This week I explored “The Knotted Line” website. I thought the design was very interesting and the interactivity was key part of my experience. The method of accessing the information relates to the information presented. The timeline presents the history of oppression in America, especially how it relates to education, housing, and prison systems in the more modern era. Sometimes it was a struggle to get the blurb to pop-up which is a strength of the website not a weakness. I think this parallels the difficulties present when trying to access information while oppressed. Sometimes I also had to access a previous pop-up before the next one could show up, which re-enforces the idea that knowing the historical context and previous events is important to understanding our current social climate.
The About section describes how to use the site but if you want to access the background the the project you have to click through one of the blurb pop-ups. Because this is a timeline with imagined future events I would like to know when this project was created. A great strength of this site are the pages you can access once you click through one of the blurbs. Each item on the timeline is listed is chronological order and you can also browse by theme/subject matter. The homepage is a piece of artwork in itself and the “back page” is a great tool to expand on the information presented on the homepage, especially if you missed some items on the timeline.
When I explored the timeline I immediately thought of California’s recently approved Proposition 47. Prop 47 reduces the classification of most “nonserious and nonviolent property and drug crimes” from a felony to a misdemeanor. Because “The Knotted Line” was created before 2012, the approval of this proposition is not on the timeline but I’m surprised that an equivalent is not present in the “future events” part. The 2016 legalization of marijuana node could be an equivalent, especially because of the focus on the decrease in drug arrests. Prop 47 covers more than drug-related crimes and will lead to a decrease in the number of people that have to go to prison for crimes committed. The “future events” on the timeline focus on prison reformation as a major point and it also focuses on shifting laws that also improve the entire justice system. This is important because it shows that “The Knotted Line” is looking at America’s history of oppression from many different angles and doesn’t consider prison reform as the ultimate solution. Instead it’s a combination of factors that effect the status of our freedoms.