This week was a good one. The map is uploaded, and though not perfectly rectified, it is close and serviceable. I am also winnowing out the concordance list and creating a master list that the entire group can use. I have put some of sources in the form of map notes on the map; it is coming together nicely. All that remains is to put the rest of the notes on the map and then work on the time sensitive portion of the map using two or three sources at most given the time remaining before the final presentation. This last part seems doable but may require some intense trouble shooting and more time than I expect. However, there are enough tutorials out there on how to create time stamped information.

This week we made significant progress on the project. Suffice it to say we are in the home stretch and just have to put the pieces of our project together. First, the geo-rectified image, though not perfect, was uploaded to arcgis online. This allows us to put the map notes containing the sound event, hearer, quote, bibliographic information, image and video onto the map and start the project in earnest. We are currently combing through our concordance list to winnow it down and select the sources we can use on the map. We also discovered how to create time sensitive maps; we will most likely do this part of the map on a small scale with two or three sources at most. We also know that our present website, Weebly and ArcGIS are compatible. Another piece of good news. The script is complete and posted on Github. All that remains is to create the master list and to put the map notes on the map itself.

This week my group and I made some good forward progress. We are on the cusp of putting all the pieces together. That is a huge relief for me and the group. My part has been to work on getting the historical map image overlayed  onto the ARC GIS Map. While I have created a good georectified image, getting it onto arcmap itself is a laborious and at times frustrating process; it requires a lot of learning on the fly and troubleshooting a variety of errors that prevent the map from becoming a usable tool.

This past week the group has been finalizing three important aspects of the overall project. First, the script is being tailored in such a way that we can record and attach metadata information such as author and bibliographic information to our concordances. There are two ways to accomplish this. One way involves running each of the 175 sources we have individually up against the Sound Corpus, therefore we know where the concordances belong. The second is to tweak the scrip itself to attach those pieces of metadata to the concordances themselves.

We have also been working on getting the map transferred onto ARCGIS Online. This has take some troubleshooting but we are nearing completion of this aspect of the project.

We are also beginning to get together the various “extras” that will explain the map and the work and the methodology we have accomplished so far.

We’re in the home stretch on multiple fronts on our project. I’ve been working to program and upload the historical and georectifiy the historical maps we have. Its been difficult to learn all the different functions but I have been making process. The visit to NYPL was fruitful and extremely helpful. The tools that the librarian suggested were useful and seeing the maps in person, physically, was inspirational.

This week our group has made stride to start work on the final phase of our project. We are still troubleshooting the script; there are few wrinkles left to iron out particularly attaching meta data to our concordances. We visited the NYPL to seek guidance about the mapping portion of our project; we have several maps we can use and layer. We are still working to geo rectify and upload the maps onto an online platform. The group has also begun to consider putting together the various functions for our map and the eventual website/platform.

This week, as I wrote in the group post, was difficult. The results from working with the archive, at first blush, were not ideal. It doesn’t seem like 175 sources will be enough but, after talking with the group,, at this stage, that those may be enough for the final presentation at the end of the semester. Talking with the ARCGIS experts was a mixed bag. What I understood is that ARCGIS has the tools and the capabilities to make our project possible. However, to do that it may take more time than we have in the semester, Moreover, one of the experts we met suggested that we create a story map, one with multiple, clean maps, with a serious emphasis on a written narrative explaining our narratives like a chapter book. This is not how I imagined, or even sketched out the project initially. If, however, we are pressed for time this looks like to be a good option. This experts also questioned what we intend to do with sound; she was not convinced about how we were thinking about sound’s place on the battlefield, specifically how sound may influence decisions or create contingency during battle. This critique needs some serious thought and reflection. I am not sure, as of right now, if we should change course.

This week was a tough week. We spoke with two people who were quite familiar with ARCGIS. Both experts pointed out that it is quite possible to work with the ARCGIS system as a platform for a fully functional and open map. One expert however, noted that time could be a serious issue for us as we move forward. It is not easy, she observed, to make a complicated map in one or even two weeks. It takes time. She also steered us toward using the Story map function to create a much clearer narrative for our project. One another front, we realized that the Civil War Letters and Diaries database only has 175 individual documents related to the Battle at Gettysburg. This may be enough, we figured, for a proof of concept presentation. The second issue had to do with getting the metadata attached to our concordances; this is still be worked on.

This week has been trying as the group works out issues with the database and maps. For my part working with the database is a hit and miss proposition. The database is by turns easy to use then frustrating. Nonetheless, I have made some progress finding more documents for use to use. As far as managing the project goes, I find using Basecamp fairly useful, especially its Scheduling and To Do functions. All in all the group is in a good position to move on to the next stage in the work plan.

The Civil War group had some progress this week. We are continuing our work on the script for the text documents in conjunction with our recently completed Sound Corpus. We have been working on in the meantime on a two front approach. The first is to work with the database to get more documents out of the current search functions. This has had some results. We will discuss them in depth on Tuesday. The second front has to deal with finding and working with the right kind of map. We have to choose between historical maps and representative maps (Google Maps, ARGIS ect.) Historical maps have the benefit of showing the battle as it appeared in 1863 but are inflexible for the programming functions we want to include such as locating sound on exact coordinates and zooming in and out. Representative maps have the opposite problem, often depicting the field as it looks today or have inaccuracies. We are still grappling with these issues.