Where Do You See Yourself?: Location as Identity

[Presented at UX Week 2013]

Europeans, US citizens, San Franciscans, Harajuku girls, West Point alumni, gym members, ex-pats, tourists, Sarasota retirees—from birthplace onward, we use locations to define ourselves and others. In turn, these geography-centric definitions allow us to repurpose maps into increasingly rich encyclopedias: intimate yet vast, historical and current.

A set of map coordinates forms the link between Joni Mitchell, the Troubadour in West Hollywood, Lenny Bruce and Spanish expeditions in the 1700s. They tie my friend Libby to Elvis through a trip to Graceland. Childhood haunts still hold meaning even if the buildings we remember are gone, and we use landmarks and landscapes to recall history long after the battles are over. This talk covers some of the many ways we continue to add to our growing repositories of location data and what we can learn through these points on a map.

Transcript

1.  Where Do You See Yourself? L O C A T I O N I D E N T I T Y as
3. Me 6
4. a Design Me 6
7. Guam 6
8. Guam 6
10. ♥
11. 1. Places change you.
12. FEMALE
13. API
14. APIA?
15. GAY
16. UI/UX
17. ACTIVE
18. ACTIVE-ish
20. FEMALE
21. FEMALE API
22. FEMALE API GAY
23. FEMALE API GAY
24. FEMALE API GAY UI/UX
25. ♥
27. FEMALE API GAY UI/UX
28. FEMALE API GAY UI/UX
29. FEMALE API GAY UI/UX ACTIVE-ish
31. FEMALE API GAY UI/UX ACTIVE-ish
32. FEMALE API GAY UI/UX ACTIVE-ish
35. FEMALE API GAY UI/UX ACTIVE-ish FAMILY
36. Identity is how we make sense of ourselves. Gillian Rose
37. Place-identity is where we make sense of ourselves.
38. Where should a gay user interface/experience designer who likes to walk everywhere be?
40. ♥
41. This could only happen here.
46. This could only happen here.
47. She could only happen here.
48. He could only happen here.
49. I could only happen here.
50. ♥
51. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
52. 2. You change places.
54. Mistaken Place Identity
55. National Identity
56. Zoom Levels of Identities
57. 
58. 
59. 
60. 
61. 
63. Identity is shaped by the people who claim it.
64. People from Guam speak English.
65. People from not-America speak English.
66. We teach each other about our places.
67. whose sense of place is more powerful than whose
68. but
69. US vs. THEM
70. US
71. ♥
72. 3. Place Is Powerful.
73. Location
76. 
77. Location is tangible history.
78. Actors
79. Period of Time
80. Location
81. Actors Period of Time Location
82. Location
83.  
84. Location connects us.
85.  
86. 
88. Location connects histories.
89. Location connects our histories.
90. Engage with places.
91. Be in places that are good for you.
92. Keep evolving your ideas of who “belongs” where.
93. Be present.
94. @hechanova 6 a Findery