Read: Place on the Web #1
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Alongside our own interests in exploring place, be it outside our front doors or a long way from home, there is plenty that has inspired us to create Elsewhere: A Journal of Place, not least the community of writers and photographers who share such interests. We want to use the blog to highlight some of our favourites, from books to exhibitions and, of course, online. So this is the first in a semi-regular series of posts that brings together some of the best - in our eyes - online projects on place in no particular order.
First, a disclaimer - both of us here at Elsewhere are involved in Slow Travel Berlin, including articles, tours and book projects. The website hosts a broad range of articles, from practical guides to essays that cover topics from the history of the Turkish community in the city to psychogeographic rambles along the S-Bahn ring. The content is as varied as the contributors that help bring the site together, but one things is clear is a commitment to exploring and understanding the city that goes beyond the superficial, digging deep into the neighbourhoods, communities and the history that makes Berlin what it is. (Link)
Paul has written a few pieces for Caught by the River, and indeed it has been one of the profound influences on his interests and work over the past couple of years. What began as an online conversation between friends, it has developed into a collection of all things relating to the outdoors, from angling and birding to walking, drinking, listening and living. It has spawned a semi-regular fanzine as well as print anthologies, but most of all it is a community of like-minded people who share a commitment to finding the magic in the world around them. (Link)
The Island Review is an online journal commited to writing and visual arts from islands all over the world. Within that remit, there is a world of fascinating stories to discover… just to illustrate, the Island Review has recently published features on the food of Tasmania, a short story set in Hawaii, black and white photography from the Shetland Coast and a travelogue from Tierra del Fuego. (Link)
A personal website, written by Gerry Cordon, That’s How The Light Gets In takes its name, we presume, from a Leonard Cohen lyric and is modestly described by its author as “books, exhibitions, films, music, places - anything that inspires. Here so I don’t forget.” What you get as a reader on all those things are incredibly thoughtful essays on a wide variety of subjects from art and music to places, nature and the environment. It also contains some of the finest writing and reflection on the city of Liverpool that can be found online. (Link)
This is a fascinating online history project that traces and chronicles the changing nature of the city through various artefacts. This could be an old Christmas menu from Brooklyn in 1835, a postcard of a long-destroyed and forgotten hotel that was once the height of New York sophistication or the history of the City Hall fountrain. Sometimes the posts deal with the hidden tales of buildings, streets and even alleyways that still exist, how “Gotham City” got its nickname, or the social history of neighbourhoods, the subway or the city parks. (Link)
So these are the first five to be added to our list of “Place on the Web” - we hope you enjoy them as much as we do, and if you have any suggestions of your own, let us know either via email or on twitter / facebook.
(Image credit: Computer display in East Berlin for the 750th Anniversary of the city in 1987 - Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-1987-0704-077 / CC-BY-SA)