Technology and immigrant tales collide at Ellis Island

The story of mankind’s migration across the world, starting with the people who first ventured out of Africa roughly 60,000 years ago, is well-documented. Since then, our lifestyle has evolved tremendously, with technological advancements in key areas such as transportation playing a large role in that. To put things into perspective, a one-way trip from China to San Francisco would have taken 45 days on a ship 150 years ago, now it is a mere 16-hour flight. And that’s the story being told at NYC’s Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration.

As part of a major expansion led by ESI Design, three new exhibits will open to the public on May 20th, including The Journey: New Eras of Immigration and the Citizenship Gallery. The former is a walkthrough of the history of immigration post-Ellis Island, from 1945 to present day, while the latter focuses on what the legal process is like for US residents that decide to become citizens. So, instead of only focusing on Ellis Island, once the busiest immigrant-inspection station in the US, the museum’s narrative is widening.

Think back to the early days of the 20th century. Then, it could take over a month for correspondence to reach its destination, given that all mail headed overseas traveled by ship. Today, we are spoiled by super-fast messaging applications that allow us to communicate instantly with most people across the world. But how are immigrants coping with the technology currently at their disposal? Does it let them adapt faster to a new place? If they leave family behind in their country of origin, is it easier to not miss them? After all, there’s Facebook, FaceTime, Skype, WhatsApp and plenty more services that keep people connected to each other, regardless of where they are in the world.

“They [immigrants] can stay in touch with families; it’s allowed them to retain their culture. But it becomes a generational conflict,” says Clay Gish, director of writing and research at ESI Design, on how hard it becomes for immigrants to let go of their culture, despite being able to easily keep in touch with family members abroad. Of course, it’s now easier than ever for immigrants to be well-prepared for what lies ahead, thanks to the many useful services available on the web. With Craigslist, they can easily find a place to live; Google Maps can guide them through a new city; and social networks make it simpler to meet people. That’s only the tip of the iceberg, too.

#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-34333display:none; .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-34333, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-34333width:570px;display:block;

trydocument.getElementById(“fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-34333″).style.display=”none”;catch(e)

Throughout the exhibits, as a way to make you feel closer to the story, the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration designers added visual and audio components that relate to each era. In Journeys: The Peopling of America, for example, you can see letters originally written by immigrants, oftentimes addressed to their loved ones. “We used audio to create an ambiance and an environment; we used technology that people in this era used, like letters and words, and that’s why audio is such a huge focus,” says Michael Schneider, ESI Design’s senior designer of tech and media. “So you hear these letters in their original language and then in their translation.”

With Citizenship Gallery, on the other hand, there’s a more modern approach. The exhibit is filled with video content, in a nod to the era we live in now, which shows interviews with people who have gone through the immigration process in the US. “This is the era of moving image, so that’s why these new areas use this instead of just audio,” Schneider says.

Journeys: The Peopling of America covers the immigration landscape from the 1550s to 1890. While this exhibit has been in the program since 2011, way before Hurricane Sandy touched ground in NYC and forced the museum to close temporarily, its expansion is equally as substantial as the new additions. That’s because it details one of the most important time periods in the history of this country, before Ellis Island even existed; it discusses Native Americans, as well as people who came here against their will and some of the challenges immigrants had to face upon arrival, such as racism and slavery.

“We used the metaphor of a journey, for this and the post-Ellis era,” says Schneider about the exhibit’s layout. “It’s about a journey, leaving home and adapting to a new country.”

One thing is certain: People to this day are still willing to take on anything to find a new home, just like those who came before thousands of years ago. For some, unfortunately, that’s the only choice — perhaps due to political conflicts, or maybe it’s just the hope of a better life. But it’s this state of mind, the willingness to explore the unexplored, to be prepared for any potential mental or physical challenges on the road ahead, that led our ancestors to discover territories along their lengthy journeys.

Filed under: Misc, Internet

Comments

Enjoy this LSD trip from the comfort of your web browser

It’s time to stop what you’re doing an enjoying some soothing visuals brought to you by physics. Created by George Corney, the browser-based GPU fluid simulation reacts when you click and drag your mouse. The resulting psychedelic dreamscape is a mesmerizing swirl of magic that’s sure to destroy your productivity. A retractable controller in the top right corner adjusts the quality of the simulation and can reset the particles when you’re ready to start over. You can check out Corney’s GitHub page if you’re interested in contributing to the project or just checking out his code. Or you can just keep watching the swirls. All the pretty swirls.

Filed under: Misc

Comments

Via: KitGuru

Source: GPU Fluid Experiments

NOVA Launcher gets update with full material design

TeslaCoil Software, the company behind the NOVA Launcher, has pushed an update to the device that brings material design and new features.

The material design aesthetic applies to all settings screens and dialogs, more animations, new icons, included wallpapers, and the Edit Shortcut dialog, which has been tinted based on the colors of the icon. Other features include:

• A base on top of Launcher3
• Individual icon layout settings (size, font, and so on) in Desktop, Drawer, etc.
• A possible max icon size of 150%
• Widget Search
• Pulling down in the drawer brings up search
• A new grouped Widgets drawer
• Support for Android for Work (on Lollipop)

NOVA Launcher requires Android 4.1 or higher in order to install the update.

The post NOVA Launcher gets update with full material design appeared first on AndroidGuys.

FOMO in the digital age

We’ve all been there. You sit slack-jawed swiping and swiping past dozens of movies you’ve seen/want to see/added to your queue all in the hopes of selecting one to watch. But that doesn’t happen. Your friend is late to meet you at the bar, so you swipe and swipe and swipe down your Twitter and Facebook feeds to refresh and stop to open a new video link every now and then, pausing only to look up and remember which world’s the real one. You’re on line at Walgreens and people ahead of you are taking their sweet time and talking over their purchases and you don’t even care because Amy Schumer just released a new video and the only thing that matters is that you’ve watched it all before it’s your turn at the checkout. And it’s nighttime and you’re in bed, but you can’t sleep because the FOMO is real and what if something’s happened and people are talking about it. So you take out your phone from under your pillow and it’s cool glow illuminates the dark of your room and now everything’s okay because you’re swiping. You’re swiping and watching.

This boy is you.

[Image credit: Ornana]

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

Comments

Source: Vimeo