Category: Blog #5

Categories
Blog #5

Tippett Storymap

Although Tippett did not travel much throughout his memoire, his frequent movement, from Kingswood to Bristol to Hanham Mount and around that area does reveal a lot about him. After starting his religious quest, Tippett would travel up-to 10 km to meet up with a preacher just to invite them to his house. Tippett, in the name of religion, went all the way to London. As Bodenhamer mentioned “they[places] are not passive settings but the medium for development of culture. All spaces contain embedded stories based on what has happened there” (16). This statement could not be more true in the memoire. Places such as Hanham Mount, Kingswood, etc, all provide a medium for the development of Moravians nearby and around the world at that time. Hanham Mount provided a beginning to famous Morivian and non-moravian preachers like Cennick, Whitfield and Wesley.

Tippett’s memoire brings some confusion as to the placement of Hanham Mount, Kingswood and Bristol. He mentions listening to preachings under the sycamore trees near Wesley’s school, which is in Kingswood, but mentions being in Hanham Mount. It is a bit confusing where Wesley’s school was back then or weWe can see how the data presented by Tippett would directly conflict with a GIS mapping system. GIS favors precise data unlike the unique, ambiguous and uncertain data presented here by Tippett (Bodenhamer 23). This is where “old” methods of mapping would be favored, where there is a lot of ambiguity.

For my story map, I used the different places Tippett travelled and mentioned as a guide to help me understand how much he travelled throughout his life. Using these places, I determined what the relation of the place is to Tippett and figured out how it is important in his life. Places like Bitton and Kingswood were very important as he lived in those places. Although the map I chose is an old map, it still has a component of a GIS map and shows multiple layers, it shows if a place is above, below or at sea level (27). The places which Tippett traveled to were all at sea-level. Tippett travelled frequently in the hopes of finding his savior and hoping Jesus would forgive him for all the sins he had committed in his youth. Mapping the places he travelled shows how important Jesus was in his life as most of his travels were for his spiritual life. History is complex and with Tippett, it is hard to understand what he is trying to say but it is easy to connect with him.

[iframe src=”https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/957b3bed615f2cf9a72b460e68b738f8/tippett/index.html” frameborder=”1″ width=”230%” height=”800″]

 

View StoryMapJS

Categories
Blog #5

Blog #5

Gathering geo-spatial data is a useful method for analyzing memoirs because it provides context in terms of the geographical setting a memoir takes place in and the reader can visualize the recorded physical movement of people and their interactions with others in specific locations. Because network graphs are not always geographical, maps can provide a frame of reference for the reader to understand where and how people meet and interact. Geo-spatial data provides order because it contextualizes how relationships form and patterns in movement from place to place. As the National Geographic Society’s Chief Cartographer, Allen Carroll, said, maps “stimulate both sides of our brain: the right side that’s intuitive and aesthetic, and the left side that’s rational and analytical.”.  Similarly, David Bodenhamer, the author of The Potential of Spatial Humanities, says humans are “inherently spatial beings: we live in a physical world and routinely use spatial concepts of distance and direction to navigate our way through it” (14).

In Esther Latrobe’s memoir, the corresponding story map shows the four significant locations in her life: Bristol, England; Tytherton, England; Gracehill, Ireland; and Ayr, Scotland. Given that she lived in the 19th century before cars were invented and mass produced, it is appropriate and rational to assume her main mode of transportation was by foot, horse, or boat. However, she does not mention how she specifically moved from place to place nor the amount of time it took her which is could be considered a nuance since she did not record the duration of her transportation nor the possible events that happened during those times. Looking at the Story Map JS, it seems logical that Esther Latrobe did not move too far away from her hometown, Bristol, when she moved to Tytherton at a relatively early age, most likely by foot. However, as she grew older and more independent, she moved further away to Gracehill, Ireland for a job as a teacher at the Ladies Boarding School. The map shows there is an ocean between England and Ireland so the audience can make an educated guess that she traveled by boat which requires more independence than traveling by foot because it is a bigger time commitment and traveling by boat is relatively more dangerous than by foot. She had to travel again by boat from Gracehill, Ireland to Ayr, Scotland but with her newly wed husband to start a new chapter in her life. Her movements from place to place shows to some extent the progression of her life and her maturity as she accepts bigger and bolder changes such as studying away from home, accepting a job offer, and marrying her husband. Bodenhamer also comments on the idea of change, saying, “Spaces are not simply the setting for historical action but are a significant product and determinant of change” (16). The story map helps the audience visualize the stages of Esther Latrobe’s life in an organized manner, providing a “view of history and culture through the dynamic representation of memory and place… fusing qualitative and quantitative data within real and conceptual space” ( Bodenhamer 29).

 

Categories
Blog #5 Uncategorized

Blog post #5

With the whole process of this timeline for Esther Latrobe there has been many revelations on things that came up during the making of the timeline. As Bodenhamer explains it in his article, ” we recognize our representations of space as value laden guides  to the world as we perceive it, and we understand how they exist in constant tension with other representations from different places, at different times, and even at the same time.”(14) This whole timeline lets us perceive the journey one takes in ones own life. However, this timeline has its own limits in how one can convey the journey of someones life with limited amount of information that was given in our memoir for Esther Latrobe. “Each artifact (memoir, timeline and etc)  would constitute a separate record anchored in time and space, thus allowing us to keep them in a relationship, and each layer would contain the unique view overtime of an individual or a social unit.” (27)

With spatial thinking includes processes that support exploration and understanding. Also, it help us visualizes relations, imagines transformations from one scale to another, creates a new viewing perspective on what we are able to see, and helps us remember images in places and spaces. Spatial thinking also allows us to externalize these ideas by creating representations such as a map timelines for us to understand the journey of story.

In the memoir that my group worked one there were not many dates on the life of Esther Latrobe. It was mostly about the sicknesses she faced during her life, how she always prayed for god for forgiveness and etc. There was a comment from one of my group members that got us thinking how the traveling information is not represented in the timeline or in the memoir. It does tells us where she goes, but it does explain how long it took to get there, the method she got there and her experiences she had to face when journeying to a place. Latrobe journey consisted of her being born in Bristol, England in 1802 then moving Tytherton, England in 1820. Later on moving to Gracehill, Ireland to become a teacher and finally settling in Ayr, Scotland where she died in peace.  This journey she had must have been a long one for her because in the age of existence she did not the luxury that many humans have now in getting to one place to another.

Overall, the experience of transcribing the memoir of Esther Latrobe was an experience of a life time. “All spaces contain embedded stories on what has happened there. These stories are both individual and collective, and each of them link geography (space) and history (time).” (16)

[iframe src=”https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/f3dca7a4d193ca671fee0fb5c4ff5c7d/the-life-of-latrobe/index.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”100%” height=”800″></iframe]

Categories
Blog #5

Blog #5: Visualization

A map is a diagram of collection of data showing the spatial distribution of something and the relative positions of its components. There is a tremendous amount of data embedded into maps that can be accessed by analyzing them.  As mentioned in the Bodenhamer reading, “we are drawn to issues of meaning, and space offers a way to understand fundamentally how we order our world to work” (Bodenhamer 14). Where a particular feature on a map is positioned matters. Its position and relationship to other features demonstrates what it important. I was able to utilize the spatial distance between points on the map to gain more information.

The map I created provided a spatial representation of a narrative because it was telling the story of one particular person. Specifically mapping Harriet Lees’ memoir has demonstrated how Harriet Lees spent the majority of her life and how she made her journey to Leamington in attempt to improve her health. Furthermore, through the Moravian Lives website and creating my map, I was able to see where other Moravians, specifically women, at the time lived. I was able to get a better understanding about Harriet Lees because I discovered what Moravian women at the time did and what their purpose in the church was. Furthermore, I was able to see how important historical events that occurred in Great Britain during the course of Harriet Lees’ life, affected where Moravians, specifically Harriet Lees lived. Even though London was the central hub for Moravians in the past, during 1811-1842 (the years Harriet Lees was alive for) the greatest number of Moravian women, whose information was in the archives, lived in Bristol and not London. I realized that this was because Bristol was a huge port on the slave trade, so there was a booming economy there. Bristol is much closer to where Harriet Lees lived, so it is very possible that she interacted with the members of the Congregation in Bristol. This directly relates to Bodenhamer’s point that “spaces are not simply the setting for historical action but are a significant product and determinant of change” (Bodenhamer 16). Because of events occurring at the time, the central location for Moravians changed because they followed the thriving economy. Mapping Harriet Lees’ life taught me more about the life of a Moravian woman at the time. The places I mapped were Woodford cum Membris, The Moravian Church in Leominster, The Moravian Church in Bristol, female Moravians in Bristol during Harriet Lees’ life, Moravian women who were in Leominster at some point during Harriet Lees’ life, and The Leamington Spa in Leamington. The specific locations plotted on the map proved my past opinion that religion was extremely important to Harriet Lees as the majority of the places plotted were churches. The spatial difference between Leominster and Woodford Cum Membris reflects not only a physical movement, but represents the change in her religion.  I was also able to gain a better understanding of events and situations that Harriet Lees may have faced throughout her life. As mentioned in the Bodenhamer reading, “human activity is about space and time” and creating the map on Storymap.js “provided a way to manage, relate, and query events, as well as to visualize them” (Bodenhamer 22). Through the map, I was able to track Harriet Lees’ activity and understand more about her.

[iframe src=”https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/ed09ff7b72d83b28d703a06b246fc922/harriet-lees/index.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”100%” height=”800″][/iframe]