This past Sunday our group went to Far Rockaway and actually got more footage than we intended. We interviewed a few people and talked to some who did not wish to be recorded. In any case, we feel that the video footage that we have is excellent and we are debating if we will take the video or the Prezi approach to our presenation.
For the contents of our project, Anastasia will open by talking about what is wrong with the current housing of the Rockaways. After discussing these problems, Karen and Elliot will explain the effects of Hurricane Sandy (namely the social and financial aspects). We will accompany our explanation with the footage we have from interviewing Mr. Gaska and others. This will build up to our main part of the presentation – the future of a sustainable community that should develop in the Rockaways. Aruna and Aamir will lead the discussion and the ideas they will present (since this is the main part of the presentation) will incorporate research done by the whole group.
I think you should spend the next few days seeing if you can produce visual data for your argument (pictures of the housing that was there, what it looks like now, and artist or architectural renderings of possible future housing as well as any data/tables you might be using to make your case. It sounds like you may have the basis for a good video, so you could get these materials together, write up a ‘script’, which could either be the script for your presentation or for a voiceover. You should have these both together by next week. Then we can take a look at it and see what will look better – a prezi or a video.
You haven’t provide many details on the content of what you have learned, so I can’t suggest very much to you. I’d like to see an outline/”story board” as soon as you can put it together, along with some description of your analysis and conclusions. What do you think a “sustainable community” in the Rockaways should/can look like? Where are you getting the ideas for such a community? Why do you believe it will be “sustainable”?
Hello Professor!
We have started putting together the actual presentation. After reviewing all of the media and information that we have, we decided that a Prezi will be the best fit for our presentation. Here is an outline of what the presentation will cover.
1) The housing situation of the Rockaways after the storm
– What were the threats faced? Why was there a failure to respond?
– How close were the houses together? How close is the shoreline to the houses?
– What difficulties did people encounter in the storm?
(These questions are answered by our trip to the Rockaways and our interviews we have conducted)
2) Effects of Hurricane Sandy
– FEMAs new flood zone maps
– Financial costs
– We will also put together a video on the destruction of the Rockaways from the footage we have received from Mr. Gaska and interviewing residents there.
3) Analysis/Solution to the problem – Introduction to sustainable and resilient communities.
– The classical ideas of raising the housing and moving the electrical systems to higher grounds
– What can be done to improve the overall community? (example: Wall garden and the benefits of it. Porous roads and potentially oyster beds if time allows)
– What can be done with the current power grid? (We have research on the current smart grid via the Department of Energy)
– The idea of storm surge barriers and mossy wetlands/tidal salt marshes. (how does this help and why it does.)
– The research are from databases (Ecological Economics, Cities, Science Direct, National Defense) and government websites (Department of Energy). Basically, we have learned the mechanisms of how these sustainable ideas work. For example, with the electricity, we have learned how electricity travels, and why this is a problem. We also have a schematic of the so called smart grid and why it is resilient.
For the rest of the week, our group will be preparing our speeches and putting the presentation together for Monday.