Digital Harlem

By Kate Finley | Published: December 21, 2016

1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 You all are probably already aware of this resource, but I don’t believe we’ve discussed the mapping project Digital Harlem: Everyday Life, 1915-1930. It is briefly mentioned in the HyperCities reading from earlier in the semester, but I wasn’t able to look at it in depth until recently. In addition to the project itself, an paper on the project titled “Putting Harlem on the Map” is also available, providing a general overview of the project as well as a discussion on spatial patterns of nightclubs, speakeasies, buffet flats, and similar locations that connects to knowledge of the ownership and clientele of such spaces. There is also a project blog that provides some guidance on how to use the resource to get the data you need.

2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 I am also taking a class on the literature of the Harlem Renaissance this semester, and the question of who the Harlem Renaissance was really for and to whom the movement was accessible has been a recurring question throughout the course. This project certainly addresses this question, as it focuses on the experiences of everyday people rather than on the elite of the Harlem Renaissance by incorporating data on things ranging from childcare to traffic accidents. This other class sparked an interest in doing some sort of project involving mapping the Harlem Renaissance for the data project for this class, but I ended up going with another idea. However, I am currently finishing my final paper for this other class and am discussing in it spatial aspects of the Harlem Renaissance, among other things, so this resource popped back onto my radar.

3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 One way in which the project accomplishes its aim of displaying the hidden, multifaceted history of this era is through its use of layerage, which brings to mind the HyperCities method of “thick mapping.” Users are able to create their own layer combinations of various types of data associated with the time period of the Harlem Renaissance. What is also great about this project is that it allows one to select a single address and see all of the data available for that address, regardless of data type. I highly recommend checking all of this out if you haven’t already.

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  • Welcome to Digital Praxis 2016-2017

    Encouraging students think about the impact advancements in digital technology have on the future of scholarship from the moment they enter the Graduate Center, the Digital Praxis Seminar is a year-long sequence of two three-credit courses that familiarize students with a variety of digital tools and methods through lectures offered by high-profile scholars and technologists, hands-on workshops, and collaborative projects. Students enrolled in the two-course sequence will complete their first year at the GC having been introduced to a broad range of ways to critically evaluate and incorporate digital technologies in their academic research and teaching. In addition, they will have explored a particular area of digital scholarship and/or pedagogy of interest to them, produced a digital project in collaboration with fellow students, and established a digital portfolio that can be used to display their work. The two connected three-credit courses will be offered during the Fall and Spring semesters as MALS classes for master’s students and Interdisciplinary Studies courses for doctoral students.

    The syllabus for the course can be found at cuny.is/dps17.

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