Before the first week of class, I was a little anxious as to what this History/IT class would entail, but upon taking it i’ve become excited for the course and the things we will be learning in the future. One of the main things that I found interesting during the first week was the fact that all technology now isn’t necessarily new, but rather an evolved version of previous technology. The concept of technology being ever evolving is interesting on it’s own, but realizing the level at which history has a part in the evolution of it just makes me want to delve deeper into the subject. For example, the fact that the little folder icon on your laptop exists because of the creation of the filing cabinet and manila envelopes during a time that record keeping became important just demonstrates all the working parts that go into the creation and evolution of things; time period, need, etc. So I’m excited to explore different data sets and resources that rely on historical records and see how people have decided to use and share these things to make them more easily accessible to people of today’s age.
The project I was assigned to review was the Mapping Occupation Project, published by the University of Georgia. The project is considered an exploratory map (following the DH Field Guide), that details U.S. Army posts during the time of Reconstruction. It also provides descriptions for the data that’s being shown, such as historical background, the purpose of the army posts, and their movement throughout the period of reconstruction. The publishers of this project say that the date shared on this map can be used “ as a guideline through a complex period, a massive data source, and a first step in capturing the federal government’s new reach into the countryside.” The Mapping Occupation Project was created through the gathering of information from manuscript sources in the national archives as well as repositories. It’s also downloadable which makes it’s accessibility all that much greater. The digital tools and transformations included within this project do add to the scholarship considering the creators could have just created the map to give a visual idea of where Army posts were and left it at that, but instead they dove in further by providing information, context, and “spatial narrative” to the data. It’s interactive in that you can zoom in and out of the data and the way in which it’s displayed is visually appealing and simple. It transforms the data from the archives into something that people of today’s age can use and explore for their own research purposes.
Sources:
Gregory P. Downs and Scott Nesbit, Mapping Occupation: Force, Freedom, and the Army in Reconstruction, http://mappingoccupation.org, published March 2015, accessed (9/3/19).
I liked the way that you highlighted the way that your project featured various means for accessibility and interactivity. One of the great benefits of digital history, in my opinion, is the fact that it can be made available to a wide range of people, and open up learning opportunities that might otherwise go unnoticed. It can be daunting to look at a project that is too dry to peak casual interest, or that is too dense in the writing or publishing medium. I also totally agree with your part one–I was so worried about what we’d have to do for this class, but I love that its operating within the framing device of a specific historical period and it’s technology!
I believe the project you analyzed includes great tools that help those interested navigate through the source, giving them a better understanding of that specific time period. It is essential and useful as it marked an important era in American history that may even still apply to the U.S. Army Forces today.
I think the topic you researched is very interesting, especially since I have alot of family in the military. However after viewing the project I was wondering if you think it would be better with other exhibits such as some other forms of the framework to give it some more variety? or maybe for it to touch on other topics in the same field and use these frameworks?
I had actually found that evolving technology was also an amazing thing to have learned. The concept is simple, although with new technology coming out everyday it is quite easy to forget the origins of creation. You did a great job at describing your source! It was very detailed and descriptive overall.