The theme and goal of my project:
The theme of my project is going to be about the conservation of aquatic ecosystems, specifically the impact of dams on ecosystems. The goal of my project will be to provide and examine the existing plans for environmentally accommodating infrastructure and propose nature-based alternatives to help freshwater organisms remain abundant and healthy. In my project, I will emphasize nature-based solutions to the Site-C dam at the Peace River in Fort St. James. The Site-C dam is very controversial because BC Hydro is not placing enough concern on the impacts this dam will have on the aquatic environment.
The above image is of the Site-C dam in Fort St. James.
Concepts and humanities connections the project addresses:
This project will use digital techniques to explain a real-world aquatic conservation example. I will show data in visually appealing and more comprehensive ways which will hopefully make it easier to grasp the issue and provide more insight about this topic. In this project, I will be using digital humanities methods to draw attention to the impact of dams on the aquatic ecosystems. I will also use these methods to show why nature-based solutions are essential to have when building dams.
Digital Methods:
- Geographical map
- I will use a geographical map to show where the dams in Canada are located. By doing this, I will give a visual representation of how many ecosystems have been disturbed by the implementation of dams. I can then describe in what ways the ecosystems have been affected, I will discuss the hydrologic regime, connectivity, water chemistry regime, biological composition and interactions, and physical habitat conditions.
- Timeline
- I will also use a timeline to show the influential dams created and their effects on the ecosystem. This representation will give a better understanding of the history of dams.
- Digital story-telling (Twinery)
- I am going to use Twinery to create a choose-your-own path type story and relate it to this dam. I will provide a path where the dam is implemented, one where it is not, and one where it is implemented but with nature-based environmentally accommodating infrastructures to help aquatic organisms. This will allow people to interact with the elements I will be discussing. They will be able to proactively see how these decisions directly affect the environment.
