StoryMaps Project Overview

GEOG100 OL01 - Fall 2022

Instead of writing a term paper for this assignment, you will design and produce an interactive digital map using the platform. ESRI StoryMaps. Your map will explore the significance of space, place, and scale to a place, thing, or event.

Your Story Map will be organized in a way that directly addresses the following prompt:

Human geographers explore the

interrelationships between people and places.

Explore your topic by asking: how are/have

humans shaped or impacted this place, thing, or event?  How has/is this place, thing, or event

shaped or impacted humans?

Respond to these questions by organizing your

StoryMap around geographical processes

pertaining to your topic. To do so, find a variety of ways to communicate the features, elements, and interactions that shape the identity of your chosen place, thing, or event using a variety of scales (space and time).

Why are we doing this?

This project will help you to explore significance of something or somewhere using the spatial analysis toolbox of a human geographer.  You will further develop your geographic literacy (geo-literacy), which means having a spatial awareness that enables you to see and understand patterns, distributions, relationships, and interactions of physical and human realms.

StoryMaps is a form. of digital storytelling that offers the opportunity for you to connect global or big-picture issues and ideas to local communities; to visualize your learning; and engage in interdisciplinarity (e.g. by layering data sets from multiple disciplines or time periods, showing relationships between people and places).

You will learn how to transfer primary source information into digital map points, to create maps and pair them with text to form. a compelling narrative argument, and you will communicate this information with your classmates and publish it to a wider audience (through StoryMaps shareable digital platform).  These are all excellent skills to have for your present academic and professional career.

Learning Goals

•  Identify and visualize relationships between people and places

•  Identify and visualize changes in a place, thing, event, or landscape over time

•  Identify reliable data sources and explain how to assess data

•  Use in-built citations and references

•  Identify and collect your own data to help analyze a topic

•  Develop ICT skills

•  Use an inquiry approach in geography that describe the ‘what’ and ‘where’ of an issue or pattern by displaying both qualitative and quantitative data

•  Communicate meaning through data visualization

• Assess and evaluate your own work, and the work of others

How are we doing this?

This is a big project, so we are taking a ‘scafolding’ approach by breaking up the work over the term into three preparatory assignments, one final submission in the form. of a StoryMaps Showcase, and a round of overall feedback and reflection.  Some of these elements will receive feedback from your instructor and tutor markers, others will undergo peer-feedback.

In our course Canvas modules, you will find three self-paced StoryMaps tutorials.  Each of these tutorials corresponds with a portion of your assignment.

ASSIGNMENT BREAKDOWN

Part I - Project Plan

Graded Discussion - due 9 October

Step 1: Read through Tutorial 1: Get Started with ArcGIS StoryMaps (including following the links to find inspiration, and the guide for planning and outlining your story)

Step 2: Set up an ArcGIS account. (Instructions in ‘Assignment Instructions’ Module)

Step 3: Sign up for a thematic group under People -> Groups -> StoryMaps Thematic Groups Step 4: Download the Project Plan Worksheet (available in the Assignment submission portal)

Step 5: Complete and submit the worksheet (please type into the docx and re-upload the document as your submission). Due date: October 9

Step 6: After your individual submission, you will have a week to read through each of your group member’s project plans and leave feedback in the form. of a comment on their post.  Your feedback should list (at a minimum):

a.   something that is exciting or interesting about the student’s project description,

b.   something you think might improve the final submission (it could be an additional source you know of, something you think the project should highlight, a way of organizing the StoryMap, or a piece of advice in response to a question they have)

Part II - StoryBoard

Graded Discussion - due 30 October

Part II of your StoryMap assignment asks you to submit a StoryBoard Template.  This takes the three broad geographical elements from your project plan, and helps you plan out exactly how  you will explain, represent, and source these elements.

A Story Board functions as the outline for your StoryMap, allowing you to sketch out the components of your project before jumping into the program. Below are a few StoryBoard examples to model your own on, each of which corresponds to a different StoryMap template in the old builder or new builder.

Detailed labour instructions:

Step 1: Choose or create a table that corresponds to your chosen template (guided map tour, cascade, tour, express map, etc.  No matter what template you choose, everyone’s final StoryMap is expected to have:

(1)  A 300 word introduction that introduces the topic, its significance, and presents a thesis statement that responds directly to one or both of the assignment prompts (How are/have humans shaped or impacted this place, thing, or event?  How has/is this place, thing, or event shaped or impacted humans?)

(2)  3 distinct sections, each organized around a geographical element (refer to your worksheet for Part I) - each section could contain ~200 words;

(3)  a 200 word conclusion that summarizes the geographical elements, tying them together in a way that supports the thesis statement presented in the introduction.

Below is an example, but there are other templates available for other builders available here.

Step 2: Following the instructions below, fill in your Template with details about your StoryMap New Builder Template (Map, Guided Map Tour)

Section	Text summary (what will you communicat e using words?)	Image(s) (how will you communicate your arguments and ideas using images/ graphics?)	Map(s) (What maps best represent your argument and ideas? How will those be displayed for maximum impact?)	Citation(s) APA Format (How will you support your argument using reliable, academic sources?  You should have 2-3 sources per section; plus 3-4 in the intro)
Introduction
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Conclusion				No ‘new' sources should appear in the conclusion!

Step 3: Submit your completed StoryBoard Template as an attachment to the graded discussion board. Due date: October 30

Step 4: After your individual submission, you will have a week to read through each of your group member’s project plans and leave feedback in the form. of a comment on their post.  Your feedback should list (at a minimum):

c.   something that is exciting or interesting about the student’s StoryBoard template,

d.   something you think might improve the final submission (it could be an additional

source you know of, something you think the project should highlight, a way of

organizing the StoryMap, or a piece of advice in response to a question they have)

Part III: Process Reflection + Plan for Completion Individual Assignment - due 6 November

After completing Parts I and II of this assignment, you now have an overall project plan, an  overview of the StoryMap's components, a great list of sources, and lots of peer feedback.

Part III asks you to set out a plan for you to  now focus on how you will build this project to the best of our ability.  By following the steps below, you will set goals and a schedule for your

StoryMap's completion, and ask yourself some important questions along the way to ensure its strength and relevance.

Detailed Labour Instructions:

Step 1: Read through the labour instructions for your StoryMap’s Final Evaluation (available in

the StoryMaps Assignment Overview in the Assignment Instructions + Resources) Step 2: Respond to each the following prompts with ~50 word answers.

1.  What aspect of your StoryMap creation are you most looking forward to as you work towards completion of this assignment?

2.  After having read and thought about the final submission criteria, what element(s) of the assignment are you still unsure about?

3.  Where do you think you can find support for these element(s)?  (Hint: Librarian Sarah Zhang is hosting drop-in sessions, there are great resources online for building a

StoryMap, and your peers might also be able to help you out!)

4.  What does success look like for you with this project? (Hint: this response should help you to set your own goals and vision for your StoryMap)

Step 3: Complete the table below and submit as part of your worksheet.  You must have a minimum of 10 rows/tasks (far left side column). You should remove the 2 examples given in the template and replace with your own.

Task

Sub-Tasks

Labour Estimate

Personal Deadline

Notes

Finalize introduction text	•      Find a convincing ‘hook’ - something attention- grabbing to begin the StoryMap •     Write at thesis statement that responds to the assignment prompt •     Ask a classmate to provide peer    feedback on a final draft	2 hours	November 10	Read through StoryMaps examples from the self-paced modules to get some good ideas and inspiration.
Create Immersive Blocks (guided tour) to showcase my 3 geographic   elements	•     Choose a focused map    panel to fill the block frame •     Compose the   text and media for each tour point	6 hours (~2 hours per geographic element)	November 13	• Watch the guided tour tutorial for step- by-step instructions for building a guided tour • Attend the Drop- In StoryMaps workshop on June 10

Step 4:  Submit Part III in the form. of an attached file which has the 4 prompt responses and a completed Task Table included.

Final Submission - due 20 November

Step 1:  After you have finished your StoryMap according to all of the parameters outlined in

Part II, click on the ‘Publish ' menu from the top right bar of their story map, choose 'Private', under the 'Group sharing', click the search box, the group "GEOG100 - 22FA " which you belong to should be showing up in a dropdown window, choose it, the group will be selected.   This means the you choose to share the story with the group only (the public will not be able to see it, although it's called 'publish').  Click Publish.

Step 2:  Share your StoryMap’s URL link within your thematic group's graded discussion board before the due date.  This is your official ‘submission’ in Canvas.

Step 3:  Once everyone’s map has been shared to the Group Discussion, we will begin the Q&A period.  Carefully read through and examine the StoryMap using the URL link that is posted by the student above yours in your group discussion thread (if you were the first one to post, read the last one on the thread).

Step 4: Think of a question to ask the StoryMap author about the ideas and research presented on the StoryMap. Maybe you're not quite clear about something, or maybe you'd like more explanation on one of the figures; or maybe you have questions about the implications of the argument, etc.  Pose your question to your peer by replying to their post. The question is  due on Thursday 24 November, 11:59PST.

The questions should be relevant to the StoryMap, and clearly demonstrate close and critical engagement with the StoryMap.

Step 5:  Provide a thoughtful response to the question that was posed by another student to you.  Your answer is due on Sunday 27 November, 11:59PST.

Your answer should use evidence from your research to fully answer the question, and demonstrate knowledge of your subject.

Step 6: Read through all the StoryMaps in your group, and vote on the ONE poster you think is the best, by "liking" it. The poster with the most votes in each group will be highlighted for  the whole class to view. Make sure you do this by Sunday as well.  The StoryMaps with the most likes will be selected to share with the entire class.

Your poster will receive feedback and evaluated qualitatively by the instructional team using the following criteria:

◦  The StoryMap contains an introduction (~300 words), 3 main sections (~200 words x 3) each organized around different geographic elements, and a conclusion (~200 words)

◦  The StoryMap contains a thesis that responds directly to the assignment prompt (Which is: Explore your topic by asking: how are/have humans shaped or impacted this place,    thing, or event?  How has/is this place, thing, or event shaped or impacted humans?).

Need help? Try a thesis generator! (Links to an external site.)

◦   Map use and/or construction is good (are key locations highlighted? Are data layers clear, readable, and understandable? If symbols are used, are they clearly defined in a legend

or elsewhere?)

◦   General design is adequate (well organized, easy to read, interactive elements work as expected, facilitates understanding of the topic)

◦   Data is relevant and well-sourced (see: Optional: Finding Scholarly Articles Tutorial (click on #1 to get started, then use Next to move through each step)

▪   Is the data source identified?

▪   Is the data source reliable?

▪   Are the data clearly presented?

▪   Does the presentation of the data introduce any bias through the way it is visually represented?

▪   Is there a good balance of primary and secondary sources?

◦   APA format is required for all citations. Links to an external site.

and citations must be managed using the Credits section of your StoryMap as per this tutorial (Links to an external site.)

◦   No Plagiarism is present (be sure that you thoroughly understand what constitutes plagiarism by completing the SFU Plagiarism Tutorial)Links to an external site.

◦  Text explanation is present and meets expectations outlined in the project guidelines

◦  Added visuals or media are present, sources are identified via photo credits (Links to an external site.)

, and visual/media are clearly connected to the topic at hand and facilitate understanding of that topic