Progress
So far, we have narrowed down our areas of focus, started our data collection, and contacted Archives in the library to find more historical information about past OCS programs. We have been working with Nat Wilson in the archives who has compiled information on OCS programs for us. These documents are unprocessed and only available as paper copies. We will go into Archives in-person to add the information to our data set by hand. We have created a spreadsheet and intend to use it to map on ArcGIS.
Problems
One issue that we ran into was that our original data only dated back to 2005. Because of this, we had to ask an archivist (Nat Wilson) in the library for more data from before 2005. Along with the time it takes to access the data, it’s possible that this data could be formatted differently than our original data which could make data entry more difficult.
If we run into problems with the archived data, we will have to change the way our data is formatted. If we can’t figure out the most efficient way to do this, we will talk with an expert in digital humanities (TA, Austin, etc.).
Tools and Techniques
We are currently utilizing Google Sheets to create a spreadsheet. We are using this platform so we can divide up the data we need to collect and enter it collaboratively. Although we are doing our best to standardize this data from the front end, we will also probably use OpenRefine to clean it before we enter it into ArcGIS to create our map.
Deliverables
Our project is on track, we plan to have obtained all the correct sources and data by today (02/27) from the archives. Then we will upload all the necessary information onto one spreadsheet separating the OCS programs by class year. We will hopefully have a complete spreadsheet by Wednesday (03/04). Then we will upload the data onto a GIS map using arcGIS by the following Sunday (03/08).
Hannah’s blog post: http://hannahthinks.net/uncategorized/my-personal-work-on-the-project-so-far/
Teagan’s blog post: http://medhieval.com/classes/hh2020/uncategorized/personal-work-on-final-project/
Alex’s blog post: http://alexeithomas.com/home/my-personal-work-on-the-group-project-so-far/
One reply on “Progress Update: OCS Mapping”
Sounds like you all have refined your project pitch considerably and are on track. Norming data from different sources is one of the major challenges doing DH work. Looking forward to see what you were able to show with the data you have.