Testing our Toolbox

Working Title - Working Title: “Testing our Toolbox”

150-Word Abstract

A whole host of digital tools exist to help represent data and tell a compelling story. Each of these tools, important in their own right, are limited in some capacity and while each tool has a purpose and style, the visualization of their dataset can vary drastically if represented on different tools due to their limiting focus. This is an area worthy of research; a comparative test that uses the same datasets that could then be applied to a variety of tools which when subjugated to analysis reveal their limitations and focus and its effect on their storytelling capabilities. While each tool generally makes an appealing case for their use and offer no shortage of showcases for the uses of their tool, the dataset is never the same, making the judgement to use a tool for their research an arduous task. Knowing the comparative qualities, capabilities, and limitations of a variety of tools can help students and scholars make a more informed decision when deciding which tools would fix their research interest best.

Principal Data Sources

I am using the PhD dissertation of David Klingle as a source for most of my data, this dissertation is entitled: “Burial in Florida: Culture, Ritual, Health, and Status: The Archaic to Seminole Periods.” I decided to use this source because his dissertation explains the different in cultural periods of Florida’s history before the Seminole tribe. He speaks to the burial and ritual practices which are great for contextualizing these sites and the people who lived there. Additionally he also lays out important sites relating to each of the different cultures allowing me to choose those most prominent, and varied temporally and geographically.

This data set will also allow me to site a scholarly source directly which adds credibility to the narrative.

Visualization Platform(s)

Visual eyes is the main platform, additionally I will branch out into different tools for visualization. Microsoft Sway and website building tools for blogs make great use of static visualization and storytelling and I feel are important to bring into the fold of my research as static visualization, especially those tools that are available for this, is incredibly popular and remain an effective way to express a story even though they lack an interactive element. Other interactive tools like timelineJS, and story maps provide more variety for testing their presentation of this information. As this project progresses, even outside the timeframe for the class I wish to expand the number of tools to really craft an analysis of how these tools handle and can represent the information given to them.