Andrew McPhee and I both decided to focus on The Open Space Index of East Harlem for our final project. New Yorkers for Parks’ Open Space Index is a set of fifteen NewYorkCity-specific open space and sustainability standards designed to provide residents, community groups, and public officials with data about the strengths and weaknesses of local open space conditions.

Throughout our project, we researched and compared open and passive space. There are several acres that do not meet the Open Space Index standards. We made graphs and visuals to show the importance of health and how important the parks of East Harlem are to the community. Most of East Harlem did not find themselves healthy, but in comparison to the US, they scored themselves healthier.

Passive Open Space is critical to maintaining mental and physical health. East Harlem exceeds the OSI standards for the number of Fields, Courts and Play Areas per resident, while there is a shortage of Total Open Space per resident. Active Open spaces provide respite from city life and give residents a chance to interact with the natural environment.East Harlem falls short of the OSI standard for total acres of Passive Open Space per resident.

sources: http://www.ny4p.org/research/osi/EastHarlemOSI.pdf

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20121116/east-harlem/east-harlem-lacks-open-space-but-         not-options-increase-it

Click to access e_harlem_spotlight_110919.pdf

Research has been a big learning experience this semester during seminar. As a class, we have learned how to gather information for research and understand exactly what research is. I personally have learned how important researching is and the several types of sources that should be used during researching. We also learned how researching can be in any form such as text, media, audio, etcetera.

In seminar we have read a few readings that have discussed archives. In Susan Schwartzenberg reading This Personal Archive she discusses how she gathered photo albums, shoeboxes full of photos, and interviews from families. She was one of the many readings that demonstrated how an archive could be anything that is similar to a document or record of history. This information was new to me, because before I had thought an archive was more of an official document and not something as simple as a photo or interview of a family.

We also talked about the first Earth Day at Parson’s, which was interesting to learn about and see archives from our own school. Seeing the pictures, floor plans, inflato structures, and newspaper clippings made the information seem more authentic. During this time we also learned about primary sources and secondary sources and how they apply and how it is important to have both when researching. Primary sources are physical documents or objects and a secondary objects interprets the primary source. We also learned what participant observation is and how it applies to anthropology and sociology and understanding the culture of society.

After reading all of the assigned readings, it seems they all relate to archives. Though, they have different story lines, they involve some type of research. Throughout the several readings, I have learned many things and how to apply them when researching. Discussing how to find archives and how it helps knowing how accurate the information is when researching was extremely important criteria that we learned.