Eleventh International Conference on The Image

Abstract

Researching the World War Two (WWII) graffiti image, “Kilroy Was Here,” I discovered the challenge of storing the multimedia files in a way that I could curate and display the research. Because this research spans decades and geography, I asked several questions: What backend system houses multimedia images consistently, allowing for tagging and searching in various ways? How do researchers collaborate, curate, sync, search and reorganize data? What frontend interface allows audiences to experience the best qualities of each modality? How do researchers display multimodality so that space and time are represented? Researchers often face issues representing multimodal content in understandable ways that don’t flatten the experience of the multidimensionality of space and time. Working on an iconographic-tracking project (Gries, 2013) on the Kilroy image, I determined that the backend management system Zotero and frontend software ArcGIS Pro are the best systems for this work. I chose Zotero for its storage and image asset management capabilities of multiple modalities; it allows collaboration, is open-source, and will accurately cite images. I chose ArcGIS Pro for its 3-D mapping and tool that allows space-time pattern creating and mining. Instead of writing an article describing image locations, I can create a layered map and 3-D Space Time Cube of origin stories, locations across the globe, and snippets of multimedia that engender the Kilroy legend. Results are promising for future multimodal projects; with 3-D mapping, researchers can explore the full dimensions of space and time such programs provide.