Continuing from my last blog post, this blog post is going to discuss another technology platform that will be going into my final project, ArcGIS StoryMaps. While I briefly discussed my use of this platform in an earlier post. I now have a better idea of how I am going to use the tool to enhance my project. I am in a workshop course that is being taught by Dr. Holt that will help me to learn the basics of this program and build a final project that demonstrates my knowledge. I then hope to integrate this final project into On This Land.
ArcGIS StoryMaps is an online platform that in many ways looks like WordPress. It similarly uses a block editor that works like the Gutenberg editor in WordPress. However, there is less customizability built into the site, and users don’t have as many opportunities to edit the background code. Unlike WordPress, which has free options, the platform is also a paid service. The platform uses geographic information from a service called ArcGIS that stores this information. The StoryMap builder then allows you to take this information and make an interactive story. StoryMaps has been used for all kinds of projects, from highlighting contemporary issues like COVID-19 to illustrating the migration patterns of birds.
When thinking about this tool, I first thought about how my project had spatial elements. For example, since local history is very place-based, an important part of my story would be places where local Indigenous people lived and traded, which is featured on my website under the section Trade, Settlement, and Agriculture. Second, the forced migrations of Indigenous tribes are very place-based as well, as it can be hard to visualize these migrations without some sort of a map. I decided to focus on the first option for my final project because it also had more media that could be applied, whereas the media involving Indigenous migration out of Ohio is very limited. For the final project, Dr. Holt wants to make sure that students are competent in integrating both maps and media.
I then began to outline what geographic sites I wanted to highlight in my StoryMap. I eventually grouped these sites into sites of agriculture, settlement, trade, and conflict. Interestingly, the version of Trade, Agriculture, and Settlement that I built in WordPress mentioned many geographic sites, which was a sign that this section would lend itself well to being converted to StoryMaps. Once I had my sites in mind, I began to write narrative text to introduce and contextualize these sites. I then found images that illustrated these locations and put all of this information into a storyboard. From my storyboard, you’ll notice that there are still a few images that I need, which I will take this week once I have an idea of what map points will be included in my final draft.
As you can see from my storyboard, an effective StoryMaps integrates place into a story that, much like WordPress, also centers on interactive media and text. My next step will be to put all of these ideas up online using the StoryMap builder. Much like WordPress, StoryMaps allows its users to design a theme. I tried to make my theme match my website the most.
Below is a view of what the interactive builder looks like. Elements are added with the “+” icon. Interactive maps are added by either making an expressmap or a guided tour. I decided to use a guided tour with a geographic, rather than media focus.
