Putting digital historical geography into perspective(s)

Putting digital historical geography

into

perspective(s)

J. Sophie Visser, M.Sc., M.A.

LandZij / Utrecht University (external PhD student)

ICHG conference 2015

London, July 6-10, 2015

Background

1978 M.Sc. Chemistry (including Informatics)

+ 20 years Career in Information Systems, Modeling & Management

2006 M.A. (Historical) Geography, Utrecht University (Dr. Hans Renes)

2007 Start PhD Research on Information & Communication on Historical/Cultural landscapes for spatial purposes

1. What’t in a name => ‘Digital Hist. Geography’ or ‘geo’?

2. Process support perspective: doing Historical Geography digitally

3. Subject perspective: doing which Historical Geography digitally

4. Application perspective: doing which Historical Geography digitally

5. Case: Dutch Digital cultural landscape research & applications

6. Some concluding remarks

Overview

1. What’s in a name: ‘Digital Hist. Geography’ or ‘Geo’? (1)

Digital Historical Geography

Digital HumanitiesDigital History

Digital (human, social, cultural, ..) geography

Digital (cultural) landscapes

GeoHumanities

GIS(science)Historical Geo(-graphic) ISs

=> I prefer ‘Digital Hist. Geography’ over ‘geo’:Central point: representation of ‘knowledge’:

‘Geo’-information Digital information All information-indicates GIS -all kinds of systems -all kinds of info-databases => -also textual, visual, -also what computers based on data etc. information cannot (easily) do-software => formal logic -more free to handle -rules of communication

Data & Formal

logic

Data & Formal

logic

Digital info Digital info Data

& Formal logic

Explicit knowledge = ‘all info’ Tacit knowledge

1. What’s in a name: ‘Digital Hist. Geography’ or ‘Geo’? (2.a)

I prefer ‘Digital Hist. Geography’ over ‘geo’:Central point: representation of ‘knowledge’:

‘Geo’-information Digital information All information-indicates GIS -all kinds of systems -all kinds of info-databases => -also textual, visual, -also what computers based on data etc. information cannot (easily) do-software => formal logic -more free to handle -rules of communication

‘What can be put into ‘What can be digitised ‘Knowledge that can bedata and formal logic’ and digitally handled’ made explicit’

Data & Formal

logic

Data & Formal

logic

Loss of knowledge, associations,

etc.

Loss of Information &

meanings

Digital info Digital info Data

& Formal logic

Explicit

Knowledge Knowledge

Tacit

1. What’s in a name: ‘Digital Hist. Geography’ or ‘Geo’? (2.b)

Sources contain multiple meanings ……

Texts

Interpretation => meaning

View, lens (1)

Paradigms,approaches,… Sources for (digital/geo) research

Old maps

Landscapes

View, lens (2)

View, lens (3)



Pictures

1. What’s in a name: ‘Digital Hist. Geography’ or ‘Geo’? (3.a)

…. but which meaning(s) is/are represented in information or data?

Wehrly (2004), Kunst aan de kant (‘Cleaning-up art’), p. 22-23


….but, of course, computers (and GIS) can also do more than humans

*e.g. Brey (2000), Theories of technology as extension of human faculties; Lawson (2010), Technology as extension of human capabilities

Technology as extension of humans:

-Databases as extensions of memory

-Repetition of actions, models, practices, norms (to some people explicit, to others implicit)

- Interrelating terms, concepts, ideas => semantic networks

-Communication over time, distances, groups


Process:

Historical Geography

informational input(s)

Informationaloutput(s)

‘Steering’: paradigms, methods, goals, time, money

Process Support input & tools

Material input(e.g. landscape)

Material output(e.g. landscape)

Process model in conceptual information systems design in IDEF 0*

*or Function model, see http://www.idef.com/IDEF0.htm

2. Process support perspective: doing Historical Geography digitally (1)

Paradigms, methods, goals

Tool(s)

InputAcquisitionPreparation

ready

Analysing,combiningmodelling

WritingMapping

Visualizing

Inputs Research Process Results

Tool(s) Tool(s)

Communicating

Adapted to this kind of research process:


Inputs Research Process Results CommunicationApproach

Special on DHG,* ‘Historical Geography’, Vol. 40 (2012)

DigitalScholarship

Alternative digitalPublishing =>allowing for othermeanings & results

Multimodes/media

Analysing Explanation

*https://ejournals.unm.edu/index.php/historicalgeography/article/viewFile/1352/1327

Multimedia inputs & Communication central ……?

Including links to

2. Process support perspective: doing Historical Geography digitally (3.a)

https://ejournals.unm.edu/index.php/historicalgeography/article/viewFile/1352/1327


Inputs Research Process Results Communication

Multimedia inputs & Communication central ……?

Approach

Special on DHG,* ‘Historical Geography’, Vol. 40 (2012)

Journal ‘Vectors’**

Journal ‘Aether’***e.g. Vol. 11 (2013),

DigitalScholarship

Ibid.

Media geography

Alternative digitalPublishing =>allowing for othermeanings & results

e.g. Authoring tool ‘Scalar’

‘Imaginitivegeographies’

Multimodes/media

Ibid.

e.g. aboutlandscape &history

Analysing

Ibid.

Analysing representations

Explanation

e.g. Non-linear storytelling

*https://ejournals.unm.edu/index.php/historicalgeography/article/viewFile/1352/1327**http://vectorsjournal.org ***http://geogdata.csun.edu/~aether/

Including links to

2. Process support perspective: doing Historical Geography digitally (3.b)



Digitalhistory


DigitalHistoricalcartography

Digital(historical)Landscape

Digitalmediageography

Digitalecologicalgeography

DigitalPhysicalGeography

Broadening the perspective => overlap in tools, subjects and goals with

Digital Human,

Cultural, etc.geography

Digitalheritage

Digitalhumanities


2. Process support perspective: what about it in Digital Humanities (1)

Rieger (2010), Humanities Scholarship in the Digital Age, PhD Thesis, p 172Rieger (2010), Framing digital humanities: The role of new media in humanities scholarship, http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3198/2628

Research turns out (1) => tools used from more frames than the process perspective

Is conformbeforementioned

-DHGspecial-Vectors-Aether

Rieger (2010), Humanities Scholarship in the Digital Age, PhD Thesis, p 169Rieger (2010), Framing digital humanities: The role of new media in humanities scholarship, http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3198/2628

2. Process support perspective: what about it in Digital Humanities (2)

Research turns out (2) => ‘communication’ can encompass every step?!

Cities,Industry

Principal discourses in geography(Baker, 2003, p 8)

Globali-sation Colonised

world

Power,imperi-alism

IdentityHeritage &making of history

+ Assembled from Graham & Nash (2000), Butlin (1993), Morrissey et al (2014)

Rural transfor-mations

Commu-nication,

trade

Place, meaning

Relation between geography, historyand their subject matter (Baker, 2003, p 3)

3. Subject perspective: doing which Historical Geography digitally (1)

4. Application perspective: doing which Historical Geography digitally (1)

=> doing ‘Digital Historical Geography’ in practice=> as well as the combination of specific (sets of):

- technologies or tools-subject perspective-aspects of the process perspective (explicit or implicit)

-sources or inputs-research process-results-communication

Þ reflection of ‘what, how, who, why, where, when, etc.’



This session (HGISs)-Frolov : Hist. GIS about Russian cartographic drawings (16th – 17th century)-Daras et al. : Geocoding of the adresses of digitised Scottish residents family record images

Digital mapping and historical geographies, e.g-Southall et al. : Geosemantic analysis of historical maps and documents with text/map-tools-Smolarski et al. : Development of a virtual map laboratory for maps and related text documents-Gauthiez & Zeller : Changes in buildings in Lyon in 1600-1800 based on deeds, cadastral info, tax rolls-Murphy : Visualising an Irish Landed Estate from records and geogr., social & econ. analysis-Vannieuwenhuyze : Mapping of historical road network Flanders in view of heritage values

‘Digital outputs’ : Developments in other virtual activitiy (than GIS and digital cartography)-Endfield & Veale : Local weather knowledge by means of social media and digital platforms-Nelson & Summer : Vernacular memories of an abondoned building in multimedia-Revill et al. : BBC Media on environmental subjects => novel approaches, questions, tools, etc.-Bressey et al. : Turning teaching walks about London for students into accessible website-Thomas : Possibilities and problems with Digital biography app(s) about persons

Subject Examples in ICHG 2015:


Some cautious remarks in relation to the themes before:

-Central role for technologies, sources and research goals & questions in interaction

Technologies Sources

Research goals& questions

Tools & applications

-Differences between GIS and non-GIS based opplications: GIS-based applications => official historical sources + ‘rational’ analysing non-GIS applications => other sources + analysis towardsplace, meanings, identities

-Much overlap with e.g. Digital History, Digital Humanities, Digital Hist. Cartography

<=> Contexts!

Rieger (2010), Humanities Scholarship in the Digital Age, PhD Thesis, p 186

Þinteraction ICTs and contexts in e.g. Social informatics’ :

Embeddedness:In practices and norms

Duality:Both enabling and constraining effects

Configurations:ICTs positioned within multiple configurations


Landscape - year T1

Landscape - yearT2

Landscape - presentChanges by

DevelopmentsEventsActionsFunctionsFactorsInfluencesEtc.

Time

Cultural landscape Historical Geography

ÞUnderstanding and explaining cultural landscape & changesÞInsights as basis for landscape policy, heritage => spatial planning & design, …

5. Case: Dutch Digital cultural landscape research & applications (1)

Historical geography in The Netherlands:

-a small number of historical geographers => only a few know GIS => hardly to none broader informational and digital knowledge

-HG research groups have disappeared, replaced by heritage studies and landscape history (and cultural geography)

-since the 70s – and especially since 1990 – foremost applied HG aiming at landscape policy & heritage

=> Methods & approaches: mainly for those goals => Digital applications: mainly GISs for those goals

-recent: emergence of approach of Landscape biography, based on history meanings, identity, etc.

=> a few attempts for accompanying digital solutions(Zandstad, Brettenzone, Testaccio (Rome))

=> most biographies are mainly written documents (whether or not digital),with ‘traditional’ GISs like before



Mostly ‘manually’ by the researchers, based on GIS-inputfrom databases

What is available in GIS or data or can be made so

Web-based GISmaps with some‘i’-info per object(and maybe awritten backgrounddocument)

What & how typically is done in which process stap (1):

One-waycommunication with users, one-timeauthoritive information



Mostly ‘manually’ by the researchers, based on GIS-inputfrom databases

What is available in GIS or data or can be made so

Web-based GISmaps with some‘i’-info per object(and maybe awritten backgrounddocument)

What & how typically is done in which process stap (2):

One-waycommunication with users, one-timeauthoritive information

Digitalhistory


DigitalHistoricalcartography

Digitalmediageography

Digitalheritage

Digitalhumanities

That’s why other ‘digital’ displines drew my attention:


5. Some concluding remarks

- Dutch digital landscape situation reflects the ‘embeddedness’ of ICT in the academic, social and other contextual practices and norms - Choices and changes do have consequences, impacts and effects => - discussed and judged beforehand

- reflected upon and evaluated afterwards

Technologies Sources

Research goals, questions, info needs

DigitalHistorical geography

Subjects/topicsParadigm, etc. Research processResultsCommunication

- Probably many digital ICT configurations, not one ‘Digital HG research environment’

Thank you!

[email protected]

Environment

Putting digital historical geography into perspective(s)