Introduction

Hi :), my name is Esme, and what you are about to see are the storymaps that I have created over the term. The first one being about my study places, followed by what a typical day would look like for me, and finally what I observed in a space of my choosing. Each story map is different with respect to what I was covering in it. Hopefully, as you look through them, you’ll see a progression of how comfortable I got with using the storymap platform to create the assignments. For each one I tried to do something a little bit different than I had in the previous one besides the first one, which was… well, the first one I did, so I didn’t have anything to refer back to on that one. I hope you enjoy! 😀

Correspondence 1

The first story map is of places where my friend and I study the best on campus.

One of the main takeaways I got from this storymap is how different the spaces were. I like being closer to the windows so that way I can take a break from the work I’m doing to look out at nature and see the people walking by ( I love people watching). My friend wants no distraction, so they enclose themselves in a little cubical in SMC. I like how differently our spaces work for us and how we work in them. I know I wouldn’t like working in SMC with how bright it can be in there, and it always feels very cold to me. My friend wouldn’t really move from SMC because that is their ‘home’ away from home. (They’re a SMC rat, so they live and breathe that building’s atmosphere.)

Correspondence 2

The second story map is about the things that I made a habit of doing every Tuesday and seeing if I stick to my routine or if things make me stray from it.

This was my favorite correspondence to do! It was so fun to record my day, but it was also challenging. I got so swept up in actively going through the day that I forgot I was supposed to record as I went through it. I did a lot of the typical things I normally do every Tuesday, like doing my laundry and going to class, but I enjoyed the little moments that don’t happen every Tuesday. The random coffee trip and the walk weren’t things I planned, but I’m happy that they happened. I got more out of my day than the things I’ve turned into routines. Although, getting jump scared by a cat that loves to lurk in the shadows wasn’t a routine that I willing chose to become apart of, I’m still glad it happens. (I chase after him after he scares me to show him that I’m not afraid of him (I am still very afraid of him, but I get butt hurt that he still manages to scare me even though I know he loves to do it))

Correspondence 3

The final story map shows my observations of a place and taking note of how things unfolded in that setting.

Normally there’s more people I go to brunch with, but I think this correspondence was a lot richer since it was only my roommate and I. I also decided to be more creative with this correspondence and decided to draw more than just settling pictures (I forgot to take more pictures which is why the drawing can into being). I think that’s why this one was special to me because I put in more work in to produce it. The drawings took time because I decided, for some reason, to make the elements in them small, but I’m happy with how they turned out. This correspondence also felt the simplest to me and somehow the richest in detail because of how much shorter it was. I think drawing out what the tables looked like and the food made this one feel a bit more personal to me.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed doing these assignments because it made me more aware of things that I normally brush over. I was able to be more present while working on my storymaps because the assignments themselves asked me to really focus in on things to get as much detail as I could. The assignments were simple, but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t complex. Being able to focus on one thing and really giving all my attention to it was fun, and with the storymap platform, you really can do a lot to make your map really special and specific to your style.