Motels and Motion on the Mother Road: A People's Survey of Route 66 A multimedia, interdisciplinary, community-powered project directed by Robin Ward, with funding and support from the University of New Mexico. This site is the temporary online home to showcase the early stages of this project. The “people’s story” of the People’s Road, with interpretation and expansion by experts in a variety of fields, is among the most appropriate of our time, especially through the innovative development of democratizing technological tools. Perhaps the “Mother” Road is beloved in a way few entities of its stature are. We want to engage the public with the historic and living nature of Route 66 and to present new interpretations of this landmark, so unique in its capacity to evoke strong feelings of identification and attachment. These are the main cornerstones of our project so far: 1.) A richly immersive and versatile web site will act as a hub for this project, functioning as an outreach mechanism, as an online archive, a living exhibit, educational tool, and forum for continued dialogue. We plan for this endeavor, through the advisement of scholars, each with particular expertise, to reach across multiple disciplines/fields: fine arts, cultural geography, literature, history, environmental psychology, sociology, architectural history, urban theory, and city planning/ preservation, etc. 2.) We will also be inlaying “real time” events and technologies, including traveling exhibits, projection events, radio broadcasts, and community-building endeavors in tandem with and included on the web site. For a look at two such events we've already produced, see the events section of this site. 3.) We plan a large outreach effort to generate extensive participation. This project, therefore, is inclusive in its extensive cross-section of participants—rather than just a broad audience—ranging from humanities scholars and artists to students, Route 66 aficionados, small business owners on Route 66, and the community-at-large living around the Mother Road.
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More Information: + Our Team
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Photos byEila Kovanen unless archival or otherwise credited