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Digital Space Description- Woodruff Arts Center

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For my digital space built environment, I chose was www.woodruffartscenter.org. The website is for the Woodruff Arts Center. The opening webpage, which is presented below, is aesthetically appealing and has six sections that viewers can search to explore the site. Using those sections, you can discover the art, plan a visit to the center, plan an event at the center, explore the Woodruff, support the center with various forms of donations, and see the different programs and initiatives that the Woodruff Arts Center has to offer. Due to the abundant amount of information presented on the site, I focused predominantly on the four sections that were the most captivating to me.

 

woodruff art opening page

 

When you scroll down on the opening page of the Woodruff Arts Center site, a page of tabs appears. Each of the tabs allows you to explore the site and find information on an array of things. The viewer has the option to check out ticket prices, donate time and money to the center, plan an event at the center, use the center as a form of education, and parking at the center. Each section for the information is presented with colorful, people friendly images, while still being useful and guiding people to what they were searching for.

 

woodruff tab options

 

Located under the ‘Explore the Woodruff’ tab is the Woodruff Arts Center Overview page. The purpose of this section no the website is to provide people with a little bit of background information on the center itself and its reputability. It establishes a sense of credibility by mentioning its great accomplishments, such as being “one of the largest arts centers in the world, home to the Tony Award-winning Alliance Theatre, the Grammy Award-winning Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the High Museum of Art, the leading art museum in the Southeast.” That level of prestige makes people feel like it is worth their time and money. However, even with that notoriety, it is still a place where family can go with their children, students can go with their friends, and adults can go for a evening out.

 

woodruff overview

 

Under the ‘Visit’ and ‘Parking and Directions’ tab on the website is a map that provides people with a map of the area surrounding the Center and the address. This is intended to help people located the Arts Center and get a general understanding of its location. It also  provides people with the specific directions based on their location to the Woodruff Arts Center in they choose to do it that way. This is an important section to note because it can be difficult not only to find things downtown, but also to find parking at the places. By providing people with easy directions, it encourages them to come out.

 

woodruff address

 

The final section of the Woodruff Art Center website that I found particularly useful was the ‘Panthers at Woodruff Arts Center 2015/2016 Season Pass’. As a Georgia State student, writing on a blog for other Georgia State students, it is beneficial not only to me, but for my peers as well. Before exploring the site, I did not know that Center has a program with our school. This section it is located under the ‘Programs and Initiatives’ tab, which is where the website shows its relationship with local Universities, programs, and whatnot. Based on the information that I gained from this section of the website, I actually bought a pass for myself and my boyfriend and followed the direction on the page for how to redeem the passes. We are going after final are over to view the exhibit on Jean-Michel Basquiat. With the guidance of their user friendly website, it was all so easy!

 

GSU at woodruff arts center

Golfing at Topgolf

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This is my friend Alyssa. I asked her to come with me and be my demonstration for how this golfing actually works. A ball came out of the box in front of her onto the green golf mat. Then she put it on the white tee. I showed her how to hit the ball into the target since she had never golfed before. She hit the ball off of the mat and out into the arena. From there, it landed in a goal and she reviewed points.

Annotated Bibliography Two

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This is the image of the homeless man and women being evicted from their tents in Wooduff Park in Downtown, Atlanta.

 

Childress, Sarah, et al. “Mental Illness And Substance Use Problems In Relation To Homelessness Onset.” American Journal Of Health Behavior 39.4 (2015): 549-555 7p. CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.

 

In the article, “Mental Illness and Substance Use Problems In Relations To Homelessness Onset”, author, Sarah Childress discusses the association between mental illness, substance use, and homelessness. Childress Childress’ article studied 394 homeless adults and gathered a plethora of statistical evidence to establish a relationship. The study took place in Dallas, Texas and was comprised of random homeless men and women who saw the flyers and wanted to participate. However, the criteria they were required to meet were that they must be at least 18 years old, English-speaking, and have a 7th grade literacy level. Of the participants that Childress studied, 124 of them reported you-onset homelessness. The homeless youth reported “using substances to attenuate the negative psychological effects of living on the streets, to reduce depressive symptoms, and to stay awake when they experience difficulty finding a safe place to sleep” (Childress, 550). A problem that Childress remarked was how the youth tend to be less likely to seek help, thus face the same or worsened drug and psychological problems into adulthood. Based on the mental illness related statistics that Childress obtained, “64.7% of the sample reported a major depression diagnosis, 41.1% a bipolar disorder diagnosis, and 25.4% schizophrenia or a schizoaffective disorder diagnosis at some point over the lifetime” (Childress, 551). Similarly, the statistics for self-reported problematic substance use were also high. The purpose of Childress’ article was to see if there was in fact a relationship between mental illness, substance use, and homelessness. While I feel as though the article provided substantial statistical evidence to support the relationship, it failed to compare mental illness and drug use to people who are not homeless; thus their homelessness may be unrelated.

 

Bruce, Douglas, et al. “Modeling Minority Stress Effects On Homelessness And Health Disparities Among Young Men Who Have Sex With Men.” Journal Of Urban Health 91.3 (2014): 568-580 13p. CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.

Throughout the article, “Modeling Minority Stress Effects On Homelessness And Health Disparities Among Young Men Who Have Sex With Men”, author Douglas Bruce explores the relationship between sexuality and homelessness amongst adolescents. Based on extensive research, Bruce claims that homosexual youth are more likely to experience homelessness than heterosexual youth. The minority stress theory is also discussed in the article and believes that the “transitional period between adolescence and adulthood may be reshaped by experiencing homelessness or being kicked out of one’s parental home”(Bruce, 568). As a result, the physical and mental health of the adolescents is impaired, which may make it more difficult for them to escape homelessness, as they grow older. Bruce studied 200 young men who have sex with men in an effort to identify the association between sexuality, drug use, and homelessness. He found that the young men who are homosexual and got kicked out of the house had a higher rate of homelessness and daily marijuana use. The article proved the correlation between sexuality and homelessness.

 

CBS 46. “Police Warn Homeless Campers of Eviction from Woodruff Park – CBS46 News.” April 10, 2012. Accessed February 5, 2016. http://www.cbs46.com/story/17378825/police-warn-homeless-campers-of-eviction-from-woodruff-park.

 

In the news article, “Police Warn Homeless Campers of Eviction from Woodruff Park”, y CBS 46, the dozens of homeless men and women camping in the park are being told that they could not stay there. The article is accompanied by an image of the homeless campers and their tents lining the sidewalk and a couple a police officers standing in front of them. The tents were left in the park after “hundreds of demonstrators camped out for weeks inside the park to protest corporate greed, foreclosures, and wars in the Middle East” CBS 46). However, when they left, the homeless began occupying the tents and living out of them. In response to being asked if alternative shelter was offered to the homeless, Atlanta Police Department Deputy Chief, Renee Propes, said “Absolutely. The United Way was out here. They have transitional housing they can connect these folks too” (CBS 46). Conversely, some of the homeless people, such as Irvin Perrisseaud, feel as though the shelters are dangerous. Without warning or a specific timeframe, they were told to pack up their “homes” and told that they had to leave due to the new ordinance outlawing having tents on the sidewalks and living out of them. Given that man of the homeless men and women are mentally ill or haw drug and alcohol problems, they should probably be helped rather than evicted and told to move. This article provides an example of homelessness in downtown Atlanta, as well as how they are often displaced.