With Pat Nunn and Rosleyn Kumar, related to the PacificTimeline project. The original project has been scaled back. You can see the original plan at the bottom. What follows immediately is what we are actually working on:

Photo/ Video of Moturiki

Sangeeta and I took photos and video at Motoriki, and I followed up with 2 days of studio shots. You can see some of the photos httphere , no.s 37-55

Fiji Timeline

Overview of Original Proposal

Project overview

This project will be an interactive CD about early inhabitants of the South Pacific, using imagery from the upcoming dig as a starting point to look at these early inhabitants. It will provide a dynamic and centralized research-source, adding flavor to existing material by offering some more hands-on research methods to students.

Goal of Project

The primary goal of this CD is to document what we know about the first inhabitants of the South Pacific, focusing on the Lapita, and presenting it in an engaging way and exploratory way. We hope to provide a true South Pacific History, as opposed to the colonial history which has often dominated. It will be used in GE101, GE306, and GE409, as well as several ExtensionCourses ?(talk to Melissa). It will provide field experience for the Audio-Visual unit as well as an opportunity for the Media Center to be involved in a full-on intensive Multimedia project.

Target Audience

Specify the group this project will be designed for. Give 2 hypothetical case studies of how this project might be used by this audience.

This CD will be primarily developed for students and lecturers of Geography, South Pacific History, and Archaeology. Parts will also be developed as a promotional tool for USP, accesible by the non-academic public.

Case study 1: An student in GE101 uses the CD to learn first hand about the first known inhabitants of Fiji. Armed with this vivid evidence, he or she writes a report on early Fijian civilizations.

Case Study 2: A graduate student in GE409 uses the CD as a jumping pad, expanding the research by focusing on a new aspect of these early inhabitants.

Case Study 3: A professor at an Australian University uses this CD as part of his or her History of the South Pacific Course, showing what life was like before the colonists came to Fiji.

Case Study 4: Watching television, a teenager sees articulate Graduate Students at USP involved in an archaelogical dig in his own region of Fiji, discovering artifacts that teach us about the first inhabitants of his island. Tired of his current job as a mechanic, this looks so exciting, and so close to his own history, that he gives USP a call to find out more about their programs.

Benefits to USP

Education: who will be educated by this? In what ways?

This CD will be used for certain in:
GE101(200 students) - PatrickNunn
GE306(70 students) - PatrickNunn
GE409(9 students) - PatrickNunn

Applicable to students of:
GE102
HP104 - The Politics of Pacific History
SE104 - Pacific Islands Archaeology
UU104 - Introduction to Pacific Studies
SO201 - Society, Culture and Change in the Pacific
GE300 - 303

ExtensionCourses:
GEF01 - The relation of people with their environment (405 students)
SOF02 - Intro. to Pacific Societies (439 students)
HPF02 - Intro. to Pacific History (299 students)
GE102, GE101 (164 students)

Promotion: how does it promote USP/ Media Centre?

The CD can be used by Universities Internationally, as an easy to use resource for early Pacific History, enhancing USP's reputation. As it focuses on a true history of the people of the South Pacific people, it helps promote USP's goals of South Pacific-centered education.

Internal Training: Who in Media Centre will learn from this project? What will they learn?

Field experience for Audio, Video, and Phtography. This will be an incredibly well-rounded Multimedia project, and so will provide an opportunity for the Media Staff to learn many aspects of Multimedia production, including FlashMX, Director, Digital video manipulation, working with external text documents, and perhaps the process of connecting static media to a live database for continued updating.

Resources needed

Technical

Digital Video camera, still camera, audio recording equipment, and Multimedia Software, all currently owned or approved for order.

Staff

For the field section, several days beginning of July, at a minimum: Christopher Robbins and Mark or Sangeeta. At a maximum: Christopher, Sangeeta or Mark (video), Mariah(audio), Litiana (photography)

For the work at the Media Center, we will need Sangeeta or Mark for Video editing; Mariah for Audio editing; Litiana for potography, scanning and photo manipulation; someone for copywriting and editing, Jo and James for illustration and animation, and Christopher for main Director/ FlashMX work. I would like to train others in FlashMX/ Director while we work on this project as well.

$$$

As per Media Centre guidelines, the first $250 of video cassettes and $50 of audio cassettes is covered by Media Centre. Transport, lodging, & food during dig, Audio above $50 and video above $250 will need to be covered by Pat Nunn's department.

First estimate 2 people to Motoriki
Photo: $150 - $50 deductible = $100
Food/Lodging: $20 x 2 people x 2 nights = $80
Airplane: $86 x 2 people = $172
Boat: $40 x 2people = $80
CDs: $2 x 50 - $50 deductible = $50
Audio: $25 - $25 deductible = $0
Total cost to P. Nunn: $482

Second estimate 1 person to Motoriki
Airplane: $86
Boat: $40
Incidentals: $50
CDs: $2 x 25 - $50 deductible = $0
Audio: $25 - $25 deductible = $0
Food/Lodging: arranged and paid for in the village by P. Nunn
Total cost to be paid to Media Centre: $126 to $176

Approach

I think this is most interesting when we show how we know know what we know (or guess what we guess); that is, as a mystery revealed.

We also want this to be relevant to all of the South Pacific, not just Fiji, so it would be best to focus on the Lapita and other early settlers of the Pacific through the methods used to uncover their history. That is rather than create a CD about the dig in the Ra district, we would create a CD about the Lapita that uses evidence from the Ra dig (alongside other research of course) to help explain.

As navigation is an important part of the narrative, it will be important to give the Navigation a feeling of exploration and discovery without it becoming difficult to use. I envision a model of a "typical" Lapita Island settlement being excavated. By literally uncovering different clues (Shells, Pottery, Bones, Geography, etc.) the student will learn about the Lapita. For instance, clicking a pottery shard could bring us to a section on distinctive pottery markings of the Lapita, a selection of lapita shards that can be rotated, and models built from these shards to show what the whole piece looked like and how it may have been used in day to say life. Clicking a Shell could bring us to an animation that shows how predation on this food source affected the shells. We would also provide a traditional text-based navigation for those who might not "get" this more exploratory method, and by linking the text to the clues with rollovers, the text-based navigation would also serve as an instructional aid on how else to use the site.

Methods

  1. via Shells - decreasing size of shells over time shows predation of Lapita. What does this tell us about how they lived?
  2. via Pottery - Markings representative of the Lapita are found on various islands covering a large portion of the South Pacific, and all date within the same general time frame. What does this tell us about how they lived?
  3. via Geography - For the most part, Lapita settlements seem to be in spots with gaps in the reef. What does this tell us about how they lived?
  4. via Dig - The depth at which differerent items are found also helps us to date and show proximity.
  5. via Oral Traditions - where do oral traditions overlap with findings to paint a richer picture of these people?
  6. via Bones - what do their bones tell us about how they looked?

Questions

  1. What did they look like?
  2. What did they eat?
  3. How did they live and work?
  4. What technology did they have?

Resources for research

  1. httpUSP library books on Lapita
  2. httpDigital Tribes Zoobook Apes Navigation
  3. FijiMuseumTalk

Lookinto:

Last edited on September 14, 2005 9:40 pm.