The Bridge Blog
A dialog about our new bridge and these web pages
Overview. As a pointy-headed
university professor, my weekend project of bridge photography and
building these web pages generated many questions and introduced me
to just-in-time learning. I enjoy chasing my curiosity and
want to identify ways to encourage younger learners to also enjoy curiosity
chasing and learning.
Learning usually requires repetition while forgetting occurs when
I infrequently use information. Many young learners do not understand
the importance of repetition. Weekly visits to the bridge provided
the repetition necessary to detect changes in the bridge and
consequently generated
many questions and opportunities for learning. Over the course of the
bridge project, I had access to few experts for answering questions.
Rather than a liability, this became an asset and pushed me to improve
my search skills with Google. Soon, I found that answers
to questions encountered during my weekly photo shoots were often
only a Google-search away -
(see
Restoring the Joy in Learning). Consequently Google + Internet became
dependable extensions of my memory.
The bridge story is a work in progress and is evolving from a simple
collections of photographs to an experiment with Internet-centric
just-in-time learning.
Insights I gain from you
will find their way into the learning centers of MUSC.
Palmetto Bridge Constructors, a joint venture between
Tidewater
Skanska and
Flatiron Constructors, as well as
High Steel Structures,
Freyssinet, the
SCDOT and the
Federal Highway Commission Office
of Bridge Technology guided much of my learning.
I also learn from many of you and from Google-linked resources. More
important is the e-mail encouragement I receive from many of you.
Tue, 19 Apr 2005
April 19, 2005: What to do next?
Now that the two main spans have been joined and the two tower cranes have
been disassembled very little change is visible from the S.C. Aquarium
and from my bicycle as I ride
across the old bridge. So continuing my weekly set of standard photos
will bring us little new
data. The work on the East Bay on ramp continues and I shall continue
to track this. But I am rapidly running out of ideas. So, if you have
a burning question, now is the time to add your input into our bridge
project. Send me email with your ideas.
And another request. I am thinking about building a photo exhibit selected from
the 6000+ photos I have taken over the past 18 months. The idea is to
provide something interesting from an art perspective as well as an
opportunity to see some of the temporal changes in major bridge features. The
question again is what is interesting for all of you? I have thought about
the following topics:
- Monthly view of the two pylons and closing the gap. I have photos from
August 2003 until now capturing most of this.
- Building the east approach (as seen from my bicycle rides)
- Building the east deck
- Building the west deck
- Building the west approach
- Building a stay cable (Freyssinet)
- Images that just happened - mostly photos that show aspects of the bridge
in different light.
Lee, at
Duncan and Parnell
here in Charleston, can make large (4 ft. x
whatever length) inkjet prints of image compositions. Lee has helped me with
some test prints showing the time sequence of closing the gap on a textured
paper that really brings the images to life. Exploring the presentation
in this manner has challenged me - how to make this something other than a
group of plain jane photos. Using textured paper amd organizing multiple
images on the same paper brings something new to this presentation.
I have also had
Shutterfly print some test
images in a large format: 11x14 and 16x20. Both sizes are amazing and there
is no observable evidence that indicates the digital nature (5 megapixel)
of the images. For me, this was a big surprise.
So again - any ideas about the topics and image composition of such an
exhibition that would make it interesting for you?
What would grab your attention and attract you for a closer look? Again
send me email with your ideas. I shall make an additional tab on the top
menu bar of our bridge web pages so that you can see what I am thinking and
display your suggestions.
Thanks.
posted at: 05:58 | path:
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