This week I chose to analyze the interface of the Vector project entitled The Roaring ‘Twenties because this is an era which I have always enjoyed learning about this specific era in U.S. history.
When navigating the site, the creator’s of the website created a short and simple introduction and explanation of the project which helps user’s understand what the purpose and intent of the project was prior to actually launching the project. Essentially, the project’s intent is to recreate the sounds from a municipal archive of the streets of New York City from 1900 through 1933. What is interesting about the topic of this project is that soundscape is not a discipline that is common in the humanities.
One you launch the project, user’s are taken the actual project where the introduction page opens with a typical New York city soundscape during the early 1900s. The “Sound” section of the cite takes users to an interactive archive of the sources from which the creator’s of this project obtained their information. The designers of the project did a good job of creating easily understood categories for the various sources. Some of the categories of noise sources include traffic, building operations, streets, etc.
User’s can click on “Space” to access an interactive map to view detailed descriptions of buildings, popular locations and types of vehicles and the typical types of noise levels that were heard in the specific area. Zooming into the map shows details about New York City during the early 1900s. Another great feature of the website is the “Timeline” section where users can see press releases and newspaper articles of the specific year or period about the type of noise complaints and relevant news to soundscape of the time. This is interesting because I never thought that noise was such a prevalent issue. The timeline also shows big noise complaints of notable locations within the city such as a 24-hour pumping machine that was continuously making noise in the city in 1926. The timeline also helps user’s visualize the drastic increase of noise starting in 1929 through 1933. This information might be correlated to the Great Depression or some other historical event that was occurring at this time.
Overall, I think the project creator’s did a great job in creating a holistic view of soundscape in New York City during the early 1900s. The timeline really helps user’s put into perspective the increase in noise levels and how it could have potentially been affected by one big historical event or a series or events that were occurring in the city during those years.