Durham University are contributing to the Necklace Park map events by creating real-time Google map-trails using electronic tracking devices. This map is a reduced version of the display here that you will be able to monitor during the mapping weekend. The software behind the map is pretty intensive, so be prepared to wait a bit longer than you would for a regular Google map to load.

 
Have you sent us a postcard? Have you been sent a Necklace Park postcard? Would you like to comment on a card you've seen, or sent? Look here to see the cards we've received, and here for further blogposts on the topic.

The Necklace Park Postcard Project is part of the Twinned Cities strand, where people from other places tell us something about where they live, especially if it has something to do with outdoor activities (fishing! dens! skateboards!), water, bridges, trees, wildlife, livestock (cows! pigeons! critters!), old buildings (churches! ruins!), towns and countryside. That covers just about everywhere, me thinks.

We want your postcards and descriptions of where you live, the kinds of things you enjoy doing outdoors, your favourite building or tree, things you like doing on or in the water, what you do in the countryside or town. We also like fanciful stories, so if you know one about the cow that slept in the church, or the magical talking broccoli that lives under a tree by day and runs a jazz club in the vennels at night, please do tell!

Send us a card, and we'll put it on display. Visitors can leave comments here, so you may find a new postcard pal in addition to having your card seen and appreciated by people in Durham! You can send us a card directly, or via PostCrossing, the world-famous postcard-sharing website.

This tour explores Santiago de Chile and Durham at the same time, and takes in several interesting features of both places. The tour makes nine stops along six connected segments, starting and ending at Plaza de Armas in the city centre. There's a lot of ground to cover, and loads of stuff to stop and enjoy, so the tour could be spread over two or more days.

This post lists each of the stops briefly, and will continue the explorations over the next few days.

What happens if you use the wrong map to find your way around?Where do you live? Would you like to use the wrong map to navigate your town? Would you be able to send us photos of what you found?

Earlier today I was given a secret message.

Twinning is the name for cities that share similarities. They are sometimes called Sister Cities. Durham is twinned with Tübingen (both are medieval university cities, for example).

Did you know that the swish of a golf club is a musical learning experience? A walk in the Necklace Park could be music to someone's ears.

Professor decodes life note by note

"Much as people thump a watermelon to test its ripeness, Stanford composer Jonathan Berger wants them to use sound in novel ways to figure out the world. So he put sound to the way professional golfers swing their clubs. The result: It's now possible for pros and duffers alike to improve their game by listening to their own strokes. In another experiment, runners, rowers and other athletes can "hear" how their bodies are performing -- from heart rates to stress levels -- while practicing. And Berger's sounds for digital images of microscopic cells can help doctors distinguish cancerous ones by the "music" they make."

You know how it is. Out & about with your tunes, one of which is your perfect soundtrack for some activity, whether it's gliding through the arcade at Millburngate or trail surfing under the Elvet. So here's the challenge: You're somewhere in the Necklace Park; you're doing a particular thing, running or walking, maybe with a camera, a book, your bike. Now: what melody is going through your head?

Come back here and tell us what, where, when. Can we make an audio map of the Necklace Park?

Or the other way round. Can we make a journey that involves going to a particular place and listening, then describing what we've heard? What do you hear when you put your ear next to the stones around the marketplace?