Document:Q10560

Balkan Layers: Macedonian Diary is an interactive Web project based on
my impressions of Macedonia during the Fall and Winter of 1998-1999
while I was in Skopje on a Senior Fulbright grant.
I have chosen to create digital images because they can be layered in a
way that reflects the layers of changing culture, society, history,
geology and politics. The information (images and narrative) is
organized in parallel segments that can be viewed in any order - using
the branching structure of data. This gives impressions of the whole
experience rather than telling a linear story.
The Internet is a perfect forum in which to present this project. The
diary-like impressions are presented in an intimate and personal format.
The interactive experience, as with most web sites will often be
solitary and private. At the same time, the scope of the project will
have a global reach because of its topical subject matter and location
on the Internet. The BORDERLESS nature of the Internet is here used to
express content about an area whose geographic borders have always been
in flux. Also, the dynamic nature of the Web allows for evolution and
reinvention -- a Web project is, by its nature, always a work in
progress mutating and evolving in response to the world around.
The design is simple and the navigation is relatively easy. I have
chosen not to use plugins and I have made a deliberate effort to keep
files small and reduce visual noise. While I was in Macedonia I gained a
new appreciation for the Internet access that we have in America. Most
people of the world do not have Internet connections and computers.
Those that do have access often have limited and expensive access and
poor connections. For example, in Macedonia people pay by the pulse and
by the minute. To make the work more accessible I have streamlined my
use of large files.