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diMAPspora

Enuma Mokel & Seo Yeon (Rachel) Kwak

CMS.633: Digital Humanities | Fall 2019

rachel

Generations of immigration and movement have enriched the population of the United States with a diverse range of language-speaking communities; in 2015, the Census Bureau reported at least 350 languages spoken in U.S. homes, and the number is likely to have grown since (Census Bureau, 2015). This diversity can be observed even from the language backgrounds of us two project partners, with Enuma growing up in an English speaking household despite a father who spoke a different native tongue, while Rachel grew up in an immigrant household speaking Korean at home as she learned English in school. Having a U.S. population with such diverse language-speaking communities gives rise to many questions: How have these communities changed over time? What patterns or differences exist between them? Most importantly, what can we learn about a community through these questions?

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diaspora

def. the migration of groups of people across countries or regions

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problem statement

How can we visualize language diasporas throughout the U.S. in a way that inspires new insights about the various language-speaking communities of the country?

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concept

A dynamic webpage that encourages exploration and comparison of the development of various languages of diasporas throughout the U.S. over time

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audience

Academia involved in language and diaspora studies, in particular those such as sociolinguists and ethnologists who are interested in studying society by examining language use

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background

Endangered Languages Project

spatial mapping of endangered languages

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background

U.S. Census Bureau currently only generates visuals for a single year and uses a small subset of existing data

U.S. Census Bureau 2011 Language Mapper

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features

drop-down menu with selection of languages
hover over state to view proportion of population that speaks a language
horizontal scroll bar for changing year displayed
checkbox to filter by English proficiency

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enabling technologies

American Community Survey
National Historical Geographic Information System
Integrated Public Use Microdata Series
Tableau Public

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enabling technologies: IPUMS

IPUMS-USA Dataset Extraction

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enabling technologies: tableau public

QGIS

Tableau Public

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future directions

more granular map using data available

cities
counties

additional filters using data available

age groups

different methods of comparing languages

layered on one map
toggle between languages on hover

different methods of comparing between years

animation