Digital Scholarship & Digital Humanities
Description
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are specialized software that combine geographical data with various types of information to analyze, visualize, and interpret spatial relationships on a digital map. What makes geospatial analysis significant isn't only the location itself - it's the events, objects, ideas, phenomena, and change centered on that location that allow for a dynamic map.
Geospatial humanities is the use of mapping and geospatial technologies for social, cultural, and historical inquiry. In digital scholarship and digital humanities, mapping is used to tell stories and contextualize data in ways that enhance traditional cartography.
Tools
There are many different GIS tools that help you build digital maps. The one you choose will be determined by several factors, including the type of project you want to build, your level of technical expertise, and what customizations you want to include in your map.
University Access
To use these tools, you will need to request access through the University.
ArcGIS Pro is one of the most popular commercial GIS applications available. It is a full-featured and highly customizable tool that allows you to visualize, analyze, and annotate geospatial data. ArcGIS Pro can only be used on Windows systems.
- Free, unaffiliated accounts are also available for several ArcGIS tools. Capabilities are more limited, but may still meet your needs.
Humap is a mapping platform built specifically for humanities collections and story-based projects, on which you can build an interactive map that showcases digital collections. UM users can request access by emailing jaclemon@olemiss.edu.
Free or Open-Source:
QGIS is a free, open-source, full-featured GIS software that allows users to build comprehensive maps. QGIS is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
ArcGIS StoryMaps: "A story authoring web-based application that allows you to share your maps in the context of narrative text and other multimedia content." (Esri)
Clio: "An educational website and mobile application that guides the public to thousands of historical and cultural sites throughout the United States along with nature trails, art walking tours, and virtual tours of museums and sites." Build your own experience to share with the public!
HistoryPin is a digital archive for users to create and share stories about their local communities.
KnightLab StoryMap is an interactive map and storytelling platform developed by a team at Northwestern University aimed at advancing news media innovation.
Leaflet is an open-source Java Script library for mobile-friendly interactive maps. Leaflet can be used on its own or in conjunction with other open-source tools like QGIS.
Tool Comparison
| Tool | Free / University Access | Open Source | Customization | Operation System Compatability | Beginner Friendly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ArcGIS Pro | University subscription only | Full customization | Windows | ||
| ArcGIS StoryMaps | Free & subscription versions | Limited customization | Web-based | ✔ | |
| Clio | Free | Little to no customization | Web-based | ✔ | |
| HistoryPin | Free | Little to no customization | Web-based | ✔ | |
| Humap | University subscription only | Limited customization | Web-based | ||
| KnightLab StoryMap | Free | Little to no customization | Web-based | ✔ | |
| Leaflet | Free | ✔ | Full customization | Web-based | |
| QGIS | Free | ✔ | Full customization | Windows, Mac, Linux |
Customization Levels:
- Little to no customization tools follow preset templates with few options to customize appearance. Users are able to personalize data, content, and occasionally color but cannot customize the map's structure or user interactions.
- Limited customization tools have a greater level of flexibility than "little to no customization," but are still built off of preset templates. With these, users can build more complex maps and website appearances within the platform's structures.
- Full customization tools allow the user to customize nearly every aspect of their map, including but not limited to appearance, content, and user experience.
Beginner Friendly: Tools marked "beginner friendly" are defined as platforms where a user builds their map from preset templates. These are "plug and play" interfaces that do not require advanced software or programming knowledge to use.
- Tools that are not checked "Beginner Friendly" are more advanced, requiring additional skills or knowledge specific to each tool. Resources to learn these skills are available on each tool's website. Additional help can be requested through Scholar Support and Data Services (ssds@olemiss.edu).
Data Sources
The following are GIS-specific datasets. For generalized data sources that might have GIS data, check this guide's Resources page.
MARIS: Mississippi Automated Resource Information System; provides free Mississippi GIS data.
Mississippi GIS: The state of Mississippi's GIS website, which includes data.
Sanborn Maps, Library of Congress: "The Sanborn map collection consists of a uniform series of large-scale maps, dating from 1867 to the present and depicting the commercial, industrial, and residential sections of some twelve thousand cities and towns in the United States, Canada, and Mexico." (LoC)
Social Explorer: Online research tool designed to provide quick and easy access to modern and historical census data and demographic information.
United States Census Mapping Files: GIS files containing census data and historical United States map boundaries.
Sample Projects
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Incunabula: The Art & History of Printing in Western Europe, c. 1450-1500
"The early years of printing in Western Europe was a time of astonishing productivity. Biblical texts, fables, hagiographies, personal devotionals, natural histories, and illustrated epics filled personal and university libraries. Calling attention to this early moment in the history of the printed codex, historians refer to books printed between 1455 and 1501 as incunabula, the Latin word for "in the cradle."* By exploring the pages of some of these rare tomes, the following Story Map will introduce a variety of subjects, including: the transition from manuscript to print, early hand-printing methods, the invention of European typography, and the eventual integration of woodcut illustrations with typographic texts." (Library of Congress) -
Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America
"Mapping Inequality is a digital humanities project that allows users to explore the history of redlining in the United States through an aggregation of records from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). It uses the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation’s records, dating between 1935 and 1940, to create an interactive map that reveals the ways city neighborhoods were rated according to their perceived desirability and risk levels for granting home loans. The site allows users to explore this information in different forms including the original digitized records, full transcriptions of the records, and excerpts that highlight significant details selected from the records by the project designers. The goal of Mapping Inequality is to call attention to the ways in which the practice of redlining contributed to the ongoing reality of racial inequality in the United States. Transcription is ongoing, and more information will be available on the site over time." (Carli V. Lowe) -
Mapping the Republic of Letters
Mapping the Republic of Letters is a collaborative, interdisciplinary humanities research project looking at 17th and 18th century correspondence, travel, and publication to trace the exchange of ideas in the early modern period and the Age of Enlightenment. (Nicole Coleman, Stanford University)