"GIS Mapping: Introduction"

Curatorial note from Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities: This activity was created by Noel M. Estwick for COMM 4543. He was a guest lecturer for the course, and he delivered four lectures during the sixteen-week semester on GIS mapping. This activity introduces students to the method of data collection for GIS mapping, allowing them to gain valuable understanding of the physicality of place and space in relation to communication research. Estwick asked students to contribute to the GIS data on historical markers and social justice sites on campus with this activity. GIS mapping activities like this one are used to teach students how metadata and natural language affects mapping data. Students were asked to think critically about language choices. They focused on the digital structures of maps and access and particularly on how race, class, and gender descriptors of locations within preexisting GIS metadata structures guide the input of new sites in a database