BCA-I In Action

BCA-I In Action

II is me, Marlies Vermeulen, sharing my way of working with the BCA-I hoping to give you a better idea to do it yourself. As such, it is not the way of using the BCA-I, simply my way of using it and filling it in. printed the BCA-I myself on drawing paper. I used two A3 pages. One to print the first part and one to print the second. I cut them out precisely and stick them together with a long strip of tape on the back.
I have a look on Google Maps to define the walk that I am about to undertake to do the BCA. Not so much to know every turn but more to be sure that it is feasible in a couple of hours. I print a Google Maps screen shot, already rotated so that the border is positioned vertically. I take it with me during the fieldwork so that I can document the route I take and add important points of a sudden change or any other location that might be important to capture in the BCA-I later on.
I studied the BCA-I and know what the instrument ‘expects’ from me. I print a copy (scaled on an A4), take my notebook and I am ready to go.

Once I start the walk, I try to document every point where I notice the slightest border experience. Sometimes I take my phone for the Google Maps app to check that I notate the right points. I make little sketches, take photos to remember, write down some words. Every now and then I have a look at the A4 page with the small BCA-I printed to make sure I keep the right focus.

Back home I don’t wait too long to start using the final BCA-I. I make sure I have all the material gathered during the BCA close to me and start filling in the first part. The easiest things first: my name and the rest of the box Border Information.

I start in pencil, everything. I trace it over in pen once I am sure everything is drawn and written correctly. It also helps me to think it well through, or at least twice.

I take the little map I printed from google maps and use it to draw my Border Map. I put it on a window and trace the most important lines on to the BCA-I. I indicate the BCA as well as the border and add places of sudden change or deviation.

Once the Border Map is finished, I fill in the Legend box and add the missing parts of the Legend Box.

I write down my thoughts in the Fieldnotes box to be sure that all the information I have about the walk is shared in the first part.

I project the walk and the border in the Border Projection box and make sure I use the whole width of the box to have the maximum of space once I start drawing in the Border Stretching box. While I am drawing the border, I immediately draw it down to the bottom border of the paper so that it crosses all the strips. I also add extra circles to indicate the important locations during the BCA and draw all the helplines down to the bottom of the page so that they also cross all the strips.

I take a scratch sheet and try to make a list of all the experiences I had and link them to a location. It helps me to write them down as separated as possible so that I use each strip on the BCA-I for another border crossing experience.

I start filling in the strips by giving them all a title in the Subject Legend box. Then I start completing the first strip, the Border Stretching box. It takes some time to find the right representation but once I filled in this box, I can easier write the Border Manifestation Description.

Before I start drawing in the last box, Context Drawing, I have a look at my pictures to be sure I get the right context for the right strip. I use the picture to base the last drawing on.

Well, first strip done, I continue like this for the other strips and then I have to do it all over again, but now in pen. But first, a little break. I walk the dog, come back and start reliving it a last time while I trace the drawing in pen and add little modifications.

[I] I is me, Marlies Vermeulen, sharing my way of working with the BCA-I hoping to give you a better idea to do it yourself. As such, it is not the way of using the BCA-I, simply my way of using it and filling it in.