For this project I started thinking about borders literally, thinking about country land borders. My first idea is to look at disputed borders around the world as for this brief we must allow our chosen border to be perceived, narrated and explored. Where they are disputes, there will definitely be a story to tell and expose.
An example of a disputed border in our society today is the Kosovo-Serbia boarder in eastern Europe. Kosovo was a province of Serbia until 2008, when it unilaterally declared independence however, Serbia does not recognise Kosovo's independence. In order for either country to gain European Union membership, the EU requires Kosovo and Serbia to normalise their relations in order to advance towards EU membership. Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia have been high since the war in 1999 however recently the two states have established a line of communication. President Hashim Thaçi of Kosovo and President Aleksandar Vučićof Serbia have agreed that the only way to move on is by conducting a series of land swapping. This means the border will have to be redrawn. As you can imagine, this has angered those who reside in both states, especially those who live in the discussed territories proposed by the land swapping.
My idea is to educate those outside the two states about the issues and present the proposed new borders. For two of the three projects in this data visualisation unit, I used quantitative statistical raw data to inform my outcomes. I collected air pollution data using R and the London Air website. Therefore, I have decided that for this project I will use a form of qualitative data, specifically personal anecdotes from individuals who live in the affected areas. This was my project strives away from being too political by using statistics provided by central governments. I believe personal anecdotes will set this project as a social issue being explored and not a political one.
I began to think about the different ways I could manifest my data. Writing the personal anecdotes and displaying them on an interface is definitely an appropriate option however, I would also like something visual on the interface. Since I am hoping the data will yield different results, I would like to morph the suggested borders by the individuals, like an animation. The user would be able to click through the different suggestions and see the border line moving to accommodate that persons view.
Bibliography list:
BBC News. (2019). The town where neighbours won't share a coffee. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46808673 (Accessed: 17 May 2019).
Encyclopedia Britannica. (2019). Kosovo | History, Map, Flag, Population, Languages, & Capital. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/place/Kosovo (Accessed: 17 May 2019).
En.wikipedia.org. (2015). List of territorial disputes. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_territorial_disputes (Accessed: 17 May 2019).
En.wikipedia.org. (2015). North Kosovo crisis. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Kosovo_crisis (Accessed: 17 May 2019).
En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Partition of Kosovo. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_Kosovo (Accessed: 17 May 2019).
En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Geography of Kosovo. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Kosovo (Accessed: 17 May 2019).
Guri, B. (2011). Comparison of the boundaries between Kosovo, Albania, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro from OSM data. Available at: https://besiguri.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/comparison-of-the-boundaries-between-kosovo-s/ (Accessed: 17 May 2019).
Mayr, W. (2019). Playing with Fire: Talk of Shifting Kosovo's Borders Sparks Concern - SPIEGEL ONLINE - International. Available at: https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/talk-of-shifting-kosovo-borders-sparks-concern-in-balkans-a-1260868.html (Accessed: 17 May 2019).
Solutions, E. (2018). Serbia-Kosovo border change unlikely . Available at: http://country.eiu.com/article.aspx?articleid=777151461&Country=Serbia&topic=Politics (Accessed: 17 May 2019).
Comments