DH Dev Report #6 (Part Two - StoryMap)

Here, I used a companion site, StoryMaps JS to create a map of the photos and data collected downtown during the eighth week of this semester. You may view the completed map through the companion site, here.

This map tracks a walk I took through downtown Lincoln, NE on the eighth week of school, primarily moving through one of the busiest streets – P street. Each location on the map includes a photo of that location and the tangible effects of the COVID19 pandemic. A lot of this comes in form of signs – how to wear masks, changes to business hours and operations, notices of locations going out of business, or “positive” messages dedicated reviving interest in the downtown area. Other photos document the emptiness present in once thriving businesses. Overall, I am using these photos to show the many and varied ways the downtown is clearly changed, but also the ways that businesses are trying to perform some sense of normalcy through dynamic experiences despite COVID19.

The maps itself how significant these changes are. Notice, my route is rather short, just spanning a few blocks along a single street, yet the signs and emptiness are everywhere. It was impossible to escape the changes made by the pandemic.

Overall, this storymap is meant to demonstrate, in visual and geographic ways, what a typical route for a Lincoln citizen may look like. It adds to the other aspects of DH Publication Two by making visible the reflections and data available throughout.