Method without Methodology: Data and the Digital Humanities (original) (raw)
In that Empire, the Art of Cartography attained such Perfection that the map of a single Province occupied the entirety of a City, and the map of the Empire, the entirety of a Province. In time, those Unconscionable Maps no longer satisfied, and the Cartographers Guilds struck a Map of the Empire whose size was that of the Empire, and which coincided point for point with it. The following Generations, who were not so fond of the Study of Cartography as their Forebears had been, saw that that vast map was Useless, and not without some Pitilessness was it, that they delivered it up to the Inclemencies of Sun and Winters. In the Deserts of the West, still today, there are Tattered Ruins of that Map, inhabited by Animals and Beggars; in all the Land there is no other Relic of the Disciplines of Geography.
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Maps do not merely represent reality; they both create and exceed it. This course critically examines the history and future of cartography, devoting particular attention to the role that maps and map-making have played in the emergence and persistence of social power and political imagination. Among other topics, we consider how maps have shaped (and are shaped by) property and class relations; state sovereignty and royal authority; colonialism and imperialism; national and ethnic identities; and the relationship between humankind and nature, earth and the cosmos.
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Spatial analysis has enabled historians to present historical data in new ways. Yet, the so-called spatial turn is a difficult dance. Cartographical structuring does not often respond in an appropriate way to the demands of historical criticism while the full potential of modern cartography is not applied to new historical research questions. As a consequence the use of spatial methodologies in historical research confirms or ‘proves’ the research conclusions of the historians, but goes seldom beyond the already known, nor does it provide new research results. The research project NOMOB (Noblemen’s mobility in the Austrian Netherlands) at Ghent University tries to fill the gap by constructing an all-in-one research map that combines spatial research techniques with textual analysis. The aim is to acquire knowledge on mobility and social network of the cartographer Joseph de Ferraris during his travels in 1777 and 1778. Ferraris 's case combines a limited dataset with several research questions, necessary for development of cartographical research tools. His map of the Austrian Netherlands is well known, but his private correspondence is far less studied. Yet his frequent letters provide detailed information on his itineraries, transport facilities, lodging and postal service, as well as on his social contacts. They actually enable us to answer a far more important meta-question: does processing geographical and social data in a research map result in data that were otherwise not possible to achieve? Is the map doing the research, or is it, once again, just an instrument to visualise research results? To answer this question the geographical dataset constructed from the letters is mapped on a current topographic map after a retrogressive interpretation of the landscape in combination with historical map analysis. This map offers the advantage of being accurate, whereas the geometric reliability of older maps is questionable at best. Today’s landscape shows partially the same topographical characteristics of a few centuries ago. Canals, main roads, churches etc. are on the same spot since the moment they have been constructed. They function as fixed elements in the landscape environment and supply the historical information with additional data that enable the reconstruction of Ferraris ‘s itinerary. For the further development two major problems can be expected. Firstly, how does a research map deal with the vagueness of both textual and cartographical data? Secondly, since Ferraris 's social contacts are as mobile as he is, 'change' becomes an important feature of both geographical place and social network.
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