Zeemap

I like your idea of inserting notes into a map rather than just a document, so I've created a zeemap and embedded it in the right-hand column. (Click on 'visit larger zeemap' to see a version at a more useful scale.) I'm not sure if I've got the settings right, so you might want to mess around with it for a bit and then let me know how you got on. (Zeemap have developed a great resource but they really need to sort out their 'help' material!)

Google Doc

Over the next six weeks or so, I'd like to build up my knowledge of the history of migrancy in the area of the Mississippi River. (I think this is particularly important for me because, not being from the US, I'm starting from a lower level of general knowledge than you are.) To organise my reading, I've opened a document (called 'Mississippi Migrants') and am intending to type in brief reminders about particular migrant experiences as they come up in my reading and research.

Having made a start, I thought it would be good to share this with you and so I've uploaded it to Google Docs and, later today, you should receive an invitation from Google to become a co-editor of the document. I'll also put a link to it in the sidebar of this blog, so it becomes a satellite of the blog rather than something totally separate. As I say, I'm thinking of this as something I particularly need to do to organise my developing knowledge, so don't feel I'm pushing you to use it. On the other hand, if you'd like to add to it, I'd be delighted!

My plan is:

1. To give the material some structure by dividing it up state by state, moving south from Minnesota to Louisiana.

2. To give it still more structure by organising the material for each state in loosely chronological order.

3. To summarise the material into bullet points of not more than 3 or 4 lines so that it remains a kind of overview and doesn't become a huge sprawling essay.

So far I've just put in seven brief points that have caught my attention over the last couple of days. Will add more as I carry on reading :o)

Friends of the Mississippi River

Perhaps we should do this as part of our introduction to the river. I spoke yesterday with Whitney Clark, the Director of FMR (he's writing a letter of support for the MN grant I'm applying for), and the way he described this made me think we should definitely think about doing it! (also, I'm testing the email--> blogger post functionality...)

Mississippi River Challenge [1]

Display Date: Saturday-Sunday, July 25-26, 2009 (with volunteer shifts and check-in beginning July 24) Location: The Twin Cities stretch of the Mississippi River

The Mississippi River Challenge is a one- or two-day canoe or kayak event on the amazing Twin Cities stretch of the Mississippi River. This unique paddle was begun in 2004 by Friends of the Mississippi River to foster appreciation of the Mississippi River in the Twin Cities region and raise funds to protect it.

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Paddle it!
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The Mississippi River Challenge promises a unique excursion: pass through locks, paddle with voyageurs and camp overnight inside Historic Fort Snelling! to find out more about participating in the only pledge event of its type in the upper Midwest, visit the Mississippi River Challenge Website [2] to find out more and sign up! Read more… [3]

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Landlubbers wanted!

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Volunteers are critical to the success of this large-scale event. At 11 different riverfront locations along this 44-mile route, volunteers help paddlers come in off the water to refuel and refresh. You can sign up for just one three- or four-hour shift, or take two to earn free entry into the party at Fort Snelling Saturday night (a $20 value), or make a weekend of it and earn FMR SuperVolunteer status (20 hours in a year) and t-shirt. For more information, visit [4]the Challenge volunteering page [5].

[1] http://www.fmr.org/participate/events/mississippi_river_challenge-2009
[2] http://www.mississippiriverchallenge.org
[3] http://www.fmr.org/participate/events/mississippi_river_challenge-2009
[4] http://www.mississippiriverchallenge.org/volunteer.php
[5] http://www.mississippiriverchallenge.org/volunteer.php

video camera

I have a camcorder, a Sony DCR-SR52E, which has a hard disc. (Helpful when you're travelling because you don't need to carry lots of tapes.) I haven't used it much because I bought when I started doing multimedia project work with students but they've never really gone for video - lots of animation and hypertext but not much live filming. It's a public holiday here on Monday so we'll probably be going to the seaside or something: an opportunity to dig the camera out and take a bit of experimental footage of seagulls or whatever :o)

I might go and have a chat with Rob, the theatre technician in our department. He's often a source of good ideas, and, if I describe the project to him, he might come up with further interesting ways to document it. Will let you know what happens...

equipment...

regarding recording equipment, I have the Zoom H4, which is probably pretty similar to the edirol you're looking at. I also have a higher quality stereo mic, and on the other end of the scale, my iPhone works fine as a quick and dirty recorder for notes and so on. I have a relatively decent point and shoot digital camera, also. What I do not have at all is any video camera. I had thought it would be good to have one for the trip, so maybe that's a good use of your budget? something to think about...

another book

I've just ordered a book called Daily Life Along The Mississippi by George S. Pabis. It aims to develop 'a social and material history of the people along the entire Mississippi River from the era of Native American settlement to modern times' and it was published in 2007, so the research it draws on should be pretty up-to-date. I'm hoping that it will help me develop a broad overview - geographical and historical - of patterns of settlement and migration along the river.

I've looked at the introduction on google books (most of it is excluded from the preview, unfortunately) and it does talk a little about language and languages. I don't know if there's more later on in the text but at least it might point me in the direction of some interesting material...

recording equipment

I just wanted to ask your thoughts about recording equipment for the Mississippi trip - do you already have equipment that you would be planning to take along? I'm asking because the admin people at work have reminded me that I have some money (around £500) left over from a teaching and learning grant that I received a couple of years ago and that I have to spend it before the end of June or it will be reabsorbed into general university funds. Because the grant was specifically related to teaching and learning, I have to spend the money on something I could reasonably use with students. (I don't think they'd let me put it towards a canoe, for example.) So I was thinking of buying an edirol digital recorder, which I could use to document the journey through Minnesota and which the students could use for their own research projects afterwards (assuming i don't drop it in the Mississippi).

I gather that edirol digital recorders store about 16 hours of audio in 16bit wav format or 96 hours in mp3 format. Now, I'm assuming that you'd be using something mcuh more sophisticated than that for interviews and ambient sound but I thought that, as well as the recordings you make for the work itself, it might be interesting to keep an audio diary, and mp3s would be fine for that purpose - in fact, they'd be ideal for posting on a blog as an interesting alternative to text.

I wanted to run this past you before doing anything, though. If there's equipment that you need to buy, I could put the £500 towards that instead (bearing in mind that it would belong to Sheffield University afterwards, so it would be good to use it for some discrete item). Let me know what you think.