How do you define an area you want to digitally record you emotions at?

For recording a picture's location, companies like Flickr ask photographers to add mark a point on their map. A Latitude and Longitude which effectively says, "this is a picture of here". Makes sense.

But would that translate to recording to recording an emotion's location?

You could just say, "this emotion was 'ere", mark it on a Google map with a single pin and be done with it. However, unlike a picture, an emotion isn't always stirred by a single point. Emotions are built up from going to a range of places, different times of day, maybe a good feeling about being somewhere. It's not just sitting in one place, but maybe walking up Glousceter road with all it's cool shops, a huge green park with people everywhere or maybe it's sitting in the pub watching the world go by. The emotions are fueled by a space around you.

Imagine it's a warm summer's day, like the we used to have a few years back. You decided to drive up to the big park and chat with your friends in the sun. Maybe you stop in Tescos and grab a cheeky bottle of wine, burgers and a BBQ for everyone to enjoy. Your day is then spent warming your skin, eating, drinking and lazing about until it gets chilly and darker. What a great time!

Would it feel odd to just plonk a Google map marker where the Downs were? It'd make sense, obviously. But the experience was probably fueled by the people playing around, the trees, the huge expanse and the sun. A marker just doesn't do that emotional space justice.

That leaves an important question for the tools we're using, an iPhone, a multi-touch gesture device. How can we best record those emotional areas which excited your feelings?

Posted by dancourse