Introduction to the course
are maps lies or new knowledge?
what is the importance of location in contemporary society?
access to data (open vs proprietary)
maps for storytelling & social justice
(Placing Segregation, Tennessee's Black Neighborhoods, Redlining in New Deal America, Palestine Open Maps, Torn Apart, Beirut Port Explosion Swipe Map)
Requirements, Syllabus, Methodologies, Course stack
Breakout discussion
Q&A
1 Read: Prunel-Joyeux, “Do Maps Lie?” (Artl@s)
Muggah, Why Maps are important in our response to the Covid-19 Pandemic
Watch: Geospatial Revolution Episodes 1-4 (a bit dated, but still interesting; each episode is about 15 minutes)
Watch (optional): a talk I gave this summer "Exploring the Geographies..." (1:50-5:30) - pardon my French!
2. Prompt for quick writing in Chat : For what purposes do you use maps? I know we spoke about maps lying, but when you look at maps do you think about them lying? about their silences? or do they "tell the truth" for you? What map do you wish you had? Have you ever had a paper map in your hands? What kind?
When you do your quick writing, start with about 100 words inside the thread in DHS discussion that is created for Quick Writing 1. You do not have to answer all the questions, just choose the one that is most interesting to you. After you write your quick writing, check back and make sure that you respond to a couple classmates' thoughts by @-tagging them. There is no limit to how much you can interact, but be respectful of others desire to express their ideas. Please complete your quick writing by 0600, 10 September.
3. Create a Google Site of your own. There are many videos that walk you through the steps, for example, here and here. If you find another one that you like in English or a language you understand, share it with the class in the "DHS general" Chat room.
Give your site the name DHS [the avatar name you choose]. Create a few pages and title them. Try out adding some images that you yourself have taken (or others from unsplash.com). Don't use google image search, but refer to the stack tab of this syllabus for places where you can get free and open content.
Publish your website for NYU access and take a screenshot of some feature you are proud of in your site and share it in the "DHS random" room.
Send me the URL at the Form on this very same page by 2359, 9 Sept.
Discussion of readings and videos
indigeneity and maps : Finding Tovaangar (LA Times)
Early days of GPS / GIS
Watch in class: Retro 1990s video about GPS (4 mins)
“Early 1990s GPS” (1 min)
Twenty to thirty years later...
Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek
A Extremely Detailed Map of the 2016 Election
What Can We Tell from Billions of Food Purchases?
Urgent Response Products: Jet Propulsion Lab (Beirut blast)
1 Listen: BBC 4 “The Digital Human: Maps” (starts 1:20)
2 Read: ch 4 "Places" (Jones) - ebook
If you have never downloaded an ebook from NYUAD library or need a refresher, check out this video.
If you are authenticated at NYU, click on the double arrows to maximize the image of the screen.
3 Explore: Here are some mapping projects that might interest you. Browse them and try to understand what kinds of information they bring together, who made them and what they help us understand about our world, visually.
Digital Harlem / Virtual Harlem (mentioned in the Jones’ article)
Mapping the Lake District: A Literary GIS
Panorama: An Atlas of US History
Mapping the Mahjar
The Greening of Al Ain
Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek
A Extremely Detailed Map of the 2016 Election
What Can We Tell from Billions of Food Purchases?
Urgent Response Products: Jet Propulsion Lab (4 August 2020 Beirut blast)
4 Prompts for week 1 quick writing #2 in Chat : What do you think of the idea of Jones' idea of "eversion"? what about the BBC speaker's remark that maps connect our "physical and informational worlds"? what about the definition of a map being "bundles of digital information about places"? Do you learn something new from one of the projects I asked you to explore? If you could put pictures of "pop spots" from the past on a map, what would they be? what place would you choose?
For the quick writing, follow the same instruction as above in #2 for the previous class. Please do this by 14 Sept 0600.