mental mapping – Digital Maps, Space and Place

November 26, 2014

PA 2 Historypin

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Historypin is a map making tool that allows the user to place old pictures of an area over the current street view of the same place in modern day. The creators describe Historypin as a global community collaborating around history. It calls for copyrights and details about whichever photo is being overlaid and gives credit to the picture’s original owner. By placing the picture over a streetview of its current location, it juxtaposes itself between old and new showing how the space has been potentially re purposed or how the sense of place has changed over time. These pictures on maps can be shared via various social media sites making space and place through history extremely accessible.

This tool functions as a timeline that allows the user to tell a story of change over time. By showing time over time it engages the viewer in a story similar to the 21 Steps story map or mental maps like it. Mental maps are maps that tell a story for a user, usually made to represent how the creator moves through space or understands space. Although this reading was not assigned, I felt that Galindo’s “The September 11 Memorial & Museum Map” is an interesting case of a narrative map that tells historical and political stories. Like many of Historypin’s maps, this narrative app relies on archival photos and multiple perspectives. Similar to the 9/11 app, Historypin can help create educational tours of a place.

In a similar vein, geography is history. Because so many spaces are geographically similar, the usage of historical, mental maps to show space, inherently when a person creates a narrative map with tools like Historypin, they are creating a personal history. Identity in a place matters more now than ever according to Charles J. Whithers. In terms of usage, Historypin is perfect for “spatial turns”- placing landscape into a secondary lens and placing whichever subject (Urban planning, Anthropology, etc) into the forefront. Sonni would say these maps represent what the user feels about the space, Historypin maps ask the user to draw from their resources of pictures (whether personal or from archives they have access to) and allow them to show how the space has changed over time for them. If there were several pictures from people of all backgrounds, a Historypin would show a variety of changes (or things staying the same). Urban planners can look at Historypin’s to see how an area has changed culturally when trying to decide where to build and what areas to restore. Maps then become the tool for these subjects to portray various stories or historical events, with Historypin being a perfect tool.

Perhaps not everyone has the time or resources to explore archival data- Historypin is a solution to that problem. If I could change something about Historypin, I would add sound to the maps in order to tell the story with the voices of the landscape. The images can be kind of hard to place over the exact spot that you would want on Googlemaps and so, I would try to make the base map more accurate. I would recommend this tool overall because it allows people to see change over time which tells a larger story of space and place, locality and history.

October 29, 2014

Omeka/Neatline Critique – PA 2

As I am starting my final project using Neatline and Omeka, I thought it would be an appropriate time to critique these tools.

In his article, Jeff McClurken asserts that Omeka is a tool that challenges students to think creatively by making them uncomfortable. As McClurken points out, Omeka is free, it has a large number of useful plugins that provide multiple functionalities, and the basic site is easy to use. Building a complicated site does take more effort and background research, but that taps into McClurkens argument that we learn from being uncomfortable.

One of the most unique aspects of Omeka/Neatline is that it allows you to create a map out of something that isn’t a typical map. By typical map I mean a territory map, as Seth Long refers to it. Long argues that digital mapping interfaces allow multiple finite selectionsto be layered onto one another. In his post he refers mostly to maps of places, but Omeka/Neatline brings digital mapping one step further and allows for maps of any digital picture. A Neatline map could be of a famous painting, a poster with only words, or a city. It allows for mapping to go beyond physical location and enter into the world of mental maps.

In addition to producing unconventional maps, Neatline embraces the term “thick mapping” and provides the opportunity to combine stories, locations, and images in one cohesive exhibit. Nowviskie addresses how Neatline calls for drawing rather than simply creating which gives a more artistic sense to the program. I would go even further and say that Neatline allows authors to discuss, teach, and argue. The thick mapping abilities of Neatline make the “second text” (as refered to by Dodge and Kitchin) just as obvious as the first. Dodge and Kitchin argue that digital cartographies possess second texts that are conscious and unconscious ideological messages that must be deciphered. Neatline allows an author to portray their messages without much deciphering. It provides an inter-textual and multimedia platform that gives an author free reign on presentation and argument.

As with all digital humanities tools, Omeka and Neatline are not perfect. One of the main criticisms I have for Neatline is there is no simple way to demonstrate uncertainty. Reschuel and Hurni point towards the importance of mapping uncertainties in fictional literature, and their concerns can and should be applied to historical mapping. When mapping histories, it is important to note that most of the data comes from oral accounts, history books, drawn maps, and aerial photographs. With each of these resources, one can never recreate history with 100% certainty. If Neatline had a way to demonstrate uncertainties of locations and date ranges the projects would be more accurate (ironically by demonstrating their inaccuracies).

Overall Neatline is a useful tool (with a learning curve) that allows for comprehensive digital mapping exhibits. I would recommend it for any “thick mapping” project.

October 24, 2014

PA 6 Project Proposal

Question to be answered

I propose to create a digitized version of my Senior Capstone Project. My current project is a series of maps I have created on ArcMap, a comprehensive timeline, and a narrative of chapters that answer the question how has the landscape of Davidson College changed between 1837 and 2013. My background research includes archival research, history books, aerial photography, and interviews. I am investigating the history of the landscape to the East of Baker Drive and to the North of Laundry and Commons – including the ecological preserve, “down the hill”, the cross country trail, and the newly purchased McIntosh Farm. Although I have created these maps, timeline, and narrative for my Capstone Project I have no way of presenting them as one unit. Yes, there is a paper, but no way of presenting all of my work to the general public unless the viewer is well versed in ArcMap and has access to my folder of work that includes images, maps, Davidsonian articles, and other research. While the final paper is important, it is also important to link the paper back to the initial research in case someone wants to verify or explore my sources. Additionally, my capstone currently isn’t digital. As Seth Long argues, digitizing maps can “move work closer to an objective view of material space. To fix these issues I will use my DIG360 project and create an online exhibit using Omeka and the Neatline Plugin.

How the question will be answered

The online exhibit will include a page (or neatline time frame) for each of my maps overlaid on a present day map of Davidson College. As you go through the exhibit hopefully you will be able to click on each building, road, or other feature and find the source I used to draw it along with the narrative that goes along with that time period.

Going Beyond my Capstone

In order to place this project in conversation with our class goals, I will look towards the future of Davidson College and include a short study on the ideal College Campus. I will adapt methods from the human centered design activity, and Sommer and Atkin’s Shopping mall paper and ask a number of students and faculty what their ideal campus (only in my study area) would look like. I will provide a basemap of Davidson College for them to have references and draw from. I will not ask them to pull anything from memory, but instead to focus on what they value in the Davidson College landscape, and what they would change. To combine the data I will draw out the ideal map of Davidson College in a similar format as McLean’s Smell map on ArcMap and include it in my omeka exhibit. The smell map uses a complicated key and categorization method that I will adopt for symbolizing student and faculty mental maps. Instead of including a narrative with the exhibit I will write a short discussion on the use of value mapping as a way to understand human relationships with the landscape around them.

Goals of Project

To digitize capstone project in a user friendly, in depth Omeka exhibit
To develop a map of the Student and Faculty Ideal Campus in my study area