Top photo citation: USA desktop wallpaper (62+ pictures). (n.d.). WallpaperSet. Retrieved December 10, 2025, fromhttps://wallpaperset.com/usa-desktop-wallpaper
For this week my professor let us choose one of four different modules in the methodology category. The four options that we were on this website were:
- Mapping- Explore the spatial humanities. (Modules, n.d.)1
- Networks- Understanding connections. (Modules, n.d.)2
- Text Analysis- Digital and distinct reading. (Modules, n.d.)3
- Cultural Analytics- Seeing things through new lenses. (Modules, n.d.)4
I chose the mapping assignment because it allowed me to visualize patterns easier than only using words or numbers. Seeing information on a map helps me understand and organize ideas in a clearer way.
I drew inspiration from the Green Street Project, and I knew that I wanted to create something similar. I always say that pictures hold more history than words because they are moment in time where life is still. Historical landmarks hold many memories, and I am glad that we are able to capture the beauty in different times but the same location. A wonderful example of that would be Washington, DC. The city of Washington, DC, has many of these “then and now” moments that show how much can change in the same place. In my intro into digital studies, we discussed how photos hold memory. With the help of digital technology, we are able to preserve and them across time in ways that have patterns and change through history (Blevins, personal communication, 2025).5
Down below I have embedded the timeline I made of a small portion of Washington, DC of photos of “now and then” using StoryMap. StoryMap was the perfect tool that I was able to use for the Mapping Methodology Module because I could show pictures, years, and where the photo was taken on a real map.
Creating this map timeline of Washington, DC, made me realize how many different ways society can use maps instead of just getting from point A to point B. Click HERE to see how I created this map using StoryMap.
Maps have been around for a while to help guide direction but also represent real places6 (Digital Studies 101, n.d.). Society has slowly transformed paper maps into digital maps that are able to show more than roads and landmarks. In my creation above, you can see a paper that looks like a map, but also the photo and time. Based on William A. Kretzschmar, Jr.’s essay, Geographic Information System (GIS) is a powerful tool for the humanities. GIS is not only a map that is drawn, but instead it is about the location as the fundamental organizational structure for analyzing7 (Kretzchmar, 2013).
In the article “Finding Places in Text with the World Historical Gazetteer” by Susan Grunewald and Andrew Janco, they explained how historical places can be connected to geographic coordinates using digital tools. This shows how text analysis and spatial data help researchers understand where the specific event took place and how it has changed over time.8 (Grunewald & Janco, 2022)
Future Applications:
Whether it is science, business, or social studies, organizing data in a similar way helps people understand patterns and relationships. Geographic Information System has changed the way I think about any type of research and how I am able to show off my findings. Using different types of programs like Story Map made my research into DC user-friendly.
- Digital Studies 101. (n.d.). Mapping. https://new.dgst101.net/modules/mapping ↩︎
- Digital Studies 101, Mapping. ↩︎
- Digital Studies 101, Mapping. ↩︎
- Digital Studies 101, Mapping. ↩︎
- Personal communication, Professor Blevins, Introduction to Digital Studies, 2025. ↩︎
- Digital Studies 101, Mapping. ↩︎
- 2013 William A. Kretzschmar, jr., “GIS for language and literary study” | literary studies in the Digital age. (n.d.). https://dlsanthology.mla.hcommons.org/gis-for-language-and-literary-study/
↩︎ - Grunewald, S., & Janco, A. (2022, February 11). Finding places in text with the World Historical Gazetteer. Programming Historian. https://programminghistorian.org/en/lessons/finding-places-world-historical-gazetteer
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