This semester I learned a lot about geosemiotics that I did not know about and had never really thought about before this class. I find it interesting to discuss public space and what it actually means to have public space and if it exists in the purest form of the word.
During this semester I enjoyed the primary research for the group projects. It was fun to decide on something to research and then see it play out right in person. My group decided to make signs from the University saying that the center sidewalk on the quad could not be walked on. At first we only put signs up and people would either not see them or would and continue to walk on the sidewalk. Once we put tape across however, people stopped walking on the center sidewalk and more people even went so far to actually stop and read what the signs said. The comments made from some people as to why the sidewalk was closed were also entertaining. I also enjoyed the first reading that we did about public space. The discussions we had about the term public space and what that meant were my favorite and also the most intriguing ones in my mind. It is difficult to actually find a public space and exploring that idea is one that interests me.
I would like to explore more deeply into the idea of parks being a public space. There are usually cops and other surveillance systems around a park. There are many rules and regulations that seem as more surveillance. There were also many gated off areas where people were not allowed to walk on the grass. Although many would think the park is a place open to anyone but there is monitoring on that especially at night to avoid homeless people sleeping there at night.
After having my meeting on my paper however, my idea for what I wanted to base my paper on changed completely. Instead of looking more into what public space means exactly, I am going to examine the effect of advertisements in public areas. How people perceive and advertisement that seems to be controversial and how they react to those ads.
