Abstract
Spatial humanities are a sub-discipline of digital humanities based on geographic information systems (GIS) and timelines providing an effective integrating and contextualizing function for geo-cultural attributes. As information systems from multiple sources and in multiple formats they create visual indexes for diverse cultural data. Spatiotemporal interfaces provide new methods of integrating primary source materials into web-based interactive and 3D visualizations. We are able to chart the extent of specific traits of cultural information via maps using GIS gazetteer style spreadsheets for collecting and curating datasets.
The system is based on GIS point locations, routes, and regions linked to enriched attribute information. These are charted and visualized in maps and can be analyzed with network analysis, creating an innovative digital infrastructure for scholarly collaboration and creation of customizable visualizations. This method gives the researchers an expanse of data in layers of time across space providing new tools to advance humanistic inquiry. This in turn becomes a Web-based bulletin board for local community and scholarly knowledge exchange.
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Notes
- 1.
For more information, visit Digital Yoknapatawpha (http://faulkner.iath.virginia.edu).
- 2.
See Jihn-fa Jan, Chap. 2 in this volume.
- 3.
See Oliver Streiter, Chap. 3 in this volume.
- 4.
The Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) is an institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) dedicated to the archiving of digital data for the humanities and social sciences.
- 5.
To access the set of media files (see https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-zmh-2jjs). To access the set of data files (please visit https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-zvy-rtju).
- 6.
For more details, visit http://crgis.rchss.sinica.edu.tw/spatial/webgis.
- 7.
See Ann Heylen, Chap. 4 in this volume.
- 8.
All routes of temple processions recorded by Academia Sinica can be found at: http://crgis.rchss.sinica.edu.tw/spatial/atlas/roaging or http://deitygis.asdc.sinica.edu.tw/. Some technical details can be found here: http://www.godroad.tw
- 9.
For example, see Hung et al. (2013a).
- 10.
Hung et al. (2013b).
- 11.
Ching-Chih Lin is currently working on this topic.
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Acknowledgement
Appreciation is given to Lewis Lancaster, Jeanette Zerneke, and Michael Buckland for continuous support through ECAI. We are grateful to the kind patience and guidance of our ApSTi researchers and Shu-heng Chen, Vice President, and Director of Projects in Digital Humanities at National Chengchi University, Taipei.
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Blundell, D., Lin, CC., Morris, J.X. (2018). Spatial Humanities: An Integrated Approach to Spatiotemporal Research. In: Chen, SH. (eds) Big Data in Computational Social Science and Humanities. Computational Social Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95465-3_14
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