About

Welcome to MapsEverywhere.net / 2016

This blog is about maps and mapping.

My name is Donna and I am a graphic designer. I was fortunate enough to be granted a sabbatical for an entire year from the State University of New York/Fashion Institute of Technology, New York City, where I teach full time in the Communication Design department.

From July 2016 to July 2017, I will be studying maps and mapping. I chose this topic because I’ve always been interested in maps for their beauty. When I travel, I pour over maps of the area to orient myself. Of course, lately, I’ve been using digital maps to get from one place to another.

There are several things that interest me about this topic:
-maps as artifacts of design
-wayfinding
-the overlap of disciplines involved in creating a map
-the history of maps
-how maps are used today

In addition, I will be writing about my experience of being on sabbatical. I have a year to research, meet people, travel and develop ideas. I hope these posts will help others create their own sabbaticals, whether the take one week or one year.

Right now, I’m not really sure where this will all take me, but I know I will learn a great deal. Come along for the ride.

Blog Categories:
DISCOVERY is about my research, interviews, site visits
FOUND is about interesting maps or stories that I come across
TRY THIS! will show you web sites (and other?) that you can try for yourself
MAKING THINGS is where you can follow along with my projects
RE:POST is simply re-postings of stories that pop up in my social media or are sent to me
SABBATICAL: HOW TO is where I’ll share my thoughts on being on sabbatical
You can organize the postings by the TAGS as well.

Thanks to my school and my colleagues for their support. I am a member of the New York Map Society and would like to make a special thanks to Connie, Alice, Fred and the other members who inspired me while putting my proposal together. A HUGE THANKS to Tom, my husband and tech adviser, who will be sitting with his laptop on the other end of the couch from me for the year, and has been doing the majority of the cooking in these early weeks.

Feel free to contact me and/or write comments. It’s all part of my process.

d o n n a (at) mapseverywhere (dot) n e t