Category Archives: Final Project

Facebook Knows You Better Than You Do

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Purritos and Shaving Cream 

So, it had become apparent that Facebook is even more skillful at knowing my life and my interests than my friends, my boyfriend, or even myself. In the wake of controversy following the popular social networking site’s apparent ability to determine that a teen girl was pregnant before anyone else based solely on her google searches, a wide array of attention, both positive and negative, has been brought to the fact that websites actually know what you search and browse through on the internet, and use it to advertise products catered solely to your interests.

In honesty, it’s a little bit creepy, and I’m quickly realizing that my online activities really aren’t that secure. Just the other day, I was browsing Harry’s for a birthday gift for my boyfriend, an avid beard enthusiast who takes the upmost care of his facial hair, and soon enough, all of my social media profiles were flooded with ads promoting beard trimmers, razors, and shaving creme. How can they get this information from me so quickly? If they can see it, who else can? My online presence must certainly be generating a lot of interesting information, as my most frequently viewed content includes cat pictures, TV trivia, and buzzfeed quizzes, but what is that really telling them about me? That if they advertise a picture of a Purrito that I’ll go buy one? (Hint Hint: I will).

purrrrito

 

Buying habits aside, I find it creepy that the internet knows so much about my love for cats and my needless addiction to purchasing Jellcat stuffed animals. If they want to use my search history to trick me into spending my savings on needless products, then maybe I need to change my security settings (or maybe I need a better job, those Purritos are adorable).

Project Progress

As far as my project goes, I’ve found a lot of interesting items that I’m excited to analyze and share! One, in particular, is proving to be both insanely helpful and immensely overwhelming: Documents Relative to the Origin and History of the Smithsonian Institution. 

This resource is hundreds of pages long, and covers all aspects of the Smithsonian and all of its establishments, which provides a lot of great information in a vastly overwhelming package. Just finding the sections that pertain to my topic has been more than slightly difficult, and actually reading and making sense of them is another whole ordeal. That being said, I have been able to draw a lot from in it, and its given me some great information about the initial goals and plans for the zoo, which I can compare to the way the zoo exists in the present day.

Make a Map

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Screen Shot 2014-04-07 at 2.50.48 PM

 

One vital step in understanding history is understanding maps. Maps, new and old, electronic or hand-drawn, all helps to serve as a visual aid for understanding historical landmarks and events, and how they may interrelate to each other. I create the above map using google’s “maps enginge”, in order to display important locations in the understanding of the Smithsonian National Zoo, and it’s role within the society of Washington, D.C. I, of course, marked the Zoo itself, as well as Association of Zoos and Aquarium’s Headquarters, the Smithsonian Institution Building, and the National Academy of Sciences on the first layer, as they all play an integral role in running, maintaining, and aiding the zoo in it’s public operations and the care of its animals. On the second layer, I marked the National Aquarium, as it falls under the same category as the zoo in terms of it’s role as a scientific landmark and a public exhibit for education and entertainment.

I didn’t have much difficulty while actually making the map, other than locating some of the latitude and longitude points and verifying that I had them correct. The maps engine was simplistic enough to use with ease, but still allowed for customization and personal preferences to be utilized. The map itself is useful in understanding how all of these organizations and buildings work together to make locations like the Zoo and the Aquarium run and benefit our city educationally and socially. Seeing the areas in relation to each other really gives an idea of their importance, due to their central location within the city and their proximity to each other.

Creating a map is an extremely helpful and important part of understanding historical situations, and is definitely something I’ll be utilizing in my future research.

Research Question of Choice

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My research question of choice is actually a few intersecting questions, which are as follows:

How was the Smithsonian National Zoo planned, developed, designed, and built, and filled with various animal life? How did the Smithsonian National Zoo effected the Washington, DC area upon it’s establishment, and how has it continued to impact the area and people of the country today?

I think researching these questions will allow me to gain a unique perspective on an interesting aspect of the Washington, DC area, and I think it will be a fun topic to gain knowledge about!

The National Zoo!

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After last week’s research on a few broader topics, I really feel that I’m drawn to the National Zoo! I’ve always enjoyed going myself, and I’ve never really thought about all the history and development that went into it until now. I’d like to delve further into the development of the zoo concept, and how the decision was made to open one in our nation’s capital, as well as into the zoo’s initial planning and development. I’ve already learned that it was originally on the National Mall! They also didn’t hire their first, full-time veterinarian until 1950. What were the first animals at the zoo? How were they chosen and transported to Washington DC? What was the initial reaction of the people to the creation of the zoo? To look further into this, i plan to draft an array of questions I’d like to see answered, and do my research to find as much history as I can. I’ll search for news articles from the opening, any reviews that may exist, photographs of the original zoo to compare to more modern images, and the legislation which helped to build it. I think researching this topic will be very fulfilling to myself, personally, and will make for an interesting and insightful look into a different part of Washington DC.

Final Project Topic Ideas

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Washington DC is full of rich and vibrant history around every corner, so much so that there are millions of topics which can be analyzed and researched to give us a greater understanding of this great city and it’s development. I personally find myself drawn to a few topics in particular, all of which I feel are important to the understanding of the city as a whole and as it developed, and which are important to me personally.

sligo creek parkway

 

I’ve always found myself interested in the roll of parks and similar parkways within a city environment. These places of tranquility amidst the hustle and bustle of the urban city have always captivated me, and I continually desire to see more of them in some of our most busy areas, where trees are more often cut down than planted. In places like DC, people don’t often look past the grand monuments and historic buildings, completely missing the beauty that can be founds along the river and into the greenery surrounding the area. For this reason, I feel the development of parks and parkways in and around Washington DC might be a great topic to explore. The suburban city developed alongside the natural elements which surround it, and neither would be as substantial or beautiful without the other. Parks offer a sense of solace and interaction between citizens outside of their daily lives, and are essential to the social constructs of DC, as well as other major cities. I would love to explore these places, such as the Sligo Creek Parkway near DC, and analyze the process of conception to development, from how they’re designed and planned to how they’re created and utilized by all different people within the city.

panda

The Smithsonian National Zoo is a major attraction in Washington DC, and one that brings together the social, ecological, and even political nature of our city into one, family-friendly location. The creation of zoos played an essential roll in changing the way early people viewed animals; where they were primarily accustomed to hunting and killing native animals for food and trophy, they were suddenly able to view beautiful and abnormal creatures in their own habitats and learn about them safely. The zoo brought together a desire for cultural and social interaction within the city and the increase in awareness and knowledge about the animal world in a vast multitude of different countries by creating a place where people could socialize while being educated on the importance of different animal species to our planet. the zoo has even been used as a political segue, helping us to form relations with other countries and to show our respect and love for their native animals (for example, China and the Pandas they gifted us, which are now a major attraction). By studying the development and usage of the Smithsonian National Zoo, I can look deeper into the social constructs of the city, as well as into the importance of communal gathering, nature, and education in a suburban environment. I would analyze the zoo’s creative aspects, from design to location planning and habitat construction, and move forward into it’s construction, current uses, and popularity since it’s opening in 1889.

A third topic I would find great interest in researching would be the city planning and architectural design of the city and it’s monuments. It is undoubtedly true that Washington DC offers a multitude of architectural styles and is designed with a fascinating layout, all of which continually captures visitors from around the world, but how did all of these things come to be? Who was entrusted with deciding on a city planner or the different architects for the monuments? How did these designers decide on what was best for the city? All of these questions are essential to understanding how this great city came to be, as well as how it is continually expanding and captivating us everyday.