Ruh roh. The day has finally come where I actually have to make something digitally. I’m being dramatic, but I’m not the most tech savvy, but maybe I should give myself some more credit because the process of actually creating the map was not too bad.
Mapping My Favorite Spots in Town
I used Google My Maps to map out some of my favorite spots on campus and around the downtown Fredericksburg area. I chose this platform because it seemed the most straight forward and most familiar to me. The platform was super user friendly and I could create this simple map in a matter of minutes. I know that for my group project with the Central Rappahannock Heritage Center the members mentioned that people have a hard time finding their location downtown because the description on Google Maps isn’t very specific or helpful to finding their actual front door. I didn’t use it for this map, but I saw during the DKC presentation in class last week that there’s a tool where you can draw a path through different points on My Maps. I think this could be a very useful resource for our project, potentially, as we can display a pathway from a noticeable point downtown to the Heritage Center to remove that barrier to entry that’s currently preventing some people from accessing the Center’s physical space.
A Timeline of My Journey to Mary Washington
Making the timeline was the task I was most nervous for because hearing the word “spreadsheet” always makes me want to curl into a ball and hide. I don’t know why they can just be so confusing and overwhelming to me, but the instructions on the TimelineJS site made the process much more approachable. I’ve never made a timeline before, so for this being my first time I have to say I don’t think it’s thaaaat bad. I don’t love the spreadsheet still, call me a hater, so I would maybe try to find a different platform if I was going to use this in the future myself, but I could see this being a very easy to use tool in a high school classroom if I were to use it for a project in my instruction one day. In terms of my group’s project and what we have in mind for the Heritage Center I don’t know if this is something that would really fit our needs.
Final Thoughts
I survived! Typically for a digital project I need my hand held a little more, like filming and editing a video I did with my group for American Technology & Culture, but these platforms, Google My Maps and TimelineJS, were actually much more straightforward and usable than I was anticipating. Maybe I’m being dramatic, or maybe I should give myself more credit, but what I know now is that digital tools can create such an engaging and interactive experience without being difficult or confusing to make.
