February 2007 Annual Convention of Western States Communication Association in Seattle
Seattle University Professor of Communication Mara Adelman, editor of Pike Place Market News Megan Lee and Urban Archivists Irina Gendelman and Giorgia Aiello participated in a panel about Pike Place Market (one of the most iconic sites of the city of Seattle) at the WSCA's annual conference in Seattle.
Giorgia and Irina presented their research about The Pike Place Market as a subject of representation in institutional (travel guides) and popular (personal tourist photography) narratives about the market. Great discussion followed about commodification of authenticity, markets as vital spaces, collective memory, historical landmarks and the future of public spaces.
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Urban Archives at October Conferences
Giorgia and Irina held a panel on working with undergraduates as research collaborators at the 2006 POD Network Conference in Portland, on October 26th.
Tom presented an audiovisual display of the Urban Archives at the Diversity Research Institute's first annual conference, Place Matters: Seeking Equity in a Diverse Society on October 27-28, 2006 at the UW.
Photo: Urban Archives exhibit; click to enlarge
Featured in the Daily
Photo by Ethan Welty
What we did this summer
We collected images in the Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Paris and Russia! New data is being edited and will be added to the Digital Collections shortly.
Photo: Graffiti in St. Petersburg, Russia one week before the G8 Summit. On rollover: Graffiti in Prague, Czech Republic.
Research Accomplishments & Awards
- Undergraduates Nara Barrows, Arin Delaney, Edith Fikes and Ingrid Haftel won the 2006 UW Library Research Award for their project, Aurora Avenue: Highway Culture in Transition. This project was a collaboration between Urban Archives and CHID 270 Photography: Theoretical Reflections and Ethnographic Applications.
- Emily Fischer and Sarah Rosenfeld finished their collaborative Communication Honors Thesis titled Graffiti and Public Space: A Semiotic Analysis of Graffiti in Seattle's University District. This is the first Honors Thesis originating from Urban Archives. Sarah and Emily contributed many images to the database and used them in their compelling analysis.
Congratulations to all our smart and inspired students. We're proud of you!!
Spring 2006, Completed Projects
Photo: Spring project presenations. Ashley presents her poster on graffiti. On rollover: Thera and Annaliese present their work on tourism in Fremont.
- Graffiti
- Identity and storefronts
- Car as a medium
- Seattle skyscape
- Visual representation of bike culture
- Fremont and imagery of tourism
- Coleman School and competing discourses
- May 1, Immigrant March in Seattle
Working with the community..
April 25th UA presented at the 2006 UW Teaching and Learning Symposium.
April 8th , UA collaborated with the Americorps Young Heroes project. Together with their 9-13 year old participants, we hunted for visual elements of cultural identity in Seattle streets.
Photo: Particpants in the collaboration between Urban Archives and the Americorps Young Heroes project.
Winter 2006...
We completed our Winter Quarter data collection on the following topics:
- Aurora signs: highway culture in the city. History and aesthetics.
- Political graffiti around the world.
- Competing discourses and historic preservation (Coleman School).
- Post smoking ban: will public spaces change?
- Today's Seattle places in old archival photographs.
- Ghost signs
Dec 2005: Digital Collection goes online!
We have begun to make our research data available through the University of Washington Libraries' Digital Collections.
The Urban Archives:
UA Digital Collections
the Urban Archivist -- Blog
UA Notebook -- Wiki
Research Seattle (lib. resources)
In the media :
UWeek
UWeek slide show
Daily Feature PDF (5MB)
Contact Us:
Please send any feedback or questions to Urban Archives.