During our meeting on February 2nd, we collaboratively composed a map based on material from the "Lestrygonians" episode of Joyce's Ulysses. We then chatted briefly about the relationships between that map and Moretti's notion of "distant reading." We also considered the role of computation in humanities interpretation and ways to avoid a close-distant dichotomy.

Based on that workshop, the point of this exercise is for you to make your own geographical map, using whatever content you think is a best fit. If you wish, then the map can be related to your ongoing graduate research or a project you are imagining for this seminar.

Learning Outcomes 

For you to:

• Become more familiar with some geospatial approaches to the humanities,
• Develop a basic knowledge of how expressions in Google Earth and Maps are composed and through what mechanisms,
• Work through the accommodations and restrictions afforded by a spreadsheet-based expression of content, and
• Consider the ways in which dynamic visual expressions can act as "standalone" arguments (i.e., without a text-based description or analysis).

What You Should Include in Your Response

Using what you learned during the February 2nd workshop, you should submit a map and only a map. Here are the conditions:

• It should include at least ten placemarks,
• Each placemark should include a name, a title, body text, and an image, and
• The map should be referenced in (i.e., via the HTML <a> tag), embedded in (i.e., via the HTML <iframe> tag), or uploaded to (as a KML / KMZ file) Scalar.

Here are some quick instructions (more or less a review of what we did on February 2nd):

• First, gather your data (whatever that means to you). For each placemark, you'll need: (1) a place name (which will appear next to your placemark), (2) a title (which will appear at the top of the bubble once the placemark is clicked), (3) body text, (4) an image, (5) image URL (e.g., in Scalar, if you upload it there), and (6) and name of the image source (e.g., Wikipedia Commons). All images should be in the public domain or appropriately licensed.
• Open this spreadsheet, name it, and add your data to it.
• Next, open this spreadsheet. (It should look familiar.) Follow the "Quick Instructions" (Steps 1-7). Note: your placemark data is available via the tab named "PlacemarkData" at the bottom of the doc. For your reference, in the placemark data, I left a sample line (Line 11, p1 - delete it when you're finished). Please also remember that the template number is 6. If you do not enter "6" in that column ("Template #"), then the map will not render. The sky may also fall on your head.
• If you are linking your placemarks together, then be sure to add the appropriate placemark IDs to the "Next Placemark" and "Previous Placemark" columns in the "PlacemarkData" tab.
• Once you've added all of your data, publish it to the web and view it in Google Earth and/or Maps.
• Finally, in Scalar, point us to your map or embed it in a page. No need to write a explanation or the like. In fact, you should not.

Need a more thorough review? Stuck? Then visit this module. It's incredibly detailed and helpful.

Please submit your map before our meeting on February 9th. Be sure to include it both in your path and the prompt path (i.e., "Map"). Tag it with a name or two, if you wish.

Get in touch with questions!

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