Participatory culture of Wayfinding

By Nadine Guo

Introduction
Wayfinding is when people analyze their surroundings and navigate from one place to another. This phenomenon started in 1960 by an architect Kevin Lynch. He described wayfinding as the user experience of orientation and choosing a path within the built environment. Wayfinding is used to make people’s lives easier by finding the most efficient way to travel to one’s destination with ease. Wayfinding includes signage, landmarks and maps to guide individuals to their final location. In my project, I am going to use the concept of participation taken from Nico Carpentier to analyze how wayfinding evolve to this digital age focusing on Google Maps and the Transit app.

Why is Wayfinding important?
Wayfinding is important because people incorporate it in their everyday lives whether they are travelling to the mall, grocery store, hospital or school. People also utilize wayfinding when they are travelling to new places where they are not familiar with. In the past, people use paper maps as their guide or had directions written down. Now, in this digital era, individuals are constantly keeping in touch with technology. Thus, those individuals would use google maps to locate from point A to point B. A peculiar characteristic of wayfinding is the availability of media sources in various forms such as interactive maps, kiosks and apps. With wayfinder apps, they provide clear visuals, real time, mapped one’s navigation and save time.

Research Question
My main research question is how has participatory culture of wayfinding re-enact in a new shape? I will compare how people use wayfinding in the past in relation to the present. I will investigate the positives and negatives of using wayfinder apps.

Method
I will conduct qualitative surveys with 20 people who use google maps or the transit app. I hope to include individuals with disabilities to gain their insights on using wayfinder apps. I can gain more information from both perspectives of the different groups. I will conduct participatory observation by analyzing google maps from my own use. I can relate my own experiences along with the participants’ answers.