The morning after ... day two.

I started off this Saturday morning wanting to improve upon the map tool that I used from Google. Although I still want to experiment with the power of the Google mapping option (so far I simply have locations on a map and I want to trace the route of the military unit), but I thought I'd look at some other mapping tools I've saved over the course of this semester from my readings.

SimplyMap seemed like a good place to start, however I quickly learned that my institution, the University of New Hampshire, did not have a subscription and therefore it did not offer me an option to use it.

It's hard not to get excited about all of the mapping tools, and as I've learned over the course of the semester, one of the downsides of digital research and reading is the all-too-easy opportunity to get side-tracked. Actually, I'm not really getting sidetracked so much as I am getting a case of information overload. I currently have two Chrome browser windows open, with a total of 37 tabs open, so it's both a matter of disorganization, and lack of ready access to what I might need. However, these mapping options offer so many springboards to other sites that it's hard to contain the feeling of "I'll get back to this one later."

I found my way to ARCgis.com, where after creating a quick, free account, I was able to create a similar map with the locations on the 14th Infantry's route, much as I did on my Google Map attempt. I hope to see which of these will provide me with a better method to show the journey taken, or, if I will find myself using another resource for that part of my project. I got excited about the possibility of using Neatline, but discovered that I would need to have an Omeka.org account, which requires a host server, and I only have an Omeka hosted account. I may use the limited account for some display options, but it looks like the mapping will need to be done on another platform. While exploring the web for alternatives, I learn that I am not the only student limited by my institution's lack of support for such a project. I expect that going forward these tools will become part of any Digital Scholarship program the University develops.

I was doing some advance reading for this class today, and came across some information that is relevant to this project. First, a chapter in Writing History in the Digital Age by Kristen Nawrotski and Jack Dougherty titled "Toward Teaching the Introductory History Course, Digitally," talked about students using a blog to aid in their introductory history course. One student claimed that he didn't like it, because "it keeps the class always on my mind" (Nawrotski and Dougherty) and I realize that is what is happening to me, in a good way! Another thought that I got from Part 3 of that book is an idea to add content to the Wikipedia entry for the NH 14th Regiment Wikipedia entry for the 14th New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry (which I was surprised to find existed). I signed up to get permissions from Wikipedia to do so, and was quickly able to add information about the death of J. Henry Jenks, as well as adding an additional resource to the "Further Reading" section of the page. I must admit that I do feel a bit empowered!