Unit 14 - Crowd Sourced Projects and Project Update

Crowd Sourced Projects 

     Technology now allows easy collaboration, reviews, inputs, and cooperation on crowd sourced projects and research.  Historians once had to identify and convince collaborators or partners to work on a project.  Appeals to the public or peers had to use phone, mail, conferences, etc..  Now, with a few clicks or a video camera, a historian can post a problem and ask peers, historians, or the public at large to help.  

     I am not aware of any Northern Virginia related crowd sourcing projects, but the Netflix series Making a Murderer and the Podcast Serial energized the public about unsolved crimes, or questionable investigations, trials, and convictions.  These have spawned many Podcasts that examine cases and ask local communities and listeners to contribute and help.  Some popular Podcasts are Up and Vanished, Truth and Justice, Breakdown, Undisclosed, and Actual Innocence.  Many of these shows let fans review files and facts, and sometimes give a better review than the lawyers in the cases.  In a sense, they are helping to crowd source justice.

     I saw a commercial last week for a new Jeremy Piven TV show where he uses public crowd sourcing to solve his daughter's kidnapping/murder.  A little like Mel Gibson's Ransom?


Project Update

     I made serious progress on my Bull Run project using ArcGIS Story Map.  After experimenting with the Cascade feature, I switched to the Map Journal format and it seemed to better meet my intent.  I am getting better with practice, though I am not certain I will continue with a paid account after my trial and this class ends.  That said, it is a useful tool for displaying graphics, maps, etc...


     I still need to add captions and text, and citations, but I am close to finished on the pictures, maps, graphics, etc...  I enjoyed researching the topic and exploring the battlefield area.  This project helped me better understand the battle and its significance.  I always knew it was the first major battle of the Civil War, but that was about it.

Comments

  1. Professor Charles EvansOctober 9, 2017 at 12:15 PM

    I agree the map journal works better, and looking forward to your captions.As I recall, one of the limits of the free arcgis was that you couldn't upload your photos there, but your photos had to be on the web somewhere for you to be able to use.

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