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While I enjoyed researching the town of Davidson and minority dwellings within the town, my project changed a bit from its conception to its final presentation. Originally, I wanted to have an interactive map where viewers could see how the town had changed over time and how different people conceptualized the town. Unfortunately, there was a lack of data on the specific area I was researching (Brady’s Alley) which should not have surprised me given its less than ideal living conditions. With this lack of data I shifted more towards gathering newspaper clippings and pictures (What was mostly available) while supplementing these with voices of townspeople through more archival data. I wanted to avoid getting IRB approval given the time constraints and so I relied heavily on data that other students collected and archival data. Over all, my project does get accomplished what I wanted it to which was to tell a story of a place and its peoples that is hardly recognized.
As I worked within historypin (and went back and forth between historypin or heganoo and even googlemaps at times), I realized that no tool is perfect. While historypin did not have every capability I wanted, it was the closest fit to what my project aimed to do and what I had to contribute. If I could make one last suggestion to historypin developers I would suggest they think about how many ways there product can be developed. When reading over my colleagues final thoughts I noticed Joe‘s commentary on Appinventor not handling complicated data as well as he would have hoped which I completely relate to. I actually considered using several different and more complicated apps and websites including Heganoo but I stuck with Historypin and figured out how to make my ideas fit within their capabilities.
The process was different than most project processes because I had the chance to show it to family and friends and found that their responses were more helpful than I had gauged. Before this class, I assumed Beta-testing just meant testing with your colleagues to see how you felt about the product, but instead, it is much more enriching. I would have never thought to add more context without getting feedback over break.
In the end, I was able to use the subjects I love (Anthropology and History) to create a mapping exhibit which is an avenue I never expected to go down before this year. I hope my project is successful in getting its point across and I hope that people find it fascinating.