One of the most interesting digital tools that we learned last week was StoryMapJS. StoryMapJS is a great digital tool to tell stories that have geographical data associated with them. For me, I liked StoryMapJS better than utilizing ArcGIS because it is more user-friendly, both as a creator and an audience. ArcGIS was very confusing to me, while StoryMapJS just requires easy plug-in for great results.
This digital tool will be able to help me answer the important places that practice performance in Gettysburg, mapped out. This digital tool is free to use, which is great because it follows the ideology of accessibility of digital humanities. StoryMapJS requires location, text, and images. It would be important to make sure whatever media I use is free use. It is very important to me that the tools remain open source.
Some biases that StoryMapJS have made is that every ‘map’ is geographic in its nature. So, even if it is analyzing a painting, it is still reading as a map, technically. While that can be great, sometimes it may not be the best option, as images need to be extremely large in rendering.
I can not see how often the code is updated, so I don’t know if that would mean that something would break and never be able to be fixed.
Some other possible issue with StoryMapJS is that certain data is not great for mapping. While this will work for me because my data is condensed to one area, for data that covers the globe, it would be dizzying and annoying to use. The tool is easy to use and does not require outside expert or special technical skills.
I think that would use StoryMapJS for my project because it would add another layer of depth to my website.
Thanks for this! You can check out StoryMapJS’s GitHub to get an idea of how often it is updated and why: https://github.com/NUKnightLab/StoryMapJS
As for the StoryMapJS vs other mapping tools, think about what kind of argument you are making. StoryMapJS and Esri Story Map Tour are good for making sure your audience follows an intended path, but not great if you want them to explore on their own. Other Esri Story Map products can be better for this if you don’t want such a linear experience, and they don’t require a lot of extra effort compared to StoryMapJS.
However, if you are interested in the idea of following Lincoln, you could make a map that moves your readers down the same path Lincoln took, and then put different elements of performance along the way!
I thought you might be interested in this tool because of the storytelling aspect, which pairs so well with your project. Looking forward to seeing how you utilize it in the end.