voyeurism

contours and geographical understanding with Second Life

here's a video which suggests how Second Life might be used to help novice geographers develop phenomenological primitives (diSessa, 1993) regarding contour-represenations and topographical variation, in order that they might more effectively manage the cognitive transpositions between two- and three-dimensions.

[update: if you'd like to hear key excerpts of an interview with students that followed this session, they're now available :-) ]

Technorati Tags: assessment, cognition, education, expert, geography, learning, maps, Pathways, Second Life, Singapore, Six Learnings, Starling Project, TLLM

Citroën DS3 in Singapore - initial driving impressions

car tested: DS3 1.6 auto
original date of test: 17 March (report embargoed till today)
test duration: 20 mins

good step-off, steering surprisingly light (given the car's sporty pretensions) and fairly strongly self-centering. light, but still precise and therefore the car is easy to set-up in a corner and position, helped by its balance, and visibility-out. its relatively long wheelbase and well-damped suspension contribute to the overall sense of poise. the package as a whole does encourage brisk and confident driving, contributed to in no small measure by its well-tuned exhaust.

on the subject of the acoustic environment, the cabin was a little noisier than i was expecting - given the coo-ing of the UK motoring press about how 'premium' the car has been made to feel.

the touchy, feely surfaces of the cabin send largely positive messages, with the exception of the frangible glovebox lid, which feels like it's made from kueh pie-tee shells.

i am very keen on the presentation of the instruments on the dashboard, and on balance i feel the cost-decisions have been made in the 'right' ways, to communicate a tremendous sense of 'bon vivre' to the driver. the detailing on the driver's side of the dashboard is excellent.

for the front passenger, what is not immediately obvious from a casual visual inspection, but is quite readily apparent once one is seated, is the extreme degree to which the passenger's side of the dashboard has been scalloped, to an extent approaching that classic exemplar of dash-scalloping, the Alfa 145 (1994 - 2001). regardless of such dubious inspirational origins - liminal or otherwise - the result is a sense of spaciousness (that 'bon vivre' again) for the passenger - as long as he or she doesn't reach forward to open that glovebox.

on the subject of storage space, it is gravely unfortunate that the car has no cupholders - a surprise, but certainly no delight. further, i have my doubts about the lightness of the steering. i was more or less expecting all the other attributes that i've described in the preceding paragraphs, but not this degree of steering-assistance. yes, to an aficionado of the marque, one reflexively looks past the lightness and revels instead in the confidence imparted from the precision; but to someone new to Citroën - yet approaching the DS3 as a viable alternative to the Mini - i can't help but wonder if this trait - more so even than the mere count of four forward gears in the drivetrain - would present the greater perceptual barrier for the car's targeted clientele to overcome.

for those who do, they will be rewarded with ownership of a car which is well suited to the cut-and-thrust nature of much driving in Singapore, and of a car which is able to ferry one's friends for a hard-night's partying while yet making an exuberantly confident statement about its owner's sense of bon viveur.

DS3 being prepped for its Singapore debut!

Citroën DS3 in Singapore - welcome to the family :-)

the family turns out to welcome its newest member :-)

riding shotgun in the Citroën DS3 - courtesy of Jardine Cycle & Carriage's General Manager :-)

GQbyCitroën - you can take my order now, thank you :-)

GQbyCitroën...

'nuff said

Technorati Tags: Citroën

Citroën DS3 in Singapore! first look

the Citroën DS3 is in Singapore!!!

first look!

(i've posted six more shots on flickr)

voyeurism featured on BBC's Blogworld :-)

w00t :-)

much gratitude to Paul Coletti for his very kind mention of voyeurism on the BBC's Blogworld - Best International Blogs :-)

if you're a visitor who came over by following Blogworld's link, a very warm welcome to you :-)

thank you, Paul!

a reason for RayBans

today was the 44th day of ownership of the car.

i did something spontaneous today.

as i was driving the car in heavy traffic, i wound down the front windows and opened the sunroof - fumes be damned - and reached deep into the glove compartment and pulled out my RayBans.

i haven't worn them for such a long time, i cannot remember when the last time was. it can't have been during the last seven years, because - frankly - i haven't been driving exciting cars over the past seven years.

but today it felt right.

my present car isn't the most accelerative car i've owned - in fact it is the slowest accelerating car since my 1992 Japanese 1.6 automatic. yet there is something about this car that encourages one to drive it in a sporting manner. a large part is due to its throaty exhaust note, and there's also its stance - which is relatively low and broad, combined with the high broad shoulderline and steeply raked glasshouse.

all the preceding elements - the sunroof, the throaty exhaust, the low and broad stance, the shoulderline and the glasshouse - evoke memories of my 1994 Honda Prelude. in fact, another thing my car shares with the Prelude is double-wishbone front suspension (the Prelude had double-wishbones at the rear too, my car has a multi-link setup), which likely reinforces the overall planted feel of the car (it helps that the whole car feels as if it were hewn from a single block of granite).

yes, this car makes all the right noises... including some more charismatic ones, such as the wheezing of the hydropneumatics when the car has just been started from cold - the latter serves to remind one that one is driving something rather special, with an engineering-design heritage that can be traced unbroken to the 1950s.

the British magazine 'CAR' once commented of the 1989 Citroën XM that it could switch personalities instantaneously between a sporting BMW and a cosseting Rolls-Royce. it gives me no end of satisfaction that the same can be said of this generation of C5. with its seven hydropneumatic spheres, this C5 makes mincemeat of the roughest of cobbled surfaces which previous iterations of C5 would transmit into the cabin. at the same time, its stance and plantedness encourage one to throw it around bends with a verve alien to its predecessors.

this is a true Citroën, in the very best sense. it is progressive in terms of its design - with echoes of the C6 in its three-quarters view (and therefore of the CX), relentlessly reductive in terms of its approach to the inherent compromises of suspension, and is therefore able to cosset its occupants from the rigours and harshness of the outside world.

like the best Citroëns, it is a car which is driven almost by thought alone. it rewards deliberate forward-planned driving, with its sensitivity to the minutest of driver inputs. as such, it encourages supremely confident driving - an impression reinforced by relatively few blindspots, large mirrors and all manner of active and passive exterior lighting and sensors.

at the same time it sets yardsticks that would trouble even a C6 in terms of the precision-movement of its interior switches and shutlines of its fittings, and the driver appeal of its clear instrumentation, softly bathed in ambient-lit orange.

this C5 is a Citroën like no other.

this C5 is a reason for RayBans.

Technorati Tags: Citroën