Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Our map: http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&vps=3&jsv=291b&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=111626940125441892074.000494198b250836ce965
  • What historical event did you choose to map? 
We chose the Invention of Flight and more specifically focusing on the Wright brothers and their trials and tribulations.
  • Why? 
I chose this topic for a few different reasons. First the Wright brothers have always interested me as their contribution to today's modern world is so vast. Secondly because, believe it or not, there is currently a commercial for Johnny Walker whiskey playing on tv which features a clip of the Wright brothers, I really like this particular commercial. Finally in my 20th century history course while studying WW1 I wanted to establish an accurate time frame of the history of flight compared to aerial warfare during WW1 and how advanced aviation was at the time.
  • What kinds of information (data and metadata) did you include on your map? 
Our formost type of metadata was descriptive metadata. Each point on the map is categorized by a title, keywords and a picture. Structural metadata was used in the organized of each event into points on the map, and by providing copyright and sources we used, administrative data is also used.
  • Where did you find information about the historical event?
Almost all of our information was gathered from wikipedia. Although it is sometimes not considered an accurate souce, the indepth detials of the information and mulitple  citiations made us believe the info to be correct. We also briefly used the offical musem and the official memorial sites of the Wright brothers.
  • What text and images did you use and where did you find them? Why did you choose this particular kind of information? 
All our texts and images were from the previously mentioned sites.  We selected them mostly because they were relevant to the topics and events we covered in our map. The images are very recognizable and have historic significance.
  • What information would you like to have included on the map, but couldn’t? 
It would have been nice to inter correct all the dots on the map and show the relationships and time frames occurring between each event.
  • How do you think creating a map for this event helps other people to understand history (and this event specifically)? 
For people who find it easier to learn visually, using a map is definitely an asset. Its nice to be able to see exactly where an event took place. The use of a map for the Wright brothers showed how strong their influence was throughout the Eastern United States and why both Ohio and North Carolina claim the Wright's as their own.
History pin is used for historical photos in the past 150 years, you could put together collages and many different visual projects using it. The most likely people to use it would be historians, more specifically European historians and the photos could be used in museums or textbooks.
Flickrmap is a more general map which can document peoples travels or social update's picture locations. There is no specific reasoning for a map to be created. I think it would be used by younger people in the US to further expand ideas displayed on social networking sites.
Community walk is a simple site used for creating interactive maps on specific interests or locations. It seems more social and world orientated then the other two sites. The creators mom used it to display house listings for her real estate business and its easy to use in a way that anyone could enjoy it and make maps on personal interests. The differences are that history pin is more historical and visually oriented and comunity walk and flickrmap are more social, current and broader in their uses.

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