The Digital Harlem DH project utilizes a virtual map of Harlem to showcase the primary elements of residents’ everyday life in 1915-1930. There are five different maps: Churches, Sports, Numbers arrests, January 1925, and Nightlife, and a legend of icons describes what each icon on the map signifies. The project uses the map to tell a virtual story of the places people went and activities they engaged in, citing religion, sports, Numbers (a form of gambling), and nightlife as primary aspects of everyday life. Additionally, the project hones in on January 1925 to give a snapshot of what one month might have looked like for a Harlem resident. When creating this project, the author assumed that all residents engaged in some or all of these activities/places, and that these were the most prominent or important ones. The map reflects the point of view of a historian or sociologist — someone who was interested in telling a story of peoples’ experiences and surroundings, as well as general themes of the time period. This map is certainly perspectival and subjective, as Turnbull described, since it points to only a few categories of places and events of the time period and excludes many others.
While the map reveals the whereabouts of where people went to worship, watch sports, engage in nightlife, and participate/become arrested due to Numbers, it also obscures other information, such as residential areas, other leisure areas (parks, etc.), shopping malls, schools, etc. An alternative map might describe the neighborhoods within Harlem, giving a general description or idea of who lived there, what schools, parks, or libraries were nearby, etc. This would be of interest also to sociologists or urban planners, interested in detecting trends or themes across neighborhoods and their residents. Such a perspective would be very different from the one portrayed in the project, but serves to show an equally valid point of view.