Maps in Digital Humanities

Many uses for maps in DH

• Narrative mapping: using maps to tell stories by tracking the movement of individuals and groups through space and time
• “Deep mapping”: maps that seek to demonstrate how the multiple meanings of places is constructed
• Data mapping: using information, often but necessarily quantitative, to understand spatial patterns in our sources

​

http://lincolnmullen.com/projects/spatial-workshop/introduction.html

Mapping: cycle of asking and answering questions

From <http://lincolnmullen.com/projects/spatial-workshop/introduction.html>

What does this map do and how?

What are the main features of the map?

​

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.6984351,-86.2361492,388m/data=!3m1!1e3

​

What is GIS?

“GIS organizes and integrates sources on the basis of their shared geographic location … . Geospatial tools involve not only maps but also databases. The power of such tools is that they use geographic location to integrate material from a wide range of disparate sources. “What is important about assigning a geographic reference to data,” Karen Kemp points out, “is that it then becomes possible to compare that characteristic, event, phenomenon, etc. with others that exist or have existed in the same geographic space. What were previously unrelated facts become integrated and correlated.””

http://lincolnmullen.com/projects/spatial-workshop/literacy.html

What types of maps exist - what types of categories could we classify them in? (examples: audience, purpose, interfaces as possible systems)

What is the grammar of mapping? In other words, what are the typical symbols that mapmakers use, and how are they can they be put in relation to one another?

What type of data is amenable to mapping? What kinds of topics?

What accompanies maps? Who controls their interpretation? What is their role in making an argument?

�From <http://lincolnmullen.com/projects/spatial-workshop/literacy.html>

​

Narrative Maps

A Narrative Map tells a story through space. A narrative map could trace an Oregon Trail traveler's movement through space using a diary or guidebook; it could plot the images on the map to show the distribution of the wreckage from the 1906 earthquake in SF; or it could trace the development of a city block using rich multimedia (videos, images, soundclips, and text). Narrative maps focus on storytelling, rather than on plotting massive quantities of data; and they can embed or integrate a variety of rich multimedia. They serve as a “visual counterpart to the spatial underpinnings of a narrative or argument” (Mullen).

http://lindseywieck.org/fall_2016_sf/storymapjstutorial.html�

Gathering Data - Practice Exercise

Think of something you'd like to explore more (something for which you could gather data from these phonebooks). You could map the spread of items between two categories in this 1907 phonebook; you could compare a category between two different years (e.g. 1904 and 1907) to explore the earthquake's effect; or you could take a different tack entirely. We will use these to map in class in a few weeks, and we will spend classtime today, and Wednesday to start gathering this data. You should aim to have approximately 50-100 lines of data to map. Take advantage of the time in class (or in office hours) to ask questions or seek help. You could work on this with a partner, but the quantity of data expected would double.