All of us make mental maps of the lives we lead and the surroundings we move through the day and over our lives. Through family and friends, through the community we are part of, through work and travel , we make connections with the place around us. So much so that over the years, we have learned to ignore what appears the same as it always was in our memory. It is precisely this way we miss the wood for the trees. We miss seeing the links between places and things, till someone points out the obvious.

The Ring of Blue interactive map records the diversity of opinion and ideas and marks the places these were recorded on a map. As we see and hear them one after the other, a sense of a place that could otherwise remain an abstract map emerges. Connections between events, livelihoods and lives are made alive, revealing once again the organic, human details that were hidden from view. These connections can help us see a little more clearly, about where we are at the present point in time. And reveal the different pasts we humans have had, and can glimpse a sense of the future that may be.

The previous page shows how such an interactive map can be used to fill in local detail. These have been created by using a combination of digital documentation of the region, media clips obtained from local sources and GIS information to precisely pinpoint the location of events and testimonies.

The flexibility of digital data lies not just in the ability to encompass different media. It also resides in the ability of the same data to assume multiple guises instantaneously. If each Caravan Performance and associated documentation is also to be seen as digital data, then there seems to be no reason why the database cannot be accessed later. Either in an online format (like this website) or even as a semi-permanent digital exhibition located in a community building. That would address a common complaint about the present caravan, "can't you leave something on a CD for those who missed the evening" . This should also help the process of mulling over the content of the performance.

By increasing the period of time public engagement with artistic creations can be continued in a community, we recognise and respect the effort taken to pull these resources together in any small town in India. Digital technology also makes it possible for artists to extend show-casing their work within their own communities, even if what they show is only a part of their repertoire for now.  Flexibility transforms the experience of consuming history, but digital media—because of its openness and diversity—also alters the conditions and circumstances of producing history. Thus, both artists and our audience, can end up looking at technology critically and understand the social, political, and economic forces that go to creating the technology that we use ( and build). This way we can together see how the voices and visions of all of our peoples, can be placed in the center of building long-term sustainable models for technology that contribute to social justice