Reflecting on Week Five of Mapping Freedom

- All I could think of was Chat GPT when looking at this Gulfport Airport sign (LOL)

This week was rather short, so this blog post will unfortunately not be as long as my previous ones, but I will continue to highlight my accomplishments, learning outcomes, and where I felt my work was not the best. After taking a much-needed flight back home to New Jersey this weekend and seeing my family and friends, I arrived back at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport on Tuesday, July 4th. It was a bit of a change being home for the first time in many weeks (I had been in Washington, D.C. for three weeks prior to this REU), and immediately, the heat hit me like a brick wall. On Wednesday, we were right back into it, working with Dr. Kayla Stan and Dr. Aleise McGowan on different aspects of ArcGIS Online, QGIS, as well as other digital animation tools like Pencil2D and Tinkercad. We learned how to animate flat and digital figures and certain kinds of maps, as well as create and visualize static maps. Since this week was a short week, I am going to list my reflections below as it is easier to incorporate them in this form.

Three accomplishments:

1. I made considerable progress working with Dr. Stan on revising my thesis and my Excel data sheets. Rather than "mapping opinions," I will now be visualizing and mapping the "myths surrounding the United States Colored Troops, the perceptions of Union and Confederate soldiers and citizens, lies, opinions, and systems of belief that were associated with the group." Obviously, I will refine this thesis a bunch as we get closer.

2. I was able to narrow down the sources I wanted to use for my mapping component. I am going to map out the letters and newspapers that I have collected so far, and then I will provide some "hot spots" for locations I want to highlight where a notable battle or atrocity occurred in relation to the primary and secondary source information I collected.

3. Third, I was able to begin creating an outline where I will summarize my key locations with the primary and secondary sources I have.

Three things I learned:

1. I learned how to use Tinkercad and Pencil2D! I really enjoyed being able to mess around with these tools, and I can definitely see how they would help digital humanists with their projects. See the two recordings below.

2. I learned how to animate static maps. It was great to see how those types of features can be used to create quick and simple visual features for a website or video.

3. Lastly, I learned more about myself during our public speaking session. While I scored highly (we had scorecards in the audience) on most of the other sections, I need to spread out my eye contact more. I think this would be possible if I had more time, but it is something I will continue to work on.

My mapping freedom sketch^

My Mapping Freedom logo recreation ^

Things that prevented me from doing my best work:

1. I think first, our public speaking session went a bit long today, only because we had to complete a bunch of training modules. This cut into our independent work time, which I was looking forward to after a long day. It is ok, though, since I have plenty of time this weekend.

2. Unfortunately, I think that the specifications for our paper kind of bummed me out this week. It is nobody's fault, but I had been preparing an extensive amount of source information as if I was writing a 20+ page paper or something, but it seems like I will have to consolidate my research for the time being.

3. Lastly, I think there was just a rough vibe going through the group this week. I feel like there is a bit of burnout going on, and I could definitely feel it as well. I think this type of work is new for all of us and we are just getting used to trying new things every day.

This week was definitely a learning experience, but I am proud of the progress I am making and the steps I have ahead of me going forward. Here are a few sunsets from my time back home :).