DTC/ENGL 375 Language Texts and Technology
Dr. Patricia Freitag Ericsson
Map Unit Overview (all projects for this Unit are individual)
This Unit will include
1) reading Harley's The New Nature of Maps,
2) visiting the MASC,
3) hearing one guest lecturer
4) taking two quizes
5) completing a Personal Map Narrative
6) completing a Take-home Test
As usual, the class schedule is your guide to everyday activities.Personal Map Narrative
Your project for this unit is an individual one: you will create a Personal Map Narrative (PMN) using Google Maps. Your PMN may tell a factual or fictional story, follow the locations of a book you've read, chart some important part of your life, document something scientific, or do just about anything for which a map is a narrative guide. Your PMN must include specific locations, text, pictures and/or links. These are all easy to do when you create a personal map. Your PMN is due March 24.
Requirements:
One PMN that includes the following:
1. At least five locations
2. Text explaining those locations, telling your story, or whatever the goal of your PMN is
3. At least two pictures to accompany the text or two links that enrich the content of your PMN (or both).
Photos must be on the WWW somewhere so that they can be accessed. If you have your own web space and have pictures there or can upload them to a Web space, that will work. Otherwise you'll have to link to other web-based pictures.Your guide to creating the map will be the Google Tutorial. We will review the basics of this tutorial in class.
In doing my PMN, I found that prewriting was necessary. I had to plan what story I wanted to map, which map points I would have, and the basics of what I wanted to say. Editing the maps is simple, so you don't have to worry about having it all planned out, but it helps to have a sketch of what you want to do before you begin.Use the "Send" link in the upper right hand corner of the map interface to get your map URL to me. Do not copy and paste it as the results of that can be funky.
The links below take you to personal Google Maps. These are examples to help you brainstorm, but not all of them have a narrative focus.
Where I Grew Up (childhood memories from someone in Texas)
VisitVictoria (parks and gardens in Victoria, Australia)
John Muir Trail, CAOn to Mexico (life of the Monarch butterfly)
Ch. 6 For the Love of a Man (a chapter from Call of the Wild by Jack London)
The Kidnapped Can Opener's Travels (a bit weird and funny)
2008 West Coast Family Vacation
My Odyssey (a DTC professor's route to WSU)Take-home Essay Test
The questions for this test will be handed out on March 24 and are due on March 29. The questions will be based on the unit readings, the field trip to the MASC, and the guest lecture.