Our take on Psychogeography
As a group the first thing we decided on was what we think psychogeography means and what aspect we will be "studying". To sum it up in 1 sentence (or to sum up our take on it);
Psychogeography is acknowledging the ignored
and we derived this term from the quotation below, which we will also use on our group wiki.
"Only an awareness of the influences of the existing environment can encourage the critique of the present conditions of daily life, and yet it is precisely this concern with the environment which we live which is ignored."
Psychogeography
"the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals." Guy Debord [1]
Only an awareness of the influences of the existing environment can encourage the critique of the present conditions of daily life, and yet it is precisely this concern with the environment which we live which is ignored. [2]
From this quotation I would describe psychogeography as an exisiting environment/building/area which goes ignored through our daily lives. Reasons for why these buildings are made or who they were made for are not something one would think as they walk by them nearly everyday. When looking at buildings through this perspective, it can change the way in which people view a building.
Dérive is a part of psychogeography. It was a practice used mostly by the Dadaists, where they would "let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there"[ibid.] however this was all done consciously; "informed and aware wandering" [3]. This could easily link with psychogeography as it changes the way in which someone looks at an attraction or building and what else is surrounded by it.
[1] http://library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/display/2
[2] http://www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/people/a.evans/psychogeog.html
[3] http://www.monoculartimes.co.uk/city-tours/psychogeography/workingdefinition.shtml
Analysing the HMV website1. ContentThe HMV hompage has a look to take in, its busy and has text as well as images nearly everywhere on the page. However, the images anchor the text; therefore the image of Duffy conveys Music, however the image of Slash does not immediatly connotate games. 2.PresentationThere is a basic colour theme for the website, black,white and pink (some greys). The text is always in white againts either a black, pink or grey background which makes it somehwat easy to read. The images can often be distracting, yet at the same time serves the purpose to draw attention to specific artists to attract consumers. The website has no white space and is placed down the centre of the page, however scrolling down the page is fairly long.3. OrganizationThe website is fairly easy to navigate, images associated with particular artists/actors allows one to access certain mediums easily. There is a menu bar across the top and down the side which allows the consumer to constantly navigate through the site easily; and allowing them to jump from DVD to Games in one simple click. 