February's Local Authors : A collaboration of MidPointe and Miami University brings Middletown history to your fingertips!
Today we’re proud to publish “The Middletown Story Map,” a new, online pictorial history of the city of Middletown, Ohio! The easy-to-navigate “Story Map” is presented in the form of a file with twelve tabs that introduce different topics. Created by the Miami University College of Liberal Arts & Applied Science in collaboration with MidPointe Library, the project was headed by Ziying Jiang, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Geography at Miami University-Middletown (pictured above). She was assisted by Gary Green, student of Miami University Applied Social Research (above, right).
Representing MidPointe Library were Adam Wanter, Digital and Special Collections Archivist (above left), Rebecca Page, Metadata Librarian (below left), and Roger Miller, Local Historian (below, right). The librarians assisted with content selection, fact checking and editing. Work on the project began in January 2019 and concluded last month. To locate the “Middletown Story Map” follow the link at the bottom of this article. In the meantime, enjoy the following Q-and-A with Ziying Jiang:
Please explain what the online "Middletown Story Map" is and why it is called a "Story Map."
The name of “Story Map” is coined by ESRI, the developer of cloud-based mapping software. ESRI believes that a story can influence opinion and create awareness, and maps are an integral part of storytelling. ESRI Story Map is a web application that allows map makers to add text, images, and multimedia to web maps to create an interactive narrative that's easy to publish and share. The Middletown story map is created using the ESRI Story Map template. It combines authoritative maps with narrative text, historical photos, and images to visualize the history of Middletown city from the first recorded settler in this area until the most recent city development. The story map reviews the birth of the city, the development of the its’ transportation networks, the rise and fall of industries, the experiences of the black people, women and immigrants, and a series of remarkable events during the community’s development. We hope the story maps will inspire our audience and help to build a stronger sense of community.
Were you or others on the creative team familiar with online histories before starting work on Middletown's? The Middletown story map is the first online history project I have done. I am a geographer and my research areas are land use/land cover change. One of the literature I read when researching the evolution of urban land use in Middletown is the book of Middletown: The Steel City by Miller and Crout. I was fascinated by the one hundred years of steel-making in Middletown and the how the city was shaped by the ups and downs of the industry. My student later found that many of the historical photos in the book are available in the MidPointe Library digital collection. I then felt that if there is an online presentation of the stories in chronological order and with the locations added into the story, it would be a great way to visualize the city development.
My initial goal of the story map was to document urban land use in Middletown. Adam Wanter, my collaborator at MidPointe Library Middletown, later suggested we cover a broader perspective of the community life, including experiences of blacks, women, and immigrants. I myself learned a lot from researching their history. From the Middletown story map project, I also developed more interest in revealing the spatial relationships between historical figures, events, and locations. I am hoping to have an opportunity to create a story map of the South Main Historic District. It would be a great way to reveal the history and tell the stories that happened in one of Ohio’s oldest historic districts.
What prompted you and your team at Miami (in collaboration with MidPointe Library) to feature Middletown as your subject? The City of Middletown is where one of the Miami University regional campuses located. Since the 1970s, the city declined with the fall of the heavy manufacturing industry in the U.S. Middletown is now striding toward regenerating from the fragmented shadow of its former self. To better navigate the future, it is important for Middletown people to understand the past and presence. A story map will provide a powerful tool to not only tell the history of the city but also inspire the vision of the future.
As an Associate Professor teaching Geographic Information Sciences (GIS), I have been using story maps in my teaching and research. Knowing that story map is an effective way to educate and outreach to people, I always want to apply my expertise to serve the community. In November 2018, I met Adam Wanter, the librarian of MidPointe Middletown, at a community engagement event hosted by Miami University College of Liberal Arts & Applied Science. I proposed to create a story map of Middletown, Adam liked the idea, and we decided to collaborate. MidPointe Library Middletown provided the narrative and photos to be included in the story map. I created the web maps and integrated the text and images into them. I later invited an undergraduate student into the project and we two formed a teacher-student team at the Miami University end. The draft map was completed in August, 2019, before the student graduated. Adam and I continued to work on reviewing and revising the content. I am very glad that now the story map is ready to be published and available to the general public.
The Story Map appears as a file with tabs noting specific topics. Why was that format chosen? The Classic ESRI Story Maps App provides a variety of templates for page layout and content organization. This Middletown story map was not developed from a single template but a three-tiered nesting format that combined four different templates. The nesting format was gradually evolved into the current form throughout the development process. In the beginning, we adopted a Story Map Journal format, which organizes the content into sections. Each section has a ‘main stage’ that presents the maps, images or videos, and a side panel for the narrative text and other contents. As readers scroll through the sections they see the content associated with each section. This format works best for stories presented in chronological order. However, as we expanded to include a wider perspective of city development and enriched the story map with more contents, the number of sections grew very large, which made it very hard for readers to navigate.
We then re-investigated a template called Story Map Series, which allows for presenting a series of maps using tabs. After some research and experiments, we successfully nested twelve journal maps, each presenting one theme, into a map series as twelve tabs. This format allows readers to quickly navigate to the topic they are interested in and still be able to follow the timeline of the stories.
In addition, we embedded a few Swipe and Spyglass maps into the “main stage” of certain sections. For example, in the section of “Middletown becomes a city” readers can peer through a historical map to compare the city layout in the past and presence. In the section of “Middletown Hydraulic Canal” readers can swipe back and forth to locate historical features.
This three-tiered nesting format is an intentional design to effectively inform, engage, and inspire audience with visually appealing maps. This multi-tab format also allows for future extension by easily adding more tabs.
Work on the project began in January 2019 and ended in January 2020. Looking back, what do you believe was the biggest challenge to creating the Middletown Story Map (if indeed there were any challenges)? The story map development was fun and rewarding. I also had the best collaborators I can think of. If I have to talk about the challenge, it is how time-consuming the project is.
Despite the fact that ESRI Story Maps provided some templates and tools for web mapping, it requires intensive research, discussion, and trial and errors to determine and customize an effective map design that best presents the history of Middletown. MidPointe Library Middletown kindly shares its digital archives to us. It is an invaluable resource with 23 collections, each has hundreds even thousands of items in it. I easily spent a whole weekend browsing, searching and selecting photos, maps and texts for one section. The story map consists of 12 tabs, 107 sections, 98 pushpins and area symbols, and hundreds of hyperlinks of address. Many of them are cross-linked in multiple places. Data management and update was another essential yet time-consuming component of the project.
Being a full-time instructor, I primarily relied on my spare time to work on the project. I was able to use some student help. Garry Green, an undergraduate student, worked with me through student assistantship, independent study, and an internship. Part of Garry’s work was funded by Miami University College of Liberal Arts & Applied Science. I wish I had another student help after Garry graduated in August, 2019. We would have then speeded up the review and revision process and finalized the map sooner.
All in all, what do you believe is the Story Map's greatest appeal? I believe that the Middletown story map represents an innovative tool to educate people and enhance the sense of community. The story map combines rich content together to visualize a comprehensive history of Middletown. The web design makes the pages fun to browse and easy to navigate. The interactive maps invite users to explore the site and surrounding places on map and discover connections to other people and places in the city.
I hope people find the story map authoritative source of information yet a fun site to explore. I also want to invite users to share comments and further stories and histories for us to improve the story map in future.
Please tell us more about the participants and their roles.
Adam Wanter, Digital and Special Collections Archivist, MidPointe Library System (Top photo at left): Adam is my collaborator in the MidPointe Library Middletown. We worked together to decide the topics to be included in the story map. Adam provided access to the MidPointe Library Digital Archive, which is the major source of the narrative text and the images. Adam also helped edit the narratives, verify the locations, and proofread all the content.
Garry Green, former student of Miami University (top photo at right): Garry participated in the project as an undergraduate student at Miami University. We worked closely on the map development. Garry made significant contributions on content selection, data organization and map design. Garry graduated with a GIS certificate in August 2019 and is interested in GIS relevant jobs.
Rebecca Page, Metadata Librarian, MidPointe Library System (above): Rebecca provided great help on content editing. I have not had a chance to meet Rebecca in person, but I felt I have known her from the suggestion and thorough explanation she left in the margin of the pages for editing and proofreading.
Roger LeRoy Miller, author of several local history books and a volunteer of MidPointe Library System (above): Roger is one of the authors of the book Middletown: The Steel City, which inspired me to start the project in the first place. Roger helped to verify many facts included in the story map.
