Today in class we learned about DH projects in the context of maps. We explored various different map tools to see how they can each be used to create and modify DH projects. One platform that stood out to me was the ArcGIS mapping website. This website allows for easy mapping of data presets that are inputted or directly uploaded using an Excel sheet. You can see my finished product here on my website.
What we did was input the first colleges of the United States, using dates, location, and affiliations.
The great thing about ArcGIS is that it is very easy to show reasonably large amounts of data on a relatively easy to understand scale.
Though I found ArcGIS to be a little hard to use at first (the UI was a bit hard to understand and it wasn’t very intuitive) once I got the hang of it there were so many options that I could choose from. I could color code each college based on its affiliations with other organizations, or I could choose to group the colleges based on their establishment dates. Overall I have an okay understanding of how DH applies in terms of mapping.
After exploring how easy it was to input large amounts of data into ArcGIS I have an idea for the final group DH project. I proposed to my group mates that we should gather the data for where Carls have come from in the past and map that using an interactive map where the user can scroll through time to see where Carls have come from around the world and in the United States. I hypothesis that getting the data and inputting the data will be the hardest step of this project. Otherwise once we have the data digitalized we can easily map where Carls have come from throughout the years.
Chris, one of my group members have written down the important details of the meeting we had today about what the project should be. It is linked here.
