The Canal Zone.

The 'canal zone' - our name for the Chelmsford basin of the Chelmer and Blackwater Canal and the surrounding land - is an ideal subject for a multimedia kiosk since it presents possibilities that correspond to each of the types of kiosk discussed in week 1 (and more). It has:

• a rich history, most of which can be researched in the Essex Record Office (itself in our 'zone');
• a range of industries, shops and services traditionally associated with the site;
• a set of new commercial enterprises and dwellings on the site;
• a rich set of visual possibilities, many charged with social meaning.

Another reason for choosing the canal zone is that it provides an ideal venue for 'multimedia fieldwork'. Although multimedia may seem like a desk-bound enterprise, it has many of the qualities of photography or cinema - to get interesting content you have to scout for a location, plan your shooting and recording, shoot and record efficiently on-site in the time available, return and edit the material collected into a convincing presentation. The canal zone is your chance to develop your fieldwork techniques.

Try this sequence of activities:

• Go to the location and, mostly, look and listen - absorb its qualities, walk around it, look for angles, sights, sounds. Use maps and any texts you can find to help you understand it faster. Take images and sounds if you like ... but be prepared to throw them away later, and don't get too hung up on getting them right.
• Sketch out what you've found. Like a general preparing a campaign, note your findings down on a map. Give yourself a list of objectives to be achieved when you return to the site. Plan the images and sounds you want to capture.
• Make one or more organised field visits - preferably when the conditions are just right, try not to compromise. Try and achieve all your objectives, but don't be blind to chance.
• Review your material, criticise it, be prepared to bin images and sounds that you aren't happy with.
• Let the shape of your project be guided by what you've found ... you might have started off with a preconceived image of what your multimedia presentation would look like, but let the reality of a place do its work in shaping the outcome.