Tag: Storymapping

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Blog #5

Blog #5

My experience with StoryMap JS was frustrating at times, to say the least, but once my map was completed there was a clear visual representation of the path traveled by Rosine and, her husband, Michel Tanneberger. I struggled the most with finding the towns on my basemap because of how many were present and how small the font was. Once I located both the towns that were included in my memoir, it was clear to me how far Rosine and Michel had to travel and it was evident how important space and time were in relation to their travels. As Bodenhamer mentions, “We are drawn to issues of meaning, and space offers a way to understand fundamentally how we order our world” (pg. 14).

Back in the 18th century, their main form of transportation was by foot. When I put both of these locations into the modern form of Google Maps it says that it is 286km, which is 177.712 miles. Though the memoir doesn’t reveal where or when Rosine stopped along her journey, I’m sure that the places she chose were influential to her overall experience of traveling to a foreign land. I believe that the route of travel taken by the Tanneberger’s most accurately represents change, historical, in a spatial way. Bodenhamer explains this in the book by saying, “Spaces are not simply the setting for historical action but are a significant product determinant of change. They are not passive settings but the medium for the development of culture” (pg. 16).

I believe that mapping out historical events can create a visualization that is appealing both spatially and contextually. It usefully links both history and geography to create a story through time. After creating my own Story Map for this memoir and reading the passage from Bodenhamer, I realized how important this was to the project. It brought all of our information together to create a visual story.

Rosine Tanneberger’s memoir was very short, so I was limited with choice on which points to plot. I decided to plot her birthplace and where she traveled to. In addition to that, I plotted points in those towns (Mainly Mankendorf) when she expressed a feeling, and then described why.  Bodenhamer justified this point in his passage as, “the spaces of interest to the humanities also could be personal- emotional space or the body in space- and even metaphorical or fictional…” (pg. 21). Now that I have more experience working with maps and the Story Map JS website, I’m feeling more confident in my abilities to understand the visual and spatial representation that I created through this project with my memoir.

[iframe src=”https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/e4b672c558d1e2012a20b97975d43abf/olivia-smith-bethlehem-memoirs/index.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”100%” height=”800″][/iframe]

 

 

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Blog #5

Blog #5

The geo-spatial data helped us make sense of the history of our authors because it gave us a visualization we have not yet seen involving our memoir. We have used a timeline as a visual to allow us to understand what Elizabeth Grundy did over time, but a geo-spatial visual has allowed us to engage so much more into her life . The spatial element is a component of our memoirs that allows us to understand how Elizabeth Grundy traveled throughout her life. Bodenhamer described the spatial element very well as a “complex relativistic view of space [that] has reinvigorated geography”(14). He not only mentions that it is a view of space, but also that it plays an important role in geography. While transcribing and editing Grundy’s memoir, I never actually considered where this was all happening. I knew it took place in Northern England, but I could not connect the place names in my head; creating this story map allowed me to make those connections. Grundy traveled a lot throughout Northern England, but her stops were all relatively close. She was born in Chowbent, Lancashire, made a stop in Dukinfield, Cheshire, and then made three stops in Western Yorkshire (Baildon, Fulneck, and Huddersfield). I liked how in his article, Bodenhamer challenged humanists saying that they disregard geography: “[Geographic Information Systems] demands the use of spatial questions, whereas most humanists think rarely about geographical space”(24). The fact that humanists can do all this work and not take into account the locations where everything happens is mind-boggling. There are so many questions that can be thought up when considering the geography of a memoir: why is this space important?; is it well connected?; is it urban or rural? Questions like these can help readers understand the complexities of the history of a memoir. By simply finding the locations on a map, these questions can be answered. In Grundy’s memoir, her stops are all pretty well connected, not too far away, and they are a bit more on the rural side. From this information, I can deduce that this space is important because Grundy never wanted to move too far away from her children. She grew up with very strict parents and wanted to make sure that her kids never felt the same as she did throughout her whole life. This shows when she even went to visit her daughter in Huddersfield. Mapping is a great way to assign spatial-data to a memoir: “It aids but does not replace expert narrative”(Bodenhamer, 28).

 

https://storymap.knightlab.com/edit/?id=tracing-the-life-of-elizabeth-grundy

[iframe src=”https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/41d06efc9ebea53a9c43daa6f877181e/tracing-the-life-of-elizabeth-grundy/index.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”100%” height=”800″][/iframe]

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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]

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Blog #5

Blog #5

I really enjoyed working with StoryMap Js because it allowed me to better visualize the movements of Joseph Lingard throughout his life, in reference to his memoir. These maps not only reveal where Joseph traversed geographically but also reveals the new perspectives that Joseph may have gained in his travels. Specifically, Bodenhamer speaks to this point when he writes, “We see space as the platform for multiplicity, a realm where all perspectives are particular and dependent upon experiences unique to an individual, a community, or a period of time” (Bodenhamer,14). Also, by following where Joesph traveled and physically plotting those points on a map, I was able to gain insight as to not only the final destinations of his travel but was able to see the locations in which he may have also crossed through on his journey. Bodenhamer explains, “[Spaces] are not passive settings but the medium for the development of culture. All spaces contain embedded stories based on what has happened there” (Bodenhamer, 16). Creating the map also helped me to better untangle Joseph’s story and easily follow his movements over an extended period of time, in this case, his entire life. More generally, maps and spatial thinking can help us to untangle history and allow us to better visualize movements over time. I have certainly learned that maps and spatial thinking play a crucial role in sorting out the complexities of history to result in a firm understanding of what actually happened in certain locations.

When creating my own map, I found it difficult. The first challenge was trying to determine what points to plot. I did not think there were many specific locations explicitly mentioned in my memoir. But with a closer reading of my memoir, I was able to extract some locations which I was able to plot. The next challenge was finding a map that included the locations of the places that I desired to plot. After some extensive searching, I was able to locate a map that included almost all of the locations I wanted to plot in the David Rumsey Collection. Then, I was able to pinpoint Joseph’s birthplace, his encounter with Brethren Bohler at Brassington, the Congregation at Fulneck, as well as Dukinfield, where Joseph passes away. As Bodenhamer puts it, “[Mapping] promises an alternate view of history and culture through dynamic representation of memory and place, a view that is visual and experiential, fusing qualitative and quantitative data within real and conceptual space” (Bodenhamer, 29).

I have linked my StoryMap JS here