Broadly defined, a mashup juxtaposes two types of online information in an unexpected or powerful way. The result might provide new functional capabilities or new information. As discussed in your readings, this term is most often used to describe the juxtaposition of online data and functionality. Interesting examples can be found at the Mashup Awards site.
In the case of environmental data, there is a lot of uncertainty around the best way to convey information about impact to people. This uncertainty is present throughout all aspects of what we teach. For example, how to best convey the impact of climate change as a whole (is climate change the right term? how about climate crisis? Do we talk about polar bears? melting ice? How do people interpret the temperature changes quoted? etc.). How about a water bottle -- how does one effectively convey the impact of a single bottle, and its indirect vs direct impacts? What does lbs of CO2 or BTUs mean? What does it mean to have soil with 1000 parts per million lead in it? How about other pollutants?
One popular approach to making it easier to understand these numbers and ideas is to use metaphor -- number of cars off the road, number of dollars saved (instead of Co2), number of earths needed to carry the current human population without running out of resources, and so on and so forth. In a sense, these are mashups -- taking one form of information and presenting it in a different, more understandable context.
Your assignment for this week is to select a real world or online context and use it to illustrate or explore an environmental idea, environmental data, or something else related to the topic of the class. A very simple example is the map showing the location of StepGreen users. Equally valid would be an installation showing the true volume of trash associated with the items in one recycling bin (considering the packaging, chemicals used in production, and so on). A simple sensor could track the number of hours the lights are on in a room and use StepGreen's API to report on light-related actions. If you have questions about what ideas are reasonable, just contact the course staff. As usual, you are to observe how people react to it. Depending on whats appropriate, you might watch what people do in response to it or show it to a particular audience.
AS A GROUP you should:
By 2/25, EACH PERSON in your group should write up a single page documenting what you did and what you learned from it. Objectively reflect on your group's project and answer the following questions: