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| "One Highrise. Every window, a different city." |
Last semester two of my students discovered this fascinating interactive online documentary that lets you look inside the lives of people around the world. This was one of the most viewed and commented on blog posts last semester, and I wanted to share it with you too.
"Out My Window" is a 360 degree documentary by Katerina Cizek, completed for Canada's national film board. It is one of the first interactive documentaries created. Cizek has compiled individual apartments from around the world into one virtual high-rise. There are 49 stories from 13 different cities: Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Havana, São Paolo, Amsterdam, Prague, Istanbul, Beirut, Bangalore, Phnom Penh, Tainan, and Johannesburg.
Access the "Out My Window" website here.
Navigating the site is fairly simple. Once you have entered into the high-rise you then have three options to enter an apartment. 1: click on a window; 2: choose a city on the map; or 3: click on one of the faces on the bottom of the screen.
Inside each apartment is a 360 interactive collage that lets you explore each apartment full-circle. When exploring, you will see occasional "hot-spots." To play these "hot-spots" simply click on the highlighted section. If you need further explanation, click on the link and then go to "How To" on the bottom.
Enjoy browsing this very unique website. What does this site help you learn about people and their lives? How can this website be useful for people traveling, living and working internationally?
4 comments:
This website is so cool!!! I clicked on the woman who lives in Prague and had twins really young and struggled to raise them along with maintaining her own life. She is an artist! Then I clicked on the man who lives in Johannesburg--didn't realize how dreadfully dangerous and corrupt it was there at one time! I hope that is not the case anymore like the movie clip indicates.
This site helps me learn about local issues in these cities. It is fun also just to see people going about their lives. You can see inside their homes!
I think it would be beneficial to check out this site prior to a trip and see if the city you're going to is included. Watching the clips might give you some insight as to what you need to bring to stay safe, cultural norms, and local knowledge.
^what she said; awesome!! It seemed that some of the pictures didn't match up quite perfectly, I wasn't sure if it was just my browser or the website as a whole. Regardless, this is like a more in-depth version of google maps. If you area of IB is included, it can give you various examples of how people live their daily lives, the items they include in it, and how they implement what they have to achieve daily success of simply living. All of these items inside the apartments, as well as the views outside, show just how the cities function through the 'doors of perception'.
This website is amazing! It has proved that technology can really make the world flat. The settings, such as the decorations in the living room, the carpet and so on, of each flat can make us understand more of a culture. For instance, the woman living in Amsterdam, Holland has more decorations of religious images than the others. Besides, you can also see some traditional clothing of one culture through this website. This interactive online documentary can definitely provide beyond text book knowledge!
This was so interesting to see the different styles that every culture has. Every apartment was so different and even looking out the window of the apartment were completely different worlds. I looked at Chicago, Toronto, Sao Paulo, and Amsterdam. The one thing I found interesting about all the apartments was that every apartment I looked at had a dinner table. I guess one uniting thing between cultures could be that people use meals as a social or family gathering.
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