Vectors Journal: Perception

I chose to write about my experiences within the Perception issue of the Vectors Journal. Upon reading the opening page of the Vector's journal, I saw the emphasis on "the whole idea of place as a target". Pertaining to my chosen project within the issue that I'd like to discuss, "Unmarked Planes and Hidden Geographies" by Trevor Palgen speaks to this notion of our perception of place as a markable, identifiable location. More specifically, Palgen pays attention to how we leave traces, even when we meant to be "invisible" in our patterns and locations through our communication, data, and other visual evidence.

The beginning statement to the Perception issue of the Vector's journal pays special attention to the notion of whether or not "cultural, ethical, and ideological stakes of what, and how we perceive". Upon reading this, I set this as my framework for entering Palgen's presentation.

Upon initial navigation of Palgen's work, I found it a little confusing. I had to continuously refer to the first interactive image of flight patterns, hovering over certain dots, dashes, and other symbols represented on the key. However, upon further review of the text, I was able to make sense of the image and how it was meant to represent those invisible flight patterns of the Janet flights. In approaching this presentation from a critical lens and considering notions of universal access, I might have flipped the image and the text, making it so that naturally the progression of the page in the eyes of the reader forces you to read before you start playing around with the image. Therefore, you establish a foreground of what you're looking at before you begin to play.

I also found that there wasn't a clear distinction between main pages and subpages and you began to navigate the project. Upon clicking big tabs such as "The Planes" and "The Bases" I initially thought they were only one page. The sub headings are directly under the big headings, only a slightly smaller font. If your eye wasn't initially returning to the big tabs, those little tabs, which each contain their own specific information as it pertains to bigger concepts (Ex: Planes has two smaller tabs of "737s" and "Beechcrafts"). I might have made them a different color, indicating that they were an interactive component to the project that you needed to view in order to have a holistic understanding of the entire category. Or perhaps made the buttons at the bottom of the text, rather than on the top by the main tabs.

I interacted with the project in a very linear way. I moved between the main tabs and read it much like a story. I think that's the way Palgen intended. Each major category kind of fed off of the other. I was particularly interested in this project due to the nature of its topic. I have always been interested in the Groom Lake/Area 51 conspiracy, so it was fun for me to pair my knowledge with new information from Palgen. I learned a lot about the systemic ways in which our flights are tracked, coded, and maintained. In addition I learned about the different types of intentions of military aviation bases (white vs. black flights). I still want to know more about Area 51, and I wish that they would have gone into more detail about the controversy surrounding extra terrestrial life and aviation. I also wish that the project would have been more interactive then just the initial image with the flight patterns. Aside from that image, the rest were just regular images that you couldn't manipulate or play with in a way that encouraged making meaning of content or a kinesthetic understanding of these flights and their patterns/destinations.

Viewing project's like Palgen's has helped me to understand issues that pertain to design and universal access. I began to think of ways in which this project could be accessed by someone who might be hearing disabled, or perhaps someone who had disabilities pertaining to reading and writing (some of the pages were very text heavy and the font was very small). As I continue to revise and adapt my project of 21st century literacies and specifically SMS platforms and how they might aid first generation/minority students, I think about the ways in which projects can be more dialogic, in that there is conversation between author and audience.