TTH 11:00-12:15, Classroom Building 313 and via Zoom
Dr. Matthew W. Wilson
Email: matthew.w.wilson@uky.edu
Twitter: @wilsonism
Office: Patterson Office Tower (POT) 861
Office Hours: by appointment
Mapping has been considered both an art and a science, as part of artistic, communicative, and analytical processes in the geographical tradition. This course will serve as an introduction to the concepts, techniques, and histories that enable mapping as a creative and artistic practice, with particular attention to the digital. It covers the centrality of the map in everyday life and considers the changing role of the map-maker as society becomes increasingly saturated by digital information technologies. Of particular interest will be the use of web mapping tools and location-based services and the relationship of these tools with more traditional digital mapping techniques, such as geographic information systems (GIS) and global positioning systems (GPS). In addition the course will introduce principles in cartographic design, geovisualization methods for digital data, and digital map evaluation and critique, culminating in a series of maps created by students.
In utilizing the creative process of digital mapping, this course shall:
By the completion of this course, students shall be able to personally create maps that demonstrate their engagement with the creative and artistic processes of digital mapping, both as an individual and as part of a collaborative endeavor. As part of these processes students will:
This course will be composed of lecture and lab sessions. Lecture sessions will cover the majority of the conceptual and historical material, as well as demonstrate a range of creative applications. Lecture is not duplicative of the texts. In lab sessions, students may meet in a computer lab to discuss the lecture material and practice the techniques, working on their mapping projects. Students will be expected to work constructively with their fellow classmates in developing a comprehensive understanding of the introductory techniques in digital mapping. Lectures and lab sessions may also occur via Zoom.
While there are no required books for this class, there will be assigned readings which will be made available on the course management website. You are attending a research 1 university, taking classes with people who do original research. As such, you may have the opportunity to read journal articles and book chapters published by your professors. Professors are not paid royalties for these publications, but they are how information is disseminated for the academic community.
Students will be assessed in this course using a variety of methods. Attendance and participation in class activities will greatly improve students’ abilities to master the lecture and laboratory material. Assessment is distributed in the following ways, for a total of 400 points:
Final grades will be based on a standard scale, i.e., A=90-100%; B=80-89%; C=70-79%; D=60-69%; E=less than 60%. Grades for all assignments will be available via the University of Kentucky Canvas system (http://uk.instructure.com).
Two exams will be held at a mid-point of the semester and at the completion of the course. Exams will focus on the lecture material and assigned readings with a few key concepts from the mapping projects and exercises. The best preparation for these examinations will be to attend class and engage in class discussions.
Each of the scheduled lectures and lab sessions will require students to complete a short assignment before or during class. The exact format will vary from week to week. Each activity will be graded, and no late reading responses or exercises will be accepted.
Before beginning the final project, students will complete four mapping projects. These projects ask students to demonstrate basic digital mapping competencies, such as downloading and assessing web-based data, visualizing spatial data tables, and manipulating map symbology. These projects may include mapping everyday practices, mapping national data, mapping global data, or other digital mapping creations.
The final project focuses on the creative process of digital mapping. Students will be asked to demonstrate competencies in at least three skill areas: locating/transforming spatial data, designing/creating maps, and evaluating/critiquing the aesthetics of their creations. A final project proposal will need to be submitted. During the final week of class, the student will prepare a presentation of the final project. The student will also be asked to submit a final report which documents the creative process and reflects on their map creations. See the course schedule below for final project deadlines.
Review the course syllabus carefully, paying special attention to due dates and assignment instructions. In addition to a final project, there are four major laboratory deliverables in this course and each one builds off the previous, so attendance and participation are crucial. If you have questions about course expectations as overviewed by this syllabus, please contact the instructor as soon as possible.
There are many in-class activities that will require your attendance. Note:
Students need to notify the professor of absences prior to class in writing (or within one week after the absence). S.R. 5.2.4.2 defines the following as acceptable reasons for excused absences: (a) serious illness, (b) illness or death of family member, (c) University-related trips, (d) major religious holidays, and (e) other circumstances found to fit “reasonable cause for nonattendance” by the professor.
Students anticipating an absence for a major religious holiday are responsible for notifying the instructor in writing of anticipated absences due to their observance of such holidays no later than the last day in the semester to add a class. Information regarding dates of major religious holidays may be obtained through the religious liaison, Mr. Jake Karnes (859-257-2754). Students are expected to withdraw from the class if more than 20% of the classes scheduled for the semester are missed (excused or unexcused) per university policy.
Students may be asked to verify their absences in order for them to be considered excused. Senate Rule 5.2.4.2 states that faculty have the right to request “appropriate verification” when students claim an excused absence because of illness or death in the family. Appropriate notification of absences due to university-related trips is required prior to the absence.
In accordance with University guidelines, students must wear UK-approved face coverings in the classroom and academic buildings (e.g., faculty offices, laboratories, libraries, performance/design studios, and common study areas where students might congregate). If UK-approved face coverings are not worn over the nose and mouth, students will be asked to leave the classroom.
Students should complete their daily online wellness screening before accessing university facilities and arriving to class. Students should not move chairs or barriers in classrooms and should socially distance at all times, leaving a six (6) foot radius from other people. Masks and hand sanitizer can be found at entrances to this building if needed. Students should leave enough space when entering and exiting a room. Students should not crowd doorways at the beginning or end of class.
The instructor may choose to remove a mask when pedagogically necessary at the front of the classroom and behind a clear barrier. The instructor’s mask will be replaced when it is no longer necessary to have it removed, or when the class meeting is complete.
You are responsible for checking your UKY email account; Canvas is what will be used to send communications outside class. Email is the best way to contact the instructor (place ‘GEO109’ in the subject heading). Please allow at least 24 hours for a response by email during weekdays. The instructor will not necessarily respond to emails over the weekends.
Students are strongly encouraged to exchange contact information with classmates, in order to retrieve notes and information that you may have missed.
Meetings of this course may be recorded. All video and audio recordings of lecturers and class meetings, provided by the instructors, are for educational use by students in this class only. They are available only through the Canvas shell for this course and are not to be copied, shared, or redistributed.
The University of Kentucky Student Code of Conduct defines Invasion of Privacy as using electronic or other devices to make a photographic, audio, or video record of any person without their prior knowledge or consent when such a recording is likely to cause injury or distress. As addressed in the Student Code of Conduct, students are expected to follow appropriate university policies and maintain the security of linkblue accounts used to access recorded class materials. Recordings may not be reproduced, shared with those not enrolled in the class, or uploaded to other online environments.
If the instructor or a University of Kentucky office plans any other uses for the recordings, beyond this class, students identifiable in the recordings will be notified to request consent prior to such use. In anticipation of such cases, students may be asked to complete an “authorization of use” form by a faculty member.
Video and audio recordings by students are not permitted during the class unless the student has received prior permission from the instructor. Any sharing, distribution, and or uploading of these recordings outside of the parameters of the class is prohibited. Students with specific recording accommodations approved by the Disability Resource Center should present their official documentation to the instructor.
All content for this course, including handouts, assignments, and lectures are the intellectual property of the instructors and cannot be reproduced or sold without prior permission from the instructors. A student may use the material for reasonable educational and professional purposes extending beyond this class, such as studying for a comprehensive or qualifying examination in a degree program, preparing for a professional or certification examination, or to assist in fulfilling responsibilities at a job or internship.
This course is based on a progression of lectures and mapping assignments. If you are having difficulty with any course material, please contact the instructor. There are also other resources which you should find useful:
Resources exist across campus to assist students with academic success, wellness, finances, and belonging. Learn more at https://www.uky.edu/basicneeds/home.
Meeting deadlines is an important professional practice. Consult the course schedule, below, for the due dates of the course assignments. A 10-percent deduction will be applied to the final score of your assignment for submissions after the deadline on the same calendar day, with an additional 10-percent deduction for each additional calendar day the assignment is late. If the assignment is not delivered by the next class meeting, the assignment will not be accepted.
This course, if successful, will expose you to a variety of concepts and techniques. You are expected to draw upon these various ideas, but you must be transparent and honest about your use of these ideas. Please get help if you’re uncertain about this expectation! Per university policy, students shall not plagiarize, cheat, or falsify or misuse academic records. Students are expected to adhere to University policy on cheating and plagiarism in all courses. The minimum penalty for a first offense is a zero on the assignment on which the offense occurred. If the offense is considered severe or the student has other academic offenses on their record, more serious penalties, up to suspension from the university may be imposed.
Plagiarism and cheating are serious breaches of academic conduct. Each student is advised to become familiar with the various forms of academic dishonesty as explained in the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities. Complete information can be found at the following website: http://www.uky.edu/Ombud. A plea of ignorance is not acceptable as a defense against the charge of academic dishonesty. It is important that you review this information as all ideas borrowed from others need to be properly credited.
Part II of Student Rights and Responsibilities (available at http://www.uky.edu/StudentAffairs/Code/part2.html) states that all academic work, written or otherwise, submitted by students to their instructors or other academic supervisors, is expected to be the result of their own thought, research, or self-expression. In cases where students feel unsure about the question of plagiarism involving their own work, they are obliged to consult their instructors on the matter before submission.
When students submit work purporting to be their own, but which in any way borrows ideas, organization, wording or anything else from another source without appropriate acknowledgement of the fact, the students are guilty of plagiarism. Plagiarism includes reproducing someone else’s work, whether it be a published article, chapter of a book, a paper from a friend or some file, or something similar to this. Plagiarism also includes the practice of employing or allowing another person to alter or revise the work which a student submits as his/her own, whoever that other person may be.
Students may discuss assignments among themselves or with an instructor or tutor, but when the actual work is done, it must be done by the student, and the student alone. When a student’s assignment involves research in outside sources of information, the student must carefully acknowledge exactly what, where and how he/she employed them. If the words of someone else are used, the student must put quotation marks around the passage in question and add an appropriate indication of its origin. Making simple changes while leaving the organization, content and phraseology intact is plagiaristic. However, nothing in these Rules shall apply to those ideas which are so generally and freely circulated as to be a part of the public domain (Section 6.3.1).
Please note: Any assignment you turn in may be submitted to an electronic database to check for plagiarism.
Students should at all times be respectful of fellow students, the professor or teaching assistant(s), and the University of Kentucky. Some basic reminders:
If you have a documented disability that requires academic accommodations, please see me as soon as possible during scheduled office hours. In order to receive accommodations in this course, you must provide me with a Letter of Accommodation from the Disability Resource Center (725 Rose Street, Suite 407 Multidisciplinary Science Building, 8AM to 4:30PM, 859-257-2754, email address: jkarnes@email.uky.edu) for coordination of campus disability services available to students with disabilities.
Subject to change.
| Week | Lecture and Lab |
|---|---|
| 1: Aug. 18, Aug. 20 |
1. introduction to course 2. maps and mappings 3. overview of M1-M4 L1 1. Lab introduction 2. M1 introduction |
| 2: Aug. 25, Aug. 27 |
1. the aesthetics of cartography 2. overview of thematic mapping and data types 3. Activity: Collaborative mapping L2 Work on M1 |
| 3: Sept. 1, Sept. 3 |
Read Harley 1987. 1. mapping the everyday 2. critical mapping practices 3. Activity: Map as biography L3 Complete M1 Due end of Friday |
| 4: Sept. 8, Sept. 10 |
1. the relationship between cartography and GIS 2. map audience and format 3. Viewing the map and map experiences 4. Activity: Art Museum L4 Complete M2 Due end of Friday |
| 5: Sept. 15, Sept. 17 |
1. acquiring data and transforming data 2. mapmaking tools 3. mashups and spatial media 4. Activity: US Census Data L5 Complete M3 Due end of Friday |
| 6: Sept. 22, Sept. 24 |
1. the neutrality of maps 2. map projection and design L6 M4 introduction |
| 7: Sept. 29, Oct. 1 |
1. generalization, classification, and symbolization 2. the selective interests of the map(maker) 3. Activity: Truthiness in mapmaking L7 Work on M4 |
| 8: Oct. 6, Oct. 8 |
1. the geoweb 2. Activity: Mapping careers L8 Work on M4 |
| 9: Oct. 13, Oct. 15 |
Tuesday: Review Weeks 1-8 Thursday: EXAM 1 |
| 10: Oct. 20, Oct. 22 |
1. after critical GIS and cartography 2. new mapping industries 3. discuss final project proposal 4. Activity: Mapping crowds L9 Activity: Map Collection M4 Due end of Friday |
| 11: Oct. 27, Oct. 29 |
1. mapping as art and creative force 2. non-representational mapping 3. maps as objects of consumption 4. Activity: Psychogeographic maps L10 FP Proposal Due end of Friday |
| 12: Nov. 3, Nov. 5 |
Tuesday: NO LECTURE, VOTE Thursday: Collect Data for Final Project |
| 13: Nov. 10, Nov. 12 |
1. participatory mapping 2. VGI and neogeo 3. qualitative GIS L11 Work on Final Project |
| 14: Nov. 17, Nov. 19 |
Final Project Review FP Report DUE end of Friday |
| 15: Nov. 24, Nov. 26 |
FP Presentations DUE end of Wednesday THANKSGIVING BREAK |
| 16: Dec. 1, Dec. 3 |
Tuesday: Review Weeks 10-13 Thursday: EXAM 2 |
Bertin, Jacques. 1983. Semiology of Graphics: Diagrams, Networks, Maps (WJ Berg, Trans.). Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, Ltd.
Imhof, Eduard. 2007. Cartographic relief presentation. ESRI, Inc.
Robinson, Arthur Howard. 1952. The look of maps: an examination of cartographic design. University of Wisconsin Press.
Tufte, Edward R. 2001. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Graphics Press, 2nd edition.