In addition to the class blogs I added McClurken’s (updated) website from the DH Compendium and a blog called Pelagios that had an interesting set of maps. I’ve had experience with Google MyMaps and TimelineJS so I uploaded a previous class’ example of each. All in all, great for a snow day.
Timeline from a previous class
Map from a previous class using Google My Maps
Blog Post #3 – StoryMapJS and TimeLineJS Exercise
For this blog assignment, I decided to use the same information for both the map as well as the timeline. Last semester, I wrote my Senior Thesis on a Major League Baseball pitcher by the name of Dock Ellis. The basis of my argument was correlating him to the counterculture movement of the 1960s. I figured this would be a good topic for this assignment because obviously the length of an athlete’s career is finite which gives a good window to graph since it has a clear beginning and end.
I did have some trouble embedding both the map and the timeline into this post. I Googled some things and discovered that I needed a WordPress plugin named “iFrame” which enables WordPress to embed using a “shortcode” (at least that is how I interpreted it). Eventually I got it to work but there are still some things that I would like to change but I am just not exactly sure how. These changes, such as extending the bottom of the map so the text from the post does not cover up the “StoryMapJS” information at the bottom, are just minor tweaks so I am not too worried about them.
Both the map and the timeline contain the same basic information but the manner in which this information is communicated slightly changes the interpretation. The timeline does a good job of laying out the basics: when he played, who he played for during certain years, and other major events in his career such as the All Star Game and the LSD No-Hitter. The map on the other hand, while still conveying this same information, allows for a more visual experience in which the viewer can see the location of the events change. I do like the option of the timeline to include videos which I think for oral historians especially, would prove invaluable.
Personally, I prefer the timeline to the map. While making the map, the presentation of the information was clean and easy to read. However, after embedding it, the map becomes smushed together and as a result, loses some functionality and readability. For my project on the Civil War diary, I think the timeline would be the most beneficial since the change of location would probably be rare. I could possibly use each slide as a separate diary entry, have a picture of the scanned page of the diary, and then have the transcription in the text box.
knightlab Timeline + Map
Timeline:
<iframe src=’//cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1eeGBhHkDC2wweYfP0eHD08V1GcSvoa1YPm4JBX6nBGg&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650′ width=’100%’ height=’650′ frameborder=’0′></iframe>
(If the above looks like html, there is a link to the timeline below)
Map:
https://storymap.knightlab.com/edit/?id=winter-vacation-2015
(I could not find a way to embed my Map so here is a URL linking to it).
For the most part, the two tools were easy to use. The timeline simply required dates and from there I could enter any information I wanted as well as pictures or youtube videos (though I chose not to). The map was basically the same; enter a location and then any information I want to go along with it. My main issue with both tools though, is that I expected them to work together but they did not. If both tools are made by knightlab, it should make sense that I should only have to enter the data once and the two tools could work together and create one smooth timeline/map. Since they do not work together like this, it may be better to just pick one tool for a project based on if location or general information is more important. (If they do somehow work together and I am not seeing it, then I would like for knightlab to make it clearer that they do work together.)
Digital Tools: JSTimeline and StoryMap
Working with Mapping and Timelines
This week’s blog was a large step into the use of an actual online tool, mapping or timelining. I used Timeline JS3 to complete this task and found the work more tedious then difficult… then again I don’t believe I utilized more than a fraction of the sites possibilities. For some, a task such as this one may have seemed easy or redundant. In my case, this task took time to comprehend and even more time to produce something that was any where close to working. If I understood what I believe to be the method of embedding my time line here it is:
If not then here is the link to the timeline: My Timeline
I chose to timeline my years after highschool graduation, this way the information was simple and not another thing to worry about on top of the actual development and creation of the timeline itself.
StoryMapJS and TimeLineJS
This first link is a story map I made using StoryMapJS. My story map is about Florence, Italy, and its most historic landmarks.
https://storymap.knightlab.com/edit/?id=italy
The second link is a basic timeline of my life that I made using TimeLineJS.
http://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1ZVIgauC6lrvXxjyx54vSe1PRSY6gVd8njJNQT45p2Es&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650
Overall, my experience of making the story map and timeline were more intuitive than I expected. Both tools have easy directions to follow and can be made relatively quickly. I could see both of these tools as useful for my project documenting the History of the HCITCC. The story map could be used to walk the audience through each room of the building, with information including the name of the room, and the highlighted features and technology in each of them. The timeline could be used to document the constructing from start to finish of the building. Hopefully one, if not both of these tools can be used in my group project.
Lila Spitz Timeline JS
Map and Timeline
I could not figure out how to embed my map and timeline in my post so I have included links to them below. If someone could tell me how to embed I would much appreciate it!
Link to StoryMapJS: https://s3.amazonaws.com/uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/1b1645ccdb0a879bd498ee30d5cd3887/map-practice/index.html
Link to TimeLineJS: https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1OMANCn46MKhiS5pP5xYQiQhBC31L4491uanvpAN5zBI&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650
Creating the map and timeline was not as easy as I expected. I am not the best at figuring out how to use new digital tools, so this was a good experience for me. While creating the map (which shows places I would like to travel to), I did have some difficulties looking at the finished product. I clicked “preview” and sometimes the map would not zoom in enough to see the exact location on the map. I was able to correct this, but I wonder if I was looking at the actual presentation and not simply a preview if it would work properly (which it does). On the other hand, I had a more difficult time putting the timeline (mine showed the various taxes the British government imposed on the American colonies) together as opposed to viewing it after I had finished. I opened up the spreadsheet and clicked “publish” several times before I finally understood that I was supposed to enter in my own data before doing clicking that option. I completely missed this part in the instructions and so it took me a few tries before I realized what I was supposed to do. My prior experience with instructions for digital tools has not always been helpful, but these directions were, so I need to break this bad habit of not reading things all the way through. Once I figured out how to use the timeline I was able to create one and view it with no issues.
I like certain aspects of StoryMapJS and TimeLineJS, but I am still unsure if my group should incorporate them into our project. For the map, I like that the it zooms from one location to the other and connects the dots for you. I also like that the location on the map is marked and along with it comes an actual picture and description. My concern with this is that the screen looks too cluttered as there is a chunk of information in the margin. Also, the gray map does not make the presentation look very exciting. If there were a way to thin out the information and create more space as well as change the color of the map, then it might be an interesting tool to use for our work with the Slaughter and Murray letters, perhaps showing troop movements, especially those of the 114th Pennsylvania, Murray’s regiment, which would give site users more context for reading his letters. For the timeline, I like the idea of this, but it was frustrating and a bit confusing that the bottom line (which shows years and months) kept moving and changed with every event. It was hard to understand the bigger picture of how the events fit together when I could not see all the previous events on the timeline while I focused on one particular slide. The timeline feature could be helpful for my group’s project as far as showing the progression of the Civil War and which events Slaughter and Murray either experienced themselves or heard about, but for me personally a tool that shows all events at once with the ability to focus on one at a time would help me put things in perspective, whereas with the timeline I feel like I am just looking at separate events and not a collection of them.
Here also is a screen shot of my Feedly. In the left hand margin, it shows I subscribed to everyone’s blog and then to Kathleen Fitzpatrick’s and Bryan Alexander’s from the Digital Humanities Compendium.
