In Women’s Studies, we examine concepts from different points of view. Engaging in the idea that ‘it matters where you are standing’, because what you are experiencing shapes your interpretation of the problem or context. Indulging in the examination of a variety of perspectives does not always lead to a conclusion or an answer, but it imparts a fuller and more complex understanding of the issues being addressed.
CARTODB opens the opportunity for novice geeks to play with data and visualize information from a different perspective. The key word here is “visualize”. Mapping allows everyone! (if I were writing a grant I would say, ‘the general public as well as scholars and students’); to “see” human experience in new configurations. Ideas are sometimes hard to follow, but evidence for an idea can be provided by demonstrating connections and patterns and “placing” the idea onto a map. A created map is “a map” which displays information, but CARTO has widgets for interactive time sequences, pull ups for additional material or explanations for aspects of the map. The process of building the map, plugging in ‘layers’ (multiple data sets) of data into a ‘corpus’ (total collection), is exciting for the researcher because it allows them to “play” with ideas! For example, in analyzing the Slave Narratives using different map views (point identification, “heat” (concentration) or time sequencing) reveals different aspects of the Slave Narrative project – its limitations and biases as well as providing a great deal of information on the slaves and the interviewers. This type of mass collation and presentation preparation would take years without the speed of computing. But the computer cannot interpret the meaning of the data.
Mapping allows for the interpretation of large quantities of data, and the consultation of a wider scope of resources. (Tom Hitchcock “Historyonics”). The caveat being that the data has to be in a digital format, this is a limiting factor and the limitations of whatever ‘data set’ is being used should be recognized. Sharon Musher (in Oxford Handbook of the African American Slave Narratives) makes an excellent and pertinent reminder of how even a seemingly large and comprehensive set of information can be misleading in its content. Great questions that mapping answers are locations, patterns and relationships (who is where and when and how does that change over time). However mapping allows us to see the significance of these relationships in new ways. As in Digital Harlem, where the placement of a patrol officer on a street corner and involvement in traffic accidents can now be understood as intersections of racial politics. (Robertson).
A bonus is that skeptics of the value of history (like Tom Hitchcock) will have something concrete, built on numerical manipulation that they can “see” as evidence, because ideas may seem too fuzzy for them to comprehend. CARTODB is a fabulous tool for allowing the explorer of an event, a neighborhood, the spread of ideas globally, the impact of words, or as in the Slave Narratives…the impact of human actions, individually and communally, from more perspectives.
Make no mistake, working with CARTODB is interfacing with computing. It requires patience for the tedious and repetitive steps of data entry, learning the “tools” and patterns of operations within the program and is never as ‘intuitive’ as the newbie wants it to be. After my initial foray, I can see, as with my phone and Voyant, the more the platform is used, the easier, more fluid and of course faster the user will become. I just keep praying that eventually the very act of learning this type of tool will become more fluid. If you are a person that needs to understand the overall picture of the tool, some time spent in on-line helps and guides is worthwhile. If you are a person who is a digital native or who doesn’t get frustrated by getting stuck and starting over, dive right in.
