Regulating National Security (IML Honors Thesis Project)

Using skills gained in his International Relations and Information Technology programs, Pierson Clair has built an analytical tool that allows for the testing of the United States’ national security. Framed as a challenge to the user, the tool asks, “Can you rearrange the budgets to create a better security structure that keeps the United States as is or more secure?”

Mapping over 400 points of national security, including major cities, ports, airports, defense installations and other key points of interest, the application gives users power over the US budget by letting them change the budget using a base of 16 different divisions of five federal departments. Upon launching the application, the user is given a map of the US populated with the budget as it currently exists. The goal is to assure national security by covering as much of the country as possible with the different colored circles representing different divisions of national security while staying within the required budget. To create this multimedia thesis project, Clair used the Google Maps API interface and mapped 400 buildings, areas and points of national security.

Building a Better National Security Budget is an example of information visualization, through the genre of a game structure, making it also an example of game-based illustration. In this instance, a user is positioned as someone interested in the national budget, and as someone who would like to understand the complex relationships among the different elements at play.

Student Name:

Pierson Clair

Degree:

B.A., Interdisciplinary Studies

Faculty Advisor:

Patrick James, Department of International Relations

Project Genre:

Interactive Map Application

Media Genre(s):

Interactivity, Web Application, Information Visualization