I chose to look at the Mapping Decadence project that focused on using maps to show that the geographical proximity of Decadent writers contributed to their writing. One thing I noticed immediately was that the map only displayed France and writers in France. A quick Google search showed me that Decadent writers and the movement extended throughout western Europe. Additionally, there were many more Decadent writers than the few listed. I think this project assumes that the readers knows a lot more information than they provide about the movement, the writers, and their relationships to the publishers, and the website and maps provide very little information to tell you about these things.
As discussed in class, maps are subjective based on what information the analysts see as important to display. This map is subjective in that it says that only the relationships between writer and publisher are important in relation to proximity, however there are many other ways this dataset could be displayed. Perhaps writers from similar geographical areas write in similar ways or use the same phrases. Additionally, the focus on the French area, paired with the lack of additional information on the website, strongly suggests that the Decadent movement was singular to a small part of France.
I would like to see an alternate map that plots out every writer in the data set, perhaps somehow showing more emphasis on the more prolific or better-known authors, and then an option to zoom in to view the publisher relations with a few specific ones if there is too much data to see maps for all of them.
That is an interesting point that you bring up–that the researchers assume that people understand the Decadent writers before perusing the website. After visiting the website myself, I noticed how bare the “About” section was; it didn’t fully flesh out the purpose of the website. And I agree that it would be interesting if the map provided information about the writers and the movement/relationship to the publishers.
Thank you for noting the lack of background that the site’s authors included regarding Decadent writers. I noticed that the site I examined, reVilna, also assumed the level of knowledge that the viewers had about the subject matter. Seeing that this omission is common among sites of this kind has made me more thoughtful about how my group will be presenting our data, making sure not to make information available without proper context.
Interesting post!
Your post actually made me want to explore the site as well, and I found that you are correct in that this site believes that the audience has an understanding of the subject before hand. I would have liked this site to have more information explaining the maps and writers.
I definitely agree with a lot of your points, I really felt that the site was missing in background information as well. In general, I think providing more information would have helped on many accounts, and I think even this decision to omit background information further illustrates subjectivity.
I agree with your post. I honestly tried to look at this website but thought too much was missing. Your post helped me understand it better. I think adding more background information would be really helpful.