Tag: mapping

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Blog #5

Blog #5

The process of mapping events from my memoir showed me just how important the visualization of geographical locations really is in understanding the text. My StoryMap helped me become more familiar with not only the text in my memoirs but also with the person the text was about: Benigna Briand. Mapping this memoir, I saw Benigna’s story come to life. As Bodenhamer wrote, my memoir served as a “mediator between us and the world it represents, and the two were brought together when mapped (Bodenhamer 25). Mapping brings you to this next level of understanding, especially in the content I transcribed, because it makes you familiar with the places mentioned in the memoir. Because all of my memoir took place in England, I had no sense of the geographical relativity of the places mentioned.

As stated by Bodenhamer, an artifact, such as a memoir, anchored in space (geographical/ mapping), creates a unique view and dynamic memory (Bodenhamer 27 & 28). Likewise, putting this artifact, or Briand’s memoir, into space through a StoryMap brings on a whole new and unique perspective. Bodenhamer also points out that deep mapping immerses the user into a virtual world of emotions based on the information mapped/ known (Bodenhamer 28). When mapping my memoir, I became enthralled in the world that was created. It was like I was there for specific events in Benigna Briand’s life. Mapping also made me realize certain geographical attributes from my memoir and the high importance of specific events. For instance, I knew that Benigna Briand was baptized in a lake, What I didn’t know was how far this lake was from Benigna’s home. The journey to this lake to get baptized had to have taken place over several days, and mapping this event showed me just how important it must’ve been in Benigna’s life to travel such a great distance. Also, I knew that Benigna traveled from Bath to Bristol every Sunday for 6 years in order to attend religious ceremonies, braving any poor weather or dangers that were on the way. Until mapping this event, I didn’t realize how far Bristol is from Bath, showing me just how dedicated Benigna was to the Moravian Society.

When creating a story to map, I decided to include all important events in the life of Benigna Briand, regardless of their geogrpahical location. Even if two consecutive events occurred in the same location, I mapped it. I did this because I wanted my map to not only show the many places travelled in my memoir but also the places in which several events took place. The impact that this has on the story as a whole, in my opinion, is large; mapping in this way also shows the importance of certain locations  to the life of the person that is being mapped. For instance, in my story there are several events that take place in Lyneham of Wiltshire because that is where Benigna spent most of her early life, making it a very significant location. This is also seen in Bath, the city in which Benigna and her husband settled down and started a family and Benigna ulitmately passed away.

[iframe src=”https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/8fff9ff31fd20510f3940093127b8ecd/bethlehem-benigna-briand/index.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”100%” height=”800″></iframe]

 

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Blog #5

Blog #5

The spatial humanities is a new field that combines both humanities and geography with conceptual space. This practice relies heavily on Geographic Information Systems to interpret data. “GIS is a seductive technology, a magic box capable of wondrous feats, and the images it constructs so effortlessly appeal to us in ways more subtle and powerful than words can” (Bodenhamer, p. 17). As consistent with the general theme of this class, the visualization tools that are given through GIS offer easy solutions to interpreting difficult and elongated texts or data. While text will intuitively provide a more thorough understanding of the information, understanding the material in its entirety can become difficult. An overflow of information is, in fact, detrimental towards internalizing the overall message. For this reason, Bodenhamer justifiably supports the use of GIS in the spatial humanities. This reason is that Geographic Information Systems have an “unparalleled ability to manage and visualize data within a spatial context that has led to a rediscovery of the power of the map” (Bodenhamer, p. 17).

Over history, certain places become more important due to the contextual events that are occurring. An individual’s time period within any geographical setting creates certain circumstances that he or she has to deal with. Therefore, the conditions of the environment gravely affect the life that person pursues. For example, consider the case of Esther Latrobe when she moved to Gracehill, Ireland. In the early 1800s, Ireland was experiencing the Evangelical Revival in which this region was 50 years behind the Church of England. As a consequence, society began to see more emphasis on religion. When Latrobe moved to Gracehill in the mid-1820s, she experienced this increased focus on religion. Such influence surely encouraged her to maintain her close relationship with God. A significant point revealed from mapping Latrobe’s memoir was her clear upbringing from high class. Within the few years she lived, Latrobe traveled far distances and visited different countries. Without the current age of airplanes and luxury cruise ships, traveling was no easy feat. Another revelation from the mapping process that can be found is the number of story points at each location. In my personal story map, I entered three points in Gracehill, Ireland. Therefore, it can be correctly inferred that this location was highly significant within Latrobe’s life. Not only did she spend many years teaching at a ladies boarding school there, but she both met and married her husband, James Latrobe, in Gracehill.

“We 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 (Bodenhamer, p. 14). As Bodenhamer believes, space is more than just for historical action. Space is a significant product and determinant of change.

[iframe src=”https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/9ac892bb38ca23e9f07dee5ffa147b92/latrobes-storymap/index.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”100%” height=”800″][/iframe]

 

 

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Blog #5 Uncategorized

Blog 5

Elizabeth Grundy traveled throughout Northern England during her lifetime. When transcribing the memoir, I was able to read all of the places she visited, but did not realize the extent at which her and her son traveled. By creating a map of these specific places, I was able to match places with important events and determine which towns were important in her life. I had never really thought about which events took place where and the fact that not all of the important parts of her life took place in one town. They were scattered throughout Northern England but specifically close to Lancashire and Yorkshire. When reading the transcribed memoir, I was unaware that Elizabeth Grundy moved around as often as she did.

 

In a more general sense, mapping can be used to link together different pieces of history. “But what we can do is inform the present more fully with the artifacts of social memory, the evidence of recall from various times and various perspectives,” (Bodenhamer 26). Sometimes, historians have information about a specific event and where it took place but are unsure about the timing. If they find another event that is related to the first, and it occurred in a place nearby, they can link these two events together and estimate a date as to when it occurred. They can also link together different towns across the globe if they plot the linked events. “We select and interpret these cultural artifacts to frame our understanding of the past and present,” (Bodenhamer 25). Historians are able to come up with lists of important events that occurred in several different places and realize how complex each event was and the effort that was involved in each one. “We must direct technology if it is to help us open the past to the multiple perspectives and contingencies we know existed in the past,” (Bodenhamer 26). Mapping allows us to explore these perspectives and allows historians to draw conclusions that they are unsure of.

 

Some important story points in my map that I included were the places where she was born and passed away. I added the town in which she started her School for Girls because this was an important point in her memoir. I also added some background knowledge about her son and his wife that may be missed when reading the memoir because it is mentioned briefly. The reason I added a slide for this was because Grundy’s son was very important to her and this was something important from his life. I also added a slide of a town that related back to her parents and life when she was younger. It provided readers with a sense of how religion became such a large part of her life. Readers are able to gain a sense of how each of these English towns influenced Elizabeth Grundy and her family throughout her life.

https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/43564e909fe38e64bb34700eca852209/koczur-grundy/index.html

[iframe src=”https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/43564e909fe38e64bb34700eca852209/koczur-grundy/index.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”100%” height=”800″][/iframe]

 

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Practice Blog

Practice Blog

The first topic I chose utilizes visualization to analyze/organize a subject that has already been textually analyzed. The DH Project seeks to organize and structure words/phrases that are of importance in the released documents that pertain to Henry Kissinger’s time in the US State Department. The author creates this structure through a color code that organizes the subjects from these documents into SECRET and TOP SECRET and utilizes a timeline to provide historical relevance to these subjects. So, because of this structure, the project also utilizes the technique of mapping in time. For example, the TOP SECRET topic of Triangular Diplomacy can be related to the talks between China, Russia, and the US during the Vietnam War because of the background on time that the timeline provides. This DH Project offers us a way to analyze documents on one medium in a convenient way. Otherwise, it would be a monotonous task, involving sorting through thousands of pages of documents, to analyze Kissinger’s time as Secretary of State. The subject matter didn’t necessarily need to be presented visually; words and phrases could have. been mapped to the areas that they pertained to in the world. I think the author just came to the conclusion that visualization was the most convenient way to organize the information and the easiest for readers to understand.

Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used ...

The second topic I visited utilizes mapping. This “map” displays the relation of words based on our understanding of them through metaphors that have developed in the English language in the past millennium. Because the map also provides a visual display, you could say it is also a method of visualization. This project perfectly displays the advantages that come with Digital Humanities. You would have to research an endless number of texts and compare them in order to completely understand the impact that metaphors for over a millennium have had on words and the way we understand them today. I feel that mapping/visualization is the proper technique for this topic because it not only provides a good structure, but it also makes reading it more fun.

metaphor