Results
Fantastic work by everyone!
If you’d like to see all the maps combined at once, you can download this .kmz and open it in Google Earth.
Rationale 🤔
Franco Moretti writes that one way to extract patterns from narrative flow “is with a map.” Steve Ramsay says you have to build 🛠 to be a digital humanist and that doing so will yield “insights that are difficult to acquire otherwise.” Perhaps we should give it a try…
The Nitty Gritty 💪
Map 🗺
You will work in assigned groups to map the movements of characters in different stories in James Joyce’s Dubliners. You will have to read (and re-read) your stories very closely.
Your group’s map must include:
- A minimum of 12 points of interest, with at least two from every story that you’re assigned.📍A point of interest could include (but is not limited to): an exact location, an approximate location (like my guess where Miranda lives in “Sexy”), or a broad area / neighborhood mentioned in the narrative. Each point should be colored according to the story it’s from (see the final page), and each point must have
- relevant quotations from the text, including page numbers for reference ❝❞
- an image, sound file, or video 🖼 (you must include credits/citation information for media that you do not create)
- some information about the location that you have learned by investigation (Wikipedia and Google searches are 👍).
- At least one path following the movements of a character in a story. 🕵️♀️
Your group will use Google My Maps to create your map. This will allow you to work simultaneously on the map, even if you’re not in the same space.
When your map is completed, your group should, prior to class on Tuesday, 28 September,
- share it with me (b [dot] croxall [at] gmail [dot] com) via Google My Maps, and
- export the map as a KMZ file and email it to me.
If you need an example, you can consult my map of Lahiri’s “Sexy.”
Colors for the Different Stories
When creating points or paths for the stories you map, you should use a different color for each story. To prevent overlap among the groups, your stories have assigned colors. Please use the second row of colors in Google Maps and count from the leftmost color until you hit the right number. “The Sisters” is the leftmost color and “The Dead” is the rightmost.
Presentation 🕺💃
Groups will present their maps in a 12-minute presentation 🤹 on 28 or 30 September. The order of presentations will be randomly determined, so be ready to go on the 28th. Each group member must be involved in the presentation. In the presentation you should discuss:
- the places visited or discussed by characters in each of your stories and what you’ve learned about these location.
- the patterns that your group has found related to where characters go and how they move, as well as what these patterns say about the larger narrative. After all, Moretti says that a map “shows us that there is something that needs to be explained.”
- what your group learned by mapping the stories—and Dubliners as a whole—that you didn’t learn just by reading it. In other words, you should be thinking about whether Ramsay was right when he said “building is, for us, a new kind of hermeneutic” or if he was barking up the wrong 🌳.
Reflection Paper 🧐
Finally, each of you will individually write a three-page-minimum paper (12pt, Times New Roman, one-inch margins, double spaced) in which you reflect on the assignment. Some questions to consider in your reflection are the following:
- What did I learn by completing this assignment that I could not have learned simply through reading Dubliners?
- What did I learn about the digital humanities in this experience?
- What was my experience of using Google My Maps? What were the challenges and how did I or my group overcome them?
- What was my experience of working in a group on this assignment?
- What did I learn from making a presentation? What did I learn from the other groups’ presentations?
- What would I change about this assignment to make it more relevant, informative, enjoyable, challenging, or interesting?
Reflection papers must be submitted on Learning Suite as PDFs by 11:59pm on Monday, 4 October.
Grading 🅰️
Maps will be evaluated on how well they meet the objectives outlined above, as well as clarity, creativity, organization, and attention to detail.
Presentations will be evaluated on their clarity, organization, your group’s discussion of what you learned, and whether or not every member of the group participates in the presentation.
Your reflection paper will be evaluated on its discussion of what you learned, as well as clarity, grammar, and so forth. Please note, I’m not asking you to tell me that this was the “best assignment ever!!”; that’s not the way to earn a good grade. It’s totally valid to think it was a terrible assignment—you just need to articulate why.
You can find a rubric for the assignment online.
Groups 👥
Group 1 (The Sisters, After the Race, Counterparts)
- Maria
- Allie
- Elizabeth Bennett
Group 2 (An Encounter, Two Gallants, Clay)
- Estelle
- Winthrop
- Brooke
Group 3 (Araby, The Boarding House, A Mother)
- Elizabeth Bodily
- Ashlin
- Dane
Group 4 (Eveline, A Little Cloud, A Painful Case)
- Jenni
- Chloe
- Ashley
Group 5 (The Dead)
- Eliza
- Amanda
- Chase
Credits 🙏
This project is inspired by an assignment designed by Erin Sells. Dr. Sells was kind enough to share her assignment with me, and I’ve adapted and remixed it many times since then.
