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Extending GIS into the Humanities

Discover how Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are transforming the humanities through innovative applications, preserving cultural heritage, and enhancing scholarly research methods.

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Extending GIS into the Humanities

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  1. Extending GIS into the Humanities Karen K. KempUniversity of Redlandskkkemp@earthlink.net

  2. The Information Technology Future • “Information Technology will be one of the key factors driving progress in the 21st century—it will transform the way we live, learn, work, and play” (PITAC Report - President's Information Technology Advisory Committee 1999) • “I don’t think science, however, will be where we see the most dramatic impact. … Instead, I believe that a more dramatic transformation is about to shake the foundations of scholarship in the liberal arts. Humanists more than scientists will lead the way to innovative applications of the technology in the university.” (William Wulf, President of US National Academy of Engineering, 1995)

  3. What is GIS? • Geographic Information System • an information system for geographic information • an organized collection of • computer hardware, software, data, and personnel • designed to efficiently • capture, store, update, manipulate, analyze, display • all forms of geographically referenced information

  4. Geographic Information?

  5. Geographic Information?

  6. Geographic Information?

  7. Geographic Information?

  8. Numbers 34The Bible GatewayTM (http://bible.gospel.com) 1. The LORD said to Moses, 2. "Command the Israelites and say to them: `When you enter Canaan, the land that will be allotted to you as an inheritance will have these boundaries: 3. "`Your southern side will include some of the Desert of Zin along the border of Edom. On the east, your southern boundary will start from the end of the Salt Sea, 4. cross south of Scorpion Pass, continue on to Zin and go south of Kadesh Barnea. Then it will go to Hazar Addar and over to Azmon, 5. where it will turn, join the Wadi of Egypt and end at the Sea. 6. "`Your western boundary will be the coast of the Great Sea. This will be your boundary on the west. 7. "`For your northern boundary, run a line from the Great Sea to Mount Hor 8. and from Mount Hor to Lebo Hamath. Then the boundary will go to Zedad, 9. continue to Ziphron and end at Hazar Enan. This will be your boundary on the north. 10. "`For your eastern boundary, run a line from Hazar Enan to Shepham. 11. The boundary will go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain and continue along the slopes east of the Sea of Kinnereth. 12. Then the boundary will go down along the Jordan and end at the Salt Sea. "`This will be your land, with its boundaries on every side.'" 13. Moses commanded the Israelites: "Assign this land by lot as an inheritance. The LORD has ordered that it be given to the nine and a half tribes, Geographic Information?

  9. Geographic Information in the Humanities • Maps, including sketch maps • Records about objects collected at archaeological sites referenced to a grid imposed over the area • Business records from a trading company • Traveler’s diary • Agricultural land inventories • …

  10. Is geographic information different? • geographic data are spatially dependent • locations are distributed over the curved surface of the earth • geographic data has a spatial key with at least two continuous dimensions • computers are discrete so data must be represented using discrete data models • location is a universal integrator.

  11. What’s here? Building – United Center City – Hong Kong Country - China Air temperature - 26 Elevation - 100 Wind speed - 5 Subtrate – fluvial deposits District - xxx Land Parcel – CF5403 # people/sq m. average age bags of oranges … Integration through location

  12. Integration through location

  13. Geographic relationships • Proximity • Distance • Adjacency • Overlap • Direction • Scale • Clusters • Boundaries • Neighborhoods • …

  14. Distance

  15. Scale

  16. Proximity

  17. Neighborhoods

  18. Clusters

  19. Patterns

  20. Boundaries

  21. Environmental Management Archaeology Agriculture Forestry Transportation Utilities Banking and Insurance Real Estate Retail and Commercial Business Defense and Intelligence Telecommunications Education Pipeline Engineering Health and Human Services National Government State and Local Government Law Enforcement Public Safety International Development Humanitarian Relief GIS application areas

  22. The Humanities Art Religious Studies English Philosophy Asian Studies History Buddhist Studies Music History History of Architecture Classics Literature Medieval Studies History of Cartography

  23. The Humanities • The Humanities focus on the • preservation, transmission, and interpretationof the human record • through study of historic documents and cultural objects • WHEN is more important than WHERE • but PLACE matters!

  24. Scholarship in the Humanities • Traditionally solitary and reflective • Rely on multiple sources • Primitives of Humanists’ methods • Discovering • Annotating • Comparing • Referring • Sampling • Illustrating • Representing • Serendipity is important • The Scientific Method • Observe • Build hypothesis and make predictions • Confirm predictions with experiment • Collect and analyse data • Repeatability • Teamwork

  25. How can IT help Humanities Scholarship? • Provide global access to unique artifacts and other cultural resources • Searchable transcripts plus images of any and all documents, letters, diaries, etc. • Searchable databases which maintain the identities of individuals comprising entire populations rather than samples • Virtually bring together related artifacts which now exist in dispersed archives • Relate artifacts and evidence of many different types (textual, visual and numeric) through common keys such as time and geography

  26. What does GIS offer? • CONTEXT! • “GIS heightens awareness of the physical impact of places and regions on the structure of human society” • But is it: • GIS or • Geographic Information or • Geography?

  27. “GIS” uses in the Humanities • Geography as a means of indexing archives • Geography as a means of structuring data collection • Geography as a means of integrating artifacts, ideas, texts, etc. • Geography as context • Spatial relationships in the Humanities • Spatial analysis for the Humanities • Virtual worlds for the Humanities • GIScience in the Humanities research process

  28. Geography as a means of indexing archives The Perseus Project www.perseus.tufts.edu

  29. Geography as a means of structuring data collection Plain of Jars, UNESCO Mapping Genocide, UNSW Change in S. India, Curtin Uni.

  30. Geography as a means of integrating artifacts, ideas, texts, etc. The International Dunhuang ProjectThe British Library idp.bl.uk

  31. Dunhuang Project

  32. Geography as context Valley of the Shadow ProjectUniversity of Virginia jefferson.village.virginia.edu/vshadow2

  33. Valley of the Shadow

  34. The Valley of the Shadow Project • a hypermedia archive of thousands of sources for the period before, during, and after the Civil War for Augusta County, Virginia, and Franklin County, Pennsylvania • sources include newspapers, letters, diaries, photographs, maps, church records, population census, agricultural census, and military records. • all integrated into a single spatial framework • “the Valley's GIS project puts the people back into their houses and businesses”.

  35. Spatial Framework for the Valley Project • Hotchkiss map contains c. 2000 named dwellings, places associated with family names • locates peopleinthe county, not simply treats them as undifferentiated residents ofthe county

  36. The Dwelling of Cease Magnus Occupant: Cease Magnus Owner: Robert G. Bickle Fire Insurance Policy Number and Building: 21006 A Location: South Side of Main St. Border: Gabriel Hirsh on West; Kelly on East Building Value: $1800 Total Policy Value: $1800 Building Type: Dwelling and Confectionary House Description: Brick walls, tin roof, 41 x 21, 2 stories Addnewspapers, letters, diaries, photographs, maps, church records, population census, agricultural census, military records, …

  37. Spatial relationships in the Humanities Hartwell Database, Harvard Print Culture Studies Fiona Black, Dalhousie University, Canada

  38. The Hartwell database • Robert M. Hartwell, Harvard University, was the first influential social historian of middle period Chinese history. • Worked for many years to create a database detailing the careers and kinship networks of 25,000 mainly Song dynasty officials • Also devised a geographic framework for this data based on modern “counties” and produced an early GIS-style viewer.

  39. Shows: - the seven counties of Wu (mod. Jinhua)- the household population in 1290 as a dotmap, and - color scaled representation of the Song through mid-Qing jinshi degree holders by county

  40. Print Culture Studies • moving “from examining a relatively static geography of book production to investigating the dynamic spatial history of the multifaceted concept of print culture” • spatio-temporal factors include • massive migrations • advancements in transportation • major strides in education and rise in literacy levels • mobility of agents of print culture (printers, sellers, etc.) • spread of newspapers affecting political opinion

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