knowledge travel exponentially fast.

Our research points out the different media used for spreading news throughout the city of Cairo during its revolutions from 1919 up to today. The result of comparing the media confirms the change of media and its effect on time and quantity. It also makes us conscious that the realm of communication shifted from physical/touchable/ limited information flow, to a non-controllable cloud of information on a virtual level.

With social media being a backbone of our time, our next step was to manifest the power of the medium and to bring its role from the virtual realm to the physical one. This was attempted through the creation of a social media game application. Through the app the functions of different social media are maintained but the medium is changed.

The App is called ‘Medium’ and sends people verbal messages instead of a virtual cloud message that one usually receives via mobile internet. The app simply offers volunteering members to deliver messages personally throughout the city. The deliverer has to explore Cairo on his route to the recipient.

Routes are marked and created by Cairean ‘landmarks’ and therefore create another Map of navigation in Cairo. A map where public space is active and growing.

ABSTRACT p.4

POINT OF DEPARTURE p.6

DESIGNING A HAPPENING p.12

APP DEVELOPMENT p.14

THE OTHER MAP OF CAIRO p.22

EXPERIMENT p.24

CONCLUISION p.31

The game process is location based, and works by crowd-sourcing. It helps disseminate a cognitive map of Cairo through different movement patterns, shortcuts and maybe discern the secret alley ways of Cairo.

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POINT OF DEPARTURE

1919

‫جمهورية مرص العربية‬ 1952

2011

THE BOTTOM-UP POWER OF MEDIUM WHAT? mapping the methods of propagation, the channels used by the opposition to rally for protests, and the medium through which opinion was voiced

WHEN? with a focus in and around Cairo, the research traverses through time to compare the methods of propagation of modern Egypt’s revolutions and coups

WHY? technology is advancing exponentially, and with it are our methods of communication and demands for freedom of speech.

How did past generations manage to rally and revolt, without access to such crowd-sourced communication channels as we do?

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Power means control. Who or what is in control of our city? And how does this affect us?

Through the comparison and analysis of three Egyptian mass revolutions we came to discover that the medium of spreading information is of big importance to the actions/events. The medium is in control and can activate happenings.

AGAINST

TYPE

Our comparison was limited to the past century and juxtapositions the 1919 revolution, 1957 coup d’etat, and 2011 revolution.

LED BY

The comparison was held between the protagonists of the movement, the rulers to the time, type of shift and the main media used to spread the word throughout the nation.

MAIN MEDIA

1919

1952

2011

the british occupation

the monarchy

military rule

revolution

popular coup d’etat

revolution

Wafd Party

Free Officers Movement

N/A

flyers

flyers

social media/internet

radio

radio

television

informal cafe gatherings

informal cafe gatherings

oral communication

oral communication

oral communication

applications

newspapers

newspapers

web archives

flyers

film

film

oral history interviews

oral history interviews

The chart on the right shows our preliminary research findings and further investigation material.

The 1952 revolution was then eliminated from our research because it’s method of propogation was rather internal, as it was effectively a military coup.

RESEARCH MATERIAL

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MEDIUM COMPARISON (1919 & 2011 REVOLUTIONS) Moving forward from a general overview of Egyptian mass revolutions, we focused on the event of 1919 and 2011. The two events that we can call Egyptian revolutions of the last decade.

On the other hand, the latest revolution of 2011 is still vivid in the Egyptian memory. This revolution however takes a complete different route in word spreading and communication. Social Media was the main protagonist of the revolution. An invisible cloud that shares all information between the people all over the country. Everyone had access to viable information about what’s happening. That led to parallel information streams on different media channels of the internet or television.

On the one hand the so called ‘1919 Revolution’ was not only an event of that year, but spanned between the years 1919 and 1922. We gathered the events documented from that time and it was very suitable to order the events into a linear timeline. Not only can one follow the events sequence, but also support them with the used Media.

presets of the revolution communications blackout

Students potests

initial rallying

News travel : through letters/telegraphs

during

?

Songs of protests & after

Students protests Sheikhs and priests preaching in churches and mosques Women carried flags of the crescent and cross

In conclusion it is noticeable that the media has had great impact on the events. From spreading the word through flyers, radio and oral communication, in 2011 the word was spread through internet, television and oral communicatoon. It influences the speed of information flow and accessibility of information. The 1919-1922 timeline is easy to follow (event and media wise). However it is really hard to summarize and put together crowd sourcing information of social media. The data is enormous and hard to sort on paper. All the cloud information run parallel. The intangible cloud is uncontrollable.

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DESIGNING A HAPPENING WORKFLOW:

Virtual realm to physical realm Our research on the methods of social propagation yielded a mess of results pertaining CULTURAL to the use of social media in cultural propagation. However, one thing was made clear: PROPAGAthere is a looming presence over TION social media, one that is both intruding and dangerous, and that is suveillance.

MEDIUM

We therefore seeked to design a new platform. One that combines the funtions of typical message delivery platforms, yet maintains anonymity and surpasses surveillance.

The app is a social media tool that allows the user to send a message to a particular friend with which they are connected through the platform. The message is then SOCIAL verbally delivered by MEDIA a stranger. The medium becomes the message and the message is strengthened.

Users can connect to their friends through other social media platform. The app serves the main function of any other platform, but brings the message from the virtual realm into the physical one.

by first scrutinizing the effect of different media on the propagation of revolutions the role of media as a medium, or middle-man, and its power became the focus of our research

with social media being a backbone of our time, our next step was to manifest the power of the medium and to bring its role from the virtual realm to the physical one

this was attempted through the creation of a social media app Since the message, the sender, and recepient, are all anonymous to the deliverer, the URBAN THEORY app can be used for fun or as a political tool as a means of evasion from surveillance.

The end result is increased social interaction and activation of public space in Cairo.

TECHNOLOGY

COLLECTIVE IDENTITY

through the app the functions of different social media are maintained but the medium is changed

the process is location based, and works by crowd-sourcing

a medium more powerful than any other is created:

CROWD SOURCING

people become the medium

and an alternative map of Cairo is created. a cognitive map of how users choose to navigate the city, a map where public space is active and growing

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APP DEVELOPMENT

GAME DESCRIPTION

INSTRUCTIONS

A city walk is perceived differently from person to person. Mainly depending on speed, street knowledge, mood etc.

On the home interface one can choose being a sender or deliverer. As a sender sends out a message and the deliverer delivers the message and counts as the game protagonist.

This game gives you the opportunity to experience the city differently every time you go on a message hunt. The aim is to deliver a verbal message in a given timeframe yet passing by certain local anchor points to collect the message words/phrases. The deliverer can choose between easy/medium/hard navigation maps.

The Sender sends out a message based on his/her chosen category1 and set time frame. It is then send out to the social media game-network. Logged in Deliverers around the prospective Recipients get alerted by category type and time-frame and can swipe right to accept the challenge or swipe left to ignore it. If the challenge is accepted the deliverer is exposed to a map depending on the chosen difficulty level2.

To be part of the app game-network, one has to register and approve of sharing their location while playing. The registration requires Name, Age, Gender, Height and Shoe size.

There are 4 types of users of our platform: 1- Sender 2- Deliverer (physical Medium) 3- Partner 4- Receiver

The deliverer maneuvers through the streets and buildings and collects the words from the different anchor points to collect points. If the player skips the anchor points3, they loose cash point and just receive the message at the goal.

After the delivery is done, the receiver as well as the deliverer should approve the delivery!

01

02

SENDER

DELIVERER

1

category (URGENT, friendly, love, neutral, negative)

2

map difficulty level: easy-> axonometric location map with a suggested route, medium-> local icons of Koshk,Midan, Markets, Ahwa etc‌, hard-> deliverer makes his/ her own route whatever level it is the map shows the current deliverer location at the start and the destination point.

03 PARTNERS

04 RECEPIENT

3 anchor point: is a certain shop/place/building where you collect a clue for the sentence you deliver and gain game points. The Anchor points are the games partners and sponsors. If you are a shop,restaurant‌ you can join the Medium it team by signing up here: http://........

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USER INTERFACE

TYPE OF USER

METHOD OF TRANSIT

01 SENDER

the method of transit used to play the game is important in fetermining both the routes and checkpoints given, as well as in later creating safety maps which are based on players games.

02 DELIVERER 03 PARTNER 04 RECEPIENT each type of user is given a distinct color. this makes it easier to follow the role of each user in the gameplay the colors are highly contrasting and add a sense of playfullness to the app, which is balanced by the dark color scheme of the background and theme

the app will recommend the best method of transportation based on the area being played in, based on previous games and user feedback

we recommend you walk

maybe public transportation?

or take a bike!

cars are good too!

MAP DIFFICULTY QR CODE EASY . view map with checkpoints and alternative routes between them

INTERMEDIATE . view map with checkpoints only, create your own route!

DIFFICULT . discriptive map, for those who know Cairo well! receive written hints on checkpoint locations

QR codes are used throughout the city in two ways: 1. as a point collection tool for deliverers in checkpoints 2. to advertise the game to curious city dwellers

CHECKPOINTS

PA stop by one of our PARTNERS!

scan a QR code through our app and get your points!

support a LOCAL BUSINESS! talk to the shop owner and ask for our code

the codes can be changed to transfer any kind of message, and may limit the recepient audience. the codes were chosen as the method of delivery since they are both an urban phenomena and they cannot be tampered with or their message corrupted

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DATA FLOW

display checkpoints to recepient

input category

input message

input time-frame

chechpoint tracker

input: accept

find medium playing the area of the recepient

display location of recpient alert medium

input: reject

look for a different medium

reveal message upon approaching recepient

status of message delivery

EXPERIMENT In order to perform a preliminary test of our gameplay, an experiment was conducted in road 9 in Maadi.

Preparations: contacting different shops, cafes and restaurants in road 9 to explain the game shortly and their task in delivering certain words to the people getting in for the game.

1 Camera man 3 different volunteers carrying out the same deliverable from the same starting point to evaluate the differences in players and to check if it is doable.

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TRIAL A

In the first experiment, the deliverer passed by 12 checkpoints but did not complete the route to the recepient and therefore received none of the points

checkpoints passed 12 message delivred no demographics gender: female age: 22 height: 163 cm

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TRIAL B

In the second experiment, the deliverer passed by 13 checkpoints and seemed to take a rather direct route to the recepient

checkpoints passed 13 message delivred yes demographics gender: female age: 21 height: 158 cm

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TRIAL C

In the second experiment, the deliverers passed by 20 checkpoints and took the longest route to the recepient, taking the time to cross over the railway and back again

checkpoints passed 20 message delivred yes demographics A gender: male age: 21 height: 183 cm B gender: female age: 22 height: 167 cm

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EXPERIMENT OUTPUT

MEDIUM is a platform for users of their various types to engage with the city. Physical space as a medium of communication is explored. The routes taken by players are anonymously collected and compiled to produce alternative maps of Cairo. These cognitive maps indicate how different individuals navigate the city, providing invaluable information on Egyptian street conduct and etiquette, and ways to make our city more accessible.

A map of Cairo changes from one scattered with buildings and streets that are often unapproached by the street dweller, to a patchwork of areas that are actually accessible by Cairenes.

Safety is a major issue, and we constantly monitor areas and crowd-source the safety measure of each area. Areas deemed unsafe in any term are marked on the map, and we hope that as the app grows and shady areas are slowly infiltrated, safety increases in the streets of Cairo.

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THE OTHER MAP OF CAIRO

VISUALISATION OF LARGER SCALE OUTPUT

COGNITIVE MAPPING the main output of the platform is cognitiove maps of Cairo cognitive maps tell of how users of the city navigate it, who choses to go where and with what methods of transportation. crowd-sourcing allows us to collect feedback on usability of the city

SAFETY MAPS do cognitive maps correlate with safety maps? are the area most frequented by city users the safest?

DEMOGRAPHICS we collect anonymous demographics from our users, which allows us to better understand the who aspect of the city

LOCAL BUSINESSES we have a vast range of partners, and we have reached out to many small shop owners in an attempt to support local business and help the city thrive

SURVEILLANCE and perhaps our most time-appropriate output is the ability for messages to be transferred outside the gaze of surveillance!

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