Final Reflections
So, I’m actually done with my map? I really never thought this day would come. I guess I knew it technically had to come given that the creation of this map is the synthesis of (literally) everything we’ve learned semester, the largest graded project, but somehow I didn’t really believe it. I was intimidated by others’ projects, how organized and together and “scholarly” they seemed. Mine seemed stupid and insignificant in comparison. URT made absolutely no sense to me. I didn’t understand the difference between layers, records, or arguments. I felt hopeless.
With Rory’s help, I was able to finally “get” the basic gist of URT. He talked me through the meanings and differences behind the terms and helped me create my first layer and record. Though, even after I entered all of the drive-in locations into the map, I still wasn’t sure what I was trying to say? Great, I have 23 plotted points on a map, now what?
So I went back to my first ever process blog where I described my experience at Empire Drive-in and how it reminded me so much of my dad and how we use to go to the movies together. Through my casual mention of The Blob in that post, I got to thinking about how much movies trigger memory for me. Whether it’s totally successful or not, that’s the idea behind the links to the movie trailer in each record. I think their inclusion not only reminds the user how long (most of) these theaters have been around, but also, if they’ve seen any of these films, it’s my hope that they triggers some sort of memory.
I was also really worried that I didn’t have any real arguments. Though I know that the term ” argument” is just something to call that part of the project, I still felt puzzled by that section. As I’m sure was the experience of most of my classmates, my “arguments” started to become clear after I spent awhile creating and deleting record after record and layer after layer. Though incredibly frustrating at times, URT forced me to use only the most pertinent pieces of information and really think about the possible connections that existed between. Every time I added a field, I had to think, “wait, why am I doing this?” In the case of a paper, you can write and write and write without the aid of any kind of personal check.
Finally, encouraged by my classmate (and friend!) Ateqah, I decided to discuss my relationship with my dad in one of my arguments and I’m happy with the results. With three semesters of grad school under my belt and just one more to go, if I’ve learned anything it’s that projects are always better if I put a lot of myself into them.
jess! this is great! so glad to hear URT finally clicked. excited to see your map in a bit! i’m glad our chat encouraged you to go in this direction! it was sweet of you to mention me here <3
Congratulations!
For all its frustrations — and I certainly don’t mean to justify those frustrations! — the tool does impose a certain economy and intentionality. I’m going to quote you here, because I want to remind us all of this important insight: “Though incredibly frustrating at times, URT forced me to use only the most pertinent pieces of information and really think about the possible connections that existed between. Every time I added a field, I had to think, ‘wait, why am I doing this?'”
You might remember back to our lesson on the Digital Humanities, and to Tara McPherson’s reading: she talks about how the database can enable us to organize and envision our data in new ways, and thereby allow us to ask new questions. It seems that’s what might’ve happened to you here: you plotted 23 points, then *revisited* those points through the lens of your original “conceptual” motivation for your project. And in the end, your map ended up being a synthesis of (1) the affordances and (obvious) limitations of URT and (2) yourself and your original motivations for embarking on this project. In the end, you ended up translating a human story to database logic — and, in the process, I’ll bet, discovering all the things that don’t fit into or “leak out” of the database. That’s a really important insight, which can help us better understand what it means to live in the world of ever-expanding “datafication.”