The project I decided to do a detailed analysis on is Mapping Inequality, developed by the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond. The website offers a detailed examination of maps and area descriptions created by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) in the 1930s. Specifically providing a map of historically redlined areas. Redlining is a discriminatory practice in which financial services are withheld, or housing is devalued in neighborhoods that have significant numbers of racial and ethnic minorities. At the time of the data collection, it was seen as a tool to assess the “risk” of real estate investment in urban neighborhoods.
When it comes to the Black Box of the digital project, the sources and or assets incorporate, as I mentioned previously, maps and area descriptions created by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) in the 1930s and also detailed information accompanying the maps such as descriptions, economic data, and racial composition of the neighborhood. It also includes historical data about redlining and its historical impact in order to give some context on the historical implications of inequality that the maps provide. For the processes (services), techniques such as GIS mapping and data visualization are used to visualize the historical data in a way that allows you to interact with the map while also giving you insight into some of the data backing it. Finally, when it comes to the presentation of the data and material, the interactive map with clickable pop-up descriptions really makes it easy to navigate and understand the data. One question I am prompted with when doing this breakdown is similar to a discussion that we had in class about the necessity of coding when it came to humanistic research, and I was on the side that it was necessary and good. The question I have is, would this kind of project be possible without data visualization experience, and could the same message and information be provided with a more traditional means of presenting research? For the in-class questions, I think the goal of this project is to provide accurate historical information about the implications that the redlining had on the history of inequality within the country and, for the components the most essential to the purpose and function of the project I would say is the interactive map. To find the map look at Mapping Inequality.
