Spencer is a fellow classmate and I am reviewing his project proposal.
He began his brainstorming by thinking about Montreal and how physical space changes over time. What he came up with as a final project idea is an interactive map of St. Patrick's Ward (otherwise known as just "The Ward") in Guelph which displays how it has been gentrified over time, especially focusing on the railroad. This area of Guelph experienced similar changes to Montreal, so it would not only tell the history of Guelph, but also the history of a greater trend throughout Canada.
Spencer's plan is to create and design a website which will house his interactive map. He is planning to use Google Earth to create his map, which will include photographs, text, and quantitative data. Spencer will also be using digitized maps from 1879, 1908, 1960, and 1989 and a digitized fire insurance plan from 1878 in the creation of his project. Currently he is using the University of Guelph archives as a source for his project, but he is looking into other locations, such as the Guelph Museum and the Wellington County Museum. If he has time he would also like to create a walking tour based on the historical data he has collected. His goal here is to use a multifaceted approach, rather than focus on just one medium. I think this will work well with the idea of an interactive map. It would be great if the items on his map also had links to more information which was housed on his website, or external links (which he may be planning on already, not sure!).
Overall, Spencer's two main goals are for the project to be used as a community resource and as a place for research. As a community resource this project would be a nice addition to what is already out there on the internet. I think that the walking tour would be especially nice to add to his website, especially if he makes it into a printable brochure or something similar, which could then be printed out and used by interested individuals. I could see that being useful for elementary/high school students or even homeschoolers. For the research aspect of his project, Spencer intends to include call numbers and references on the archival items he will include in his map (like photographs). This will enable viewers to find where he originally sourced the information from. I think this is a good way to allow for research opportunities within a website which is aimed towards a non-scholarly audience. A bibliography on his website would also add a degree of credibility and be useful for those seeking more information or related scholarly works. Spencer needs to make sure his website and map are accessible and relatable to the average viewer but still act as a useful source for those who might be visiting for scholarly reasons.
It looks like Spencer has an interesting project with a lot of source material out there to work with. His project also seems to fit in well with the greater scheme of Canadian history, even though it focuses on just one case study. It seems like a project which would be of interest to both the average, non-scholarly viewer as well as those seeking a more academic approach. Personally, I am very interested to see the final outcome. I was looking online at the Guelph Archives a few months ago and I noticed that they had some digitized photographs online. I was searching for images of my house here in Guelph, but unfortunately there were none. It was also difficult to search the archives when there was no map to reference, so I can see the wider appeal of something like what Spencer is proposing.
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