Now that we’ve come to the end, the Compass team would like to say a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to everyone who has participated and made our first virtual conference an overwhelming success. The authors and presenters have been, without exception, engaging and professional to the last. We’d also like to extend a special note of thanks to our virtual attendees, who have kept the discussions alive with insightful commentary, and their openness to explore issues across disciplines.

There will be no new content uploaded to the site after Friday 30th October, but there is still much to discuss. All of the presentations and comments will remain on the website indefinitely, and we’d encourage you all to keep engaging with the content so long as there are issues to be explored, and interdisciplinary barriers to be broken down! If you sign up to receive email alerts of new comments, you can keep up with any ongoing conversations.

We sincerely hope you have enjoyed the conference – here are some things that you can do to stay in touch:

• Check out the Compass journals and recommend to your librarian. Researchers, teaching faculty, and advanced students will all benefit from the accessible, informative articles that provide overviews of current research. Personal subscriptions are now also available.
• Complete the post-conference opinion survey, coming to you next week. Your thoughts will help us make decisions about future conferences.
• If you have suggestions, or even just a short comment, you can pop it in our Suggestion Box or Email us
• Access the Publishing Workshops and Keynotes via iTunes (as from the conference website). The raw feed for the podcasts can be found here.
• Share our keynote video lectures via our Vimeo channel
• Tell others about your experience of the conference!

Final reminder: your 20% book discount token is valid until 15th November, so visit the book exhibit before then.

Until next time…?

Thanks again,

The Compass Team
www.blackwell-compass.com

By Paula Bowles

Today marked the penultimate day of Wiley-Blackwell’s first Virtual Conference. As I am sure you will all agree, thus far, each day has contained many gems, and today has been no different. Eileen Joy’s (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville) keynote lecture: ‘Reading Beowulf in the Ruins of Grozny: Pre/modern, Post/human, and the Question of Being‐Together’ looks at the aftermath of the Russian bombing of Chechnya through the lens of Beowulf.

The two final papers of the conference were provided by P. Grady Dixon (Mississippi State University) & Adam J Kalkstein (United States Military Academy) and Nicole Mathieu (CNRS, University of Paris). Their papers respectively entitled: ‘Climate–Suicide Relationships: A Research Problem in Need of Geographic Methods and Cross‐Disciplinary Perspectives’ and ‘Constructing an interdisciplinary concept of sustainable urban milieu’ have looked at indisciplinarity from a geographical and environmental perspective. The final publishing workshop was ‘How to Survive the Review Process’ by Greg Maney (Hofstra University).

Although, the conference is due to end tomorrow it is not too late to register and take advantage of the book discount and free journal access. Each of the papers and podcasts will remain on the website, and it is hoped that you will keep the comments coming in.

By Paula Bowles

Day eight of the conference was once again marked by some excellent contributions. The first paper ‘Cultural Sociology and Other Disciplines: Interdisciplinarity in the Cultural Sciences’ by Diane Crane (University of Pennsylvania) suggests that for many scholars ‘disciplinary isolation is the norm.’ However, Crane proposes that by utilising what she describes as ‘free‐floating paradigms’ such barriers can be removed.

The second paper of the day by Christine Mallinson, (University of Maryland) entitled ‘Sociolinguistics and Sociology: Current Directions, Future Partnerships’ also takes sociology and interdisciplinarity as its main themes. Mallinson’s paper concludes with practical advice as to how best to achieve research partnerships.

Together with these exciting papers, Catherine Sanderson (Amherst College) offered advice in her publishing workshop: ‘The Joys and Sorrows of Writing an Undergraduate Textbook.’ There was also an opportunity to spend time in the Second Life cocktail bar with the Compass Team.

By Paula Bowles

The seventh day of the conference has continued with the key themes of ‘breaking down boundaries’ and interdisciplinarity. Roy Baumeister (Florida State University) began the day with his keynote lecture entitled ‘Human Nature and Culture: What is the Human Mind Designed for?’ By utilising the concepts of evolutionary and cultural psychology, Buameister is able to explore the intrinsic significance culture holds for humanity.

Two other papers were also presented today. ‘Text as It Happens: Literary Geography’ by Sheila Hones (University of Tokyo) and Stefan Müller’s (University of Duisburg‐Essen) ‘Equal Representation of Time and Space: Arno Peters’ Universal History.’ These contributions have utilised a wide and diverse range of disciplines including history, cartography, geography and literature. Finally, Devonya Havis’ publishing workshop entitled ‘Teaching with Compass’ offers some interesting ideas as to how best implement technology within the classroom.

By Paula Bowles

Welcome to the second week of the Wiley-Blackwell Virtual Conference. The first day back has started with a keynote speech from Peter Ludlow (Northwestern University) entitled ‘Virtual Communities, Virtual Cultures, Virtual Governance.’ Conference delegates also had the opportunity to meet Peter at the Second Life Cocktail Bar.

There were two other papers on Monday’s session Adam Brown’s (Deakin University): ‘Beyond ‘Good’ and ‘Evil’: Breaking Down Binary Oppositions in Holocaust Representations of ‘Privileged’ Jews’ and ‘A Hybrid Model of Moral Panics: Synthesizing the Theory and Practice of Moral Panic Research’ presented by Brian V. Klocke (State University of New York, Plattsburgh) & Glenn Muschert (Miami University). In addition Wiley-Blackwell’s Vanessa Lafaye held a publishing workshop entitled ‘The Secret to Online Publishing Success.’

As you can see, this week promises to be as exciting and innovative as the previous one. All of the papers and workshops from last week are still available to download from the conference site, and both the ‘battle of the bands’ and the opportunity to contribute a ‘winning comment’ remain.

by paulabowles

The first week of the conference has come to an end, and the final day has included two exciting papers, as well as a publishing workshop. The first paper entitled ‘Full Disclosure of the “Raw Data” of Research on Humans: Citizens’ Rights, Product Manufacturer’s Obligations and the Quality of the Scientific Database’ was presented by Dennis Mazur (Oregon Health and Sciences University). In his lecture, Mazur highlights the difficult and contentious issues involved in human testing, particularly the tensions between participants and drug manufacturers.

The second paper also takes an interdisciplinary approach to medical matters. Eileen Smith‐Cavros (Nova Southeastern University) lecture entitled ‘Fertility and Inequality Across Borders: Assisted Reproductive Technology and Globalization’ looks at the emotive issue of assisted reproduction. By surveying existing literature, Smith Cavros is able to look in detail at some of the many issues which impact upon reproduction.

Together with these two papers, Duane Wegener’s (Purdue University) publishing workshop: ‘Top 10 mistakes New Scholars Make When Trying to Get Published’ marked the end of the first week.

Enjoy the weekend and we look forward to seeing you next week.

by paulabowles The conference today has taken on a distinctly environmental feel. First up was Mark Macklin’s (University of Wales, Aberystwyth) keynote address entitled ‘Floodplain Catastrophes and Climate Change: Lessons from the Rise and Fall of Riverine Societies.’ In his paper, Macklin observes that ‘[w]e are not the first society to face the threat of environmental catastrophe,’ although he stresses that the current threat has unique features. Susan Morrison (Texas State University – San Marcos) has taken a highly interdisciplinary approach to her paper ‘Waste Studies ‐ A New Paradigm for Literary Analysis, Something is Rotten in the Denmark of Beowulf and Hamlet’. By combining the disciplines of literature and waste studies, Morrison offers a reminder ‘that the origins of the Anglophone literary canon are sedimented in waste’. Tim Cooper (University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus) continued this theme of waste with his paper ‘Recycling Modernity: Towards an Environmental History of Waste.’ By taking as a starting point the belief that ‘waste was one of the characteristic products of modernity’ Cooper is able to consider why this subject is so fascinating to historians and other social scientists. Before, we head into the fifth day of the conference, just a quick reminder to visit the virtual book exhibit. As a delegate, you are invited to take 20% off the price of any Wiley Book.

by paulabowles

Today’s papers have focused once more on the key motifs of the conference, that of breaking down borders and indisciplinarity. Nancy Naples (University of Connecticut) uses her paper: ‘Borderlands Studies and Border Theory: Linking Activism and Scholarship for Social Justice’ to highlight just some of the difficulties faced when ‘negotiate[ing] different disciplinary frames, methods, and theoretical assumptions in order to move forward toward collaborative problem solving’.

The second paper today entitled ‘Theorizing Borders in a ‘Borderless World’: Globalization, Territory and Identity’ was presented by Alexander Diener (Pepperdine University) and Joshua Hagen (Marshall University). The authors question the assumption that world is becoming increasingly borderless, instead suggesting that state borders continue to ‘remain one of the most basic and visible features of the international system.’

Finally, on the third day of the conference Kivmars Bowling (Wiley-Blackwell) has presented a particularly relevant publishing workshop entitled ‘The Online Author’s Survival Guide’. The daily book prize was awarded to Maeve O’Donovan for her comment on David Crystal’s keynote lecture and the conference day ended in the Second Life cocktail bar.

by paulabowles

The second day of the conference has been filled with three more interesting and innovative papers. David Crystal’s (University of Bangor) keynote lecture entitled ‘Language Death: A Problem for All’ highlights the troubling statistics that ‘96% of the world’s languages are spoken by just 4% of the people’. Given the interdisciplinary nature, and the methodology of this virtual conference, Crystal’s paper draws attention to the use of language as a way to ‘break down barriers’.

The two other papers presented today relate to disability, albeit with very different approaches. The first was given by Wendy Turner (Augusta State University) and is entitled: ‘Human Rights, Royal Rights and the Mentally Disabled in Late Medieval England.’ In her paper Turner suggests that modern preconceptions of medieval disability are not generally supported by the empirical evidence. The second paper ‘The Status of the Learning Disabled in Philosophy of Mind and Disability Studies’ by Maeve M. O’Donovan (College of Notre Dame of Maryland), approaches the subject of learning disability through personal and academic experience and research.

As well, as the ongoing ‘battle of the bands’ competition – plenty of time still to vote! – today also saw the first ‘winning comment’ prize awarded to Rebecca Wheeler.

by Paula Bowles

Welcome to the first day of the 2009 Compass Interdisciplinary Virtual Conference. Regenia Gagnier (University of Exeter) opened the conference by asking: ‘Why Interdisciplinarity?’ As part of her introductory remarks, Professor Gagnier discusses the definitions of Interdisciplinarity, as well as outlining some of the benefits of interdisciplinary research and praxis.

Roger Griffin’s (Oxford Brookes University) keynote paper: ‘The Rainbow Bridge’: Reflections on Interdisciplinarity in the Cybernetic Age’ highlights the opportunities offered by the novel concept of a virtual conference. By reflecting on his own research into fascism, Griffin recognises the need to make cross-disciplinary connections, or as he describes it academics operating ‘flexibly as both splitters and lumpers, according to the situation’.

Two other conference papers have been presented today. The first ‘Communicating about Communication – Multidisciplinary Approaches to Educating Educators about Language Variation’ by Anne H. Charity Hudley (The College of William and Mary) and Christine Mallinson (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) and the second
‘Language and Communication in the Spanish Conquest of America’ by Daniel Wasserman Soler(University of Virginia).

Finally, Professor of Human Geography, Mike Bradshaw (University of Leicester) has contributed a Publishing Workshop entitled ‘Why Write a Review Paper? And how to do it!’. As well as all of these academic gems, conference delegates have also taken the opportunity to meet the speakers in Second Life and cast their votes in the ‘Battle of the Bands’.

We are delighted to announce that the program for the first ever Compass Interdisciplinary Virtual Conference is now available!

PDF DOWNLOADS:

Full Conference Program

‘At A Glance’ Conference Program – 1 Page

Conference paper abstracts and commentators

Author and Commentator Profiles

Keynote Speaker Profiles

In addition to the conference papers and keynote addresses, we will be offering a series of publishing workshops, ‘Meet the Keynote Speaker’ Q&A sessions, a book exhibit, musical entertainment and a SecondLife cocktail bar.

SOUNDS INTERESTING! HOW CAN I PARTICIPATE?

Join the conversation – we already have over 800 registered delegates from over 70 countries attending!

• Register for free at:
  http://www.blackwellpublishingsurvey.com/survey/149278/29a8.

• Delegates will be able to buy ANY Wiley book with a 20% conference discount.

• Delegates will be eligible for 60 days free online access to over 200 Wiley-Blackwell journals.

• Delegates providing feedback after the conference will also be in the running to win a year’s subscription to a Compass Journal of their choice!

We look forward to welcoming you to this inaugural virtual conference!

- The Compass Conference Team

Rochelle Lieber (Language and Linguistics Compass Editor-in-Chief)
Felice Lifshitz (History Compass Editor-in-Chief)
Jerry Suls (Social and Personality Psychology Compass Editor-in-Chief)
Vanessa Lafaye, Helen Ashton, Kivmars Bowling, Liam Cooper, Philip Smith (Wiley-Blackwell)

Questions? Feedback? Email: compassconference@wiley.com

We are pleased to announce the following paper is to be presented at the upcoming Compass Interdisciplinary Virtual Conference (Oct 19-30):

Anne Charity Hudley (William & Mary) and Christine Mallinson (University of Maryland, Baltimore County)

Communicating about Communication: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Educating Educators about Language Variation’
“The quest to educate non-standardized English-speaking students has been a primary driving force behind developments in many fields represented by Compass journals, including sociology, geography, linguistics, psychology, history, literature, and education. Academics engaged in these multiple perspectives must join together, both to communicate knowledge about language variation to educators and to learn from educators’ experiences with teaching non-standardized English-speaking students.

Following the conference theme of breaking down barriers, we draw on research gathered from multidisciplinary approaches to educational analysis by developing a linguistic awareness model that is designed to facilitate the sharing of knowledge about language variation between educators and researchers. Our model currently addresses three U.S.-based English language varieties: School English, Southern English, and African-American English. Drawing on these models, we highlight best teaching practices that can help non-standardized English-speaking students break down communication barriers to educational success in the pre-collegiate classroom.

We draw on previous endeavors by academics to communicate information about language variation to wider audiences, noting two important challenges: the need to couple language variation awareness with readily accessible, specific examples of language variation and the need to provide information about how to work with language variation within the increasingly diverse classroom. We contend that only with this specific knowledge can educators use linguistic information to help students from non-standardized English-speaking backgrounds achieve in schools. Otherwise, educators may not appreciate the relevance and immediate necessity of the information.

In our linguistic awareness model, we suggest realistic, cost effective ways to approach educators, including certification and re-certification courses, in-service workshops, websites, and wikis. A wiki of materials to accompany this paper may be found athttp://charityhudleymallinsoncompass.wmwikis.net/. We also suggest future directions for linguistically aware educators to become resources for information on language variation and linguistic tolerance in their own schools and communities.”

If you would like to be informed when this paper goes live during the conference, please register for free here:

http://www.blackwellpublishingsurvey.com/survey/149278/29a8.

During the conference you will be able to access the full text and commissioned commentaries, with the opportunity to discuss and share your thoughts on the issues raised.

We are pleased to announce the following paper is to be presented at the upcoming Compass Interdisciplinary Virtual Conference (Oct 19-30):

Sheila Hones (University of Tokyo)

Text as It Happens: Literary Geography

“This article reviews the current situation in geographical work with fiction in the context of an explicitly spatial view of the writing–reading nexus as a contextualized and always emerging geographical event. It argues that this way of conceptualizing the text events of both narrative fiction and academic knowledge production provides a way of understanding and dealing with incompatible literary interpretations and also with irreconcilable approaches to literary geography. This openness to multiplicity develops from the point that text events are not only relational by nature and generated within social contexts in the initial encounter of author, text, and reader, but also only become publicly accessible when subsequently articulated within the mediating context of a particular social situation. The article proposes that literary geography as a collective endeavor can be developed and consolidated through an appreciation of the varying contexts within which geographically oriented work with fiction is performed and articulated.”

If you would like to be informed when this paper goes live during the conference, please register for free here:

http://www.blackwellpublishingsurvey.com/survey/149278/29a8.

During the conference you will be able to access the full text and commissioned commentaries, with the opportunity to discuss and share your thoughts on the issues raised.

We are pleased to announce the following paper is to be presented at the upcoming Compass Interdisciplinary Virtual Conference (Oct 19-30):

Christine Mallinson (University of Maryland)

Sociolinguistics and Sociology: Current Directions, Future Partnerships

“In this article, I discuss the past, present, and future of interdisciplinary scholarship between sociolinguists and sociologists. After detailing some of the broader history of collaboration between sociolinguists and sociologists, I examine two sub-areas of scholarship: the variationist tradition from sociolinguistics and the social stratification tradition from sociology. I contend that, given their complementary research questions and analytic traditions, these areas provide new potential for interdisciplinary research initiatives. I give suggestions for research partnerships between sociolinguists and sociologists, and close with a discussion of some practical ways in which sociolinguists and sociologists can build interdisciplinarity both pedagogically as well as professionally.”

If you would like to be informed when this paper goes live during the conference, please register for free here:

http://www.blackwellpublishingsurvey.com/survey/149278/29a8.

During the conference you will be able to access the full text and commissioned commentaries, with the opportunity to discuss and share your thoughts on the issues raised.

We are pleased to announce the following paper is to be presented at the upcoming Compass Interdisciplinary Virtual Conference (Oct 19-30):

‘Borderless World’: Globalization, Territory and Identity
Alexander Diener (Pepperdine University) and Joshua Hagen (Marshall University)

“Although declarations or predictions of a borderless world have become somewhat ubiquitous over the last twenty years, state borders remain one of the most basic and visible features of the international system. While it is true that a range of issues, like environmental change, migration, or international trade, highlight the growing interaction and interdependence between different places around the world, borders continue to play a central role in shaping, dividing, and uniting the world’s societies, economies, and ecosystems. Reflecting their significance for scholars across the social sciences, a growing body of multidisciplinary research has investigated the continuing power of borders in our supposedly borderless world. This article examines some of the main lines of inquiry, research, and theory in this emerging field of border studies.”

If you would like to be informed when this paper goes live during the conference, please register for free here:

http://www.blackwellpublishingsurvey.com/survey/149278/29a8.

During the conference you will be able to access the full text and commissioned commentaries, with the opportunity to discuss and share your thoughts on the issues raised.

Many thanks to all those of you who have already registered for the upcoming Compass Interdisciplinary Virtual Conference. We’ve very excited to see so many delegates from around the world and look forward to a truly global conversation during the conference.

Why register?

The conference website will of course be free and open to all, but registrants will receive a Virtual Delegates Pack, which will include the full conference schedule, details of the discounts available on Wiley-Blackwell publications as part of our book exhibit, our new Online Author’s Survival Guide and much more.

To register, simply click here:
http://www.blackwellpublishingsurvey.com/survey/149278/29a8

To see the global spread of registrants on our Virtual Conference Google Map, just click here. Judging from the feedback we’re receiving, many of you are looking forward to participating in this online conference, as travel to a face-to-face event would be much more difficult (and less green!).

We’d encourage you to spread the word about the conference amongst your friends and colleagues. You can of course direct people to
http://compassconference.wordpress.com or also to our Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/CompassConf.

The Journal of American History has published an excellent discussion entitled ‘Interchange: The Promise of Digital History‘:

This “Interchange” discussion took place online over the course of several months in the winter of 2008. We wanted the “Interchange” to be free flowing; therefore we encouraged participants not only to respond to questions posed by the JAH but also to communicate with each other directly. What follows is an edited version of the very lively online conversation that resulted. We hope JAH readers find it of interest.

The participants:

Daniel J. Cohen is associate professor of history and director of the Center for History and New Media (chnm) at George Mason University.

Michael Frisch is professor of history and American studies and a senior research scholar at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York.

Patrick Gallagher is a leader in the field of exhibit design. He is principal of Gallagher & Associates, a professional design services firm.

Steven Mintz is director of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Teaching Center at Columbia University.

Kirsten Sword is assistant professor of history at Indiana University.

Amy Murrell Taylor is associate professor of history and an affiliate faculty member in the documentary studies program at the State University of New York (suny)–Albany.

William G. Thomas III, professor of history at the University of Nebraska, holds the John and Catherine Angle Chair in the Humanities.

William J. Turkel is assistant professor of history at the University of Western Ontario and director of digital infrastructure for the Network in Canadian History and Environment.

Some of the questions tackled:

How might we define digital history?

What is the promise of digital history?

How do we teach graduate students about digital history?

What are the essential skills in training a generation of digital historians?

What institutional resources are needed to sustain digital history?

Do digital history and museum exhibitions have something in common?

Does digital presentation lend a depth that does something text and photographs in a book can’t do?

How has technology changed your research methods? How could it?

What would you like to see technology do in your own research?

What is the role of journals (or academic publishing more broadly) in these new projects? How might journals embrace such projects?

How might digital history change the publication and dissemination of scholarship?

Looking forward five or ten years, how will the profession be different? How will the discipline be different? What changes will institutions have to make?

The March issue of History Compass is now available here!

Here is a keyword stream for this issue:

African Languages, Global English, Education in Colonial India, Transnational Labour History, Museum Studies in New Zealand, Honor and High Politics in Early Modern Ireland, History of Women in Scotland, Occupation of Germany in 1945, Family, the State, and Law, History of Science and Technology in Latin America, Arabic and Persian Mirrors for Princes Genre, Australian Historians and the Great War, Afghanistan Historiography and Pashtun Islam.

—————————————————–

HISTORY COMPASS
Issue: March 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Africa

African Languages in the World of Global English (p 343-362)
Ângela Lamas Rodrigues

Asia

Education for All: Reassessing the Historiography of Education in Colonial India (p 363-375)
Catriona Ellis

Australasia & Pacific

Reflections on Writing Comparative and Transnational Labour History (p 376-394)
James Bennett

Museums and Museum Studies in New Zealand: A Survey of Historical Developments (p 395-413)
Conal McCarthy, Joanna Cobley

Britain & Ireland

From Irish Eineach to British Honor? Noble Honor and High Politics in Early Modern Ireland, 1500–1650 (p 414-430)
Brendan Kane

A New Trumpet? The History of Women in Scotland 1300–1700 (p 431-446)
Elizabeth Ewan

Europe

The Occupation of Germany in 1945 and the Politics of German History (p 447-473)
Gareth Pritchard

Family, the State, and Law in Early Modern and Revolutionary France (p 474-499)
Matthew Gerber

Caribbean & Latin America

Constructing a Narrative: The History of Science and Technology in Latin America (p 500-522)
María Portuondo

Middle & Near East

Surveying Recent Literature on the Arabic and Persian Mirrors for Princes Genre (p 523-538)
L. Marlow

Teaching & Learning Guides

Teaching & Learning Guide for: Whose War Was It Anyway? Some Australian Historians and the Great War (p 539-547)
Frank Bongiorno, Grant Mansfield

Teaching & Learning Guide for: Afghanistan Historiography and Pashtun Islam: Modernization Theory’s Afterimage (p 548-553)
James Caron

The first Compass Interdisciplinary Virtual Conference, to be held in October 2009, aims to help break academic boundaries – within and between disciplines, between theory and practice, approaches and methodologies – by providing a space for multi- and cross-disciplinary review on the theme of “Breaking Down Barriers“.

Abstracts are invited for survey/review papers from the disciplines of History, Literature, Philosophy, Religion, Geography, Linguistics, Sociology, and Social Psychology.

In particular, we welcome papers that explore:

Paradigms | Borders | The Environment | Communication | Justice/Human Rights

Abstract submission deadline: 1 January 2009
An Abstract submission template is available here.
Send to compassconference@wiley.com.

Registration Is free! Click here to register
Join the largest online meeting of minds in the social sciences and humanities!

Papers will be peer-reviewed. Each accepted paper will receive two formal commentaries plus comments from attendees and will be published in one of the Compass journals. Preference will be given to papers which hold interest for more than one discipline.

For more information on the conference and instructions for authors visit www.blackwell-compass.com/home_conference.

For more information on the Compass journals visit www.blackwell-compass.com.

Welcome to the second in a series of debates being hosted on the History Compass Theory & Methods Blog:

“What can GIS offer World History?”
Dates: 3-14 November, 2008

Using Jack Owens’ History Compass article, ‘Toward a Geographically-Integrated, Connected World History: Employing Geographical Information Systems (GIS)’ as a starting point this discussion looks at the role of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in World History.

Short position papers from each participant are posted below, both in PDF format and an onscreen version.

We invite all of you ‘attending’ online to comment and get involved in the discussion! Just use the comments feature on this post to share your views and respond to the issues raised.

Ian Gregory (University of Lancaster) – Position Paper PDF HTML

Stephen J. Hornsby (University of Maine) – Position Paper PDF HTML

Jack Owen (Idaho State University) – Article

– — – — – — –

Ian Gregory (University of Lancaster) – Position Paper

Professor Owens is correct in his argument that Geographical Information Systems (GIS) have much to offer to the study of history. “Historical GIS,” as the use of GIS in historical research has become known, has been around for about a decade. In that time large strides have been taken in a number of areas: the development of databases such as the national historical GISs, the development of methodologies suitable for the unique challenges that historical data and historical research imposes on GIS, the growing development of a literature on historical GIS, and most importantly of all, research that uses GIS to provide new insights into historical topics where the interest is not in the use of GIS per se, but instead in the knowledge that it brings to our understanding of a topic within the discipline of history.

At its core a GIS is a type of database. What makes a GIS unique is the fact that each item of data in the database is linked to a co-ordinate-based representation of where the feature is located. This may be a point, a line, a polygon (that represents an area or zone), or a pixel. This apparently crude structure that owes its origins to quantitative, data-rich disciplines such as the environmental sciences has much to offer historical research because a GIS is able to provide information on what, where, and when. The GIS structures information according to location in space, can integrate disparate sources based on where they are, allows us to visualise geographical patterns through maps and other techniques, and allows us to conduct analyses in which the results vary according to where the data under study are located. This has the potential to greatly enhance our understanding of space, place, location and geography in historical research.

GIS is frequently seen as a mapping technology. While I believe this to be a major over-simplification, it serves as a useful starting point in understanding what GIS has to offer to historical research. A map is commonly thought of as the end point of a piece of research, in GIS however it is close to the beginning. As soon a GIS database is created it can be mapped. These maps can be re-defined, analysed and re-created throughout the research process. The map is a way of identifying and describing the spatial patterns within the database. The GIS is thus a descriptive technology. Its ability to describe spatial patterns, combined with a computer’s ability to handle large volumes of data, allows us to describe complex spatial patterns in an easily understandable way. At its simplest this poses questions to the researcher – “why is this happening here but not here?”

More broadly however GIS allows us to challenge existing historical orthodoxies. In a piece of research that I recently conducted I used GIS to map changes in infant mortality rates across England and Wales from the 1850s to the 1900s. The patterns were striking: the largest absolute declines occurred in the cities, this might be expected. The biggest proportional declines however occurred in rural parts of the south and east of the country with the rural north and west showing the smallest proportional falls. The conventional explanation for declines in infant mortality over this period is that they were driven by public health reforms. This does not fit with the patterns that the GIS reveals: rates started to fall before public health reforms were introduced and were occurring in areas where the public health movement would not be expected to have its biggest impact. This is not to say that public health reforms were not important, they probably were especially in urban areas. What it reveals is that to understand change in infant mortality over this period we need to understand that different things were happening in different places. The GIS is able to identify the different stories and where they were occurring. The reduction in rates in the rural south-east shows that there was a significant process driving down rates in these areas but that this failed to happen in the north and west. Urban areas had a very different story, and one whose characteristics were consistent with the public health story.

Here the GIS part of the analysis reaches its limits. We are able to describe the different patterns that occurred in different places and use this to challenge an explanation that was only based on one type of place. What the GIS is unable to do however is explain why the different stories occurred as they did. It is therefore primarily a descriptive approach that challenges more traditional forms of history to produce one or more explanations. Another example of this type of work is Geoff Cunfer’s On the Great Plains that looks at the pattern of dust storms over the entire Great Plains in the early twentieth century. Cunfer shows that there was little relationship between the number of dust storms and the degree to which an area was ploughed; indeed dust storms frequently took place in areas where no ploughing had occurred. This again challenges an orthodoxy, namely that the Dust Bowl was caused by over-intensive agriculture. Cunfer argues that the orthodox explanation originated in detailed studies of only a few areas near the centre of the Dust Bowl. Instead he argues that the Dust Bowl was more closely related to drought than it was to insensitive agriculture driven by the pressures of capitalism.

Image (c) Ian Gregory, 2008

So GIS can and does alter the way that we are able to look at specific historical topics. As currently conceived however it does have some serious limitations. The first is that GIS to date has largely concentrated on quantitative data. This will inevitably make it only of limited use in much historical research which is far more orientated towards qualitative sources, especially texts. The way that GIS represents space is also strongly quantitative. GIS is well suited to representing precisely located features that can be well represented using points, lines or polygons. It is far less suited to “fuzzier” concepts such as cultural regions or to places whose exact location is not known. From a distance it might be thought that GIS is well suited to exploit the “spatial turn”, however the concept of space used by GIS is far removed from the concept used by cultural historians. There are also some higher level problems that limit the adoption of GIS amongst many historians. These fall into three main categories. First, GIS software has become easier to use in recent years but still represents a barrier to entry. Second, using the software is one thing but understanding how it can be applied in historical research and what can be expected from it remains a barrier. Thirdly, creating GIS databases remains expensive and tedious work that often requires different skills to those of conducting research on the database.

This leads me to my questions for Jack which are as follows:

1. Does he agree with my identification of the strengths and limitations of a GIS approach in historical research? If so, what can be done to overcome the limitations?

2. Could he be more specific about how he feels that his project will lead to new understandings of trade in the Atlantic World? Will it be challenging established orthodoxies or developing completely new knowledge? Will it be descriptive or can it also be explanatory?

3. Why do we need “Geographically-enabled history”? After all, we have Historical GIS which is tightly focussed on the use of GIS. Above this historical geography is a well-established field to which people conducting historical GIS research are contributing almost by definition. Why then does he see the need for this intermediate level between the two?

– — – — – — –

Stephen J. Hornsby (University of Maine) – Position Paper

In his paper, Professor Owens provides several important arguments in favor of incorporating GIS into historical research, particularly for understanding patterns and processes at the global level. As a geographer, I am sympathetic to his call for greater visualization in the discipline of History and his awareness that the map can be a powerful representational tool. I am also convinced that Historical GIS would be extremely useful in helping to organize large databases, such as the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, and to present the material in spatial form. In comparison to a paper map, GIS allows manipulation of data and creation of dynamic animations. If done well, such a GIS would be a powerful aid in teaching students and educating the public. I am also intrigued by Professor Owens’ call for a Geographically-integrated history; many historical geographers are actively engaged in such a project. His suggestion that a Historical GIS could serve as a digital scaffold for a wide range of material, from documents to images and sound recordings, is excellent and something that I have considered building online, based on digital data in the forthcoming Historical Atlas of Maine.

Nevertheless, I remain skeptical of Historical GIS for several reasons. First, there is the obvious issue of data. GIS of the contemporary world are based on enormous databases. As we go back in time, such data diminish. Historical databases can be created but they usually need statistical information and a considerable investment of resources. Are the results from creating large Historical GIS going to justify the expense? Second, non-statistical cultural data are difficult to map and represent in a GIS. Are cultural data going to be left out? Third, as Professor Owens points out, maps and GIS are excellent for showing spatial distributions, but are not as effective as narrative text in representing or explaining change over time. A combination of text and map seems to work well. Fourth, the GIS that I have seen always seem clunky. The aesthetic representation of data in a GIS hardly seems to be have been addressed. I have yet to see a GIS that comes close to the work of a good cartographer. Finally, I wonder about the interest of historians in Historical GIS. History is a discipline wedded to text and narrative; the word is always privileged over the spatial image. Given the general lack of interest by historians in maps and in thinking spatially, I am dubious about the success of Historical GIS in the discipline.