Yale’s Photogrammar site aims to digitize the 170,000 photos taken between 1935-1946 that are maintained and cataloged in the Library of Congress. Photogrammar allows users to search these photographs using Paul Vanderbilt’s Lot Number system and Classification Tags system. The collection available online includes photos from six different collections. Most of the collection is the Farm Security Administration Collection and the Office of War Information Collection (including Domestic Operations Branch and Overseas Operations Branch photograph files). However, there are also photos from the Office of Emergency Management-Office of War Information Collection that focuses on the News Bureau photographs, the American at War Collection, and the Portrait of America Collection.
The Photogrammar website is clearly labeled and easy to navigate through. The homepage begins with a breakdown of what is offered on the site: what the collection is about, an interactive map and data visualizations. The tabs at the top can also get you what you want immediately. You can toggle through the maps that trace the routes and the locations of where each photographer took his or her photos. There is even a start exploring button that will bring you directly to the maps.
Sources: The collection is comprised of six different collections currently housed in the Library of Congress. Those collections are listed above but a majority of the photos are comprised of the Farm Security Administration Collection and the Office of War Information Collection.
Processes: The creators of the site used the photograph collection to create amazing data visualizations of Paul Vanderbilt’s classification system (Treemap) and an interactive dashboard showing the relationship between date, county, photographer, and subject in photographs from individual states (Metadata Dashboard). They are currently working on analyzing the colored photographs based on hue, saturation and lightness which should be out soon (ColorSpace). They used the information from the classification system as well as the photographs themselves to create these. The maps utilized and referenced Photogrammar’s own site and digital collection when referring to the photographs each photographer took (bringing you back to a different part of the site).
Their own blog provides more context and background content of the photographs and sources they used. It also goes through their research process, thoughts and deeper analysis of the photographs while exploring certain aspects of their collection.
Presentation: The presentation of the interactive maps were made on Leaflet, an open-source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps. The creators also used CartoDB attribution. They allowed their site to be web-accessible and the content that they displayed searchable on Photogrammar. It was also made interactive by including interactive maps and an interactive dashboard which allows users to search and explore the collection on their own. Although there were 7 people working on the site, the information that they displayed was unified and unless I clicked on the About Team page I wouldn’t have known the number of people that collaborated on it.
Good work! I like the way you separated out the three components of the site and how you provided an introduction to the overall project. The process and presentation seem similar, as you describe them here, and they are often confusing to sort out. One thing to consider for process is how did they get the data to use the visualization tools? You mentioned in your introduction that the photographic collections were digitized. That is part of the process, in addition to creating the metadata (a term we will talk about in class very soon) for each photograph. Creating spreadsheets of information about the original sources is often what allows for visualizations to be made.
I really like how you went into detail about the blog as well as the team behind Photogrammer. I did not think of it before, but I do agree with your point about how unified and consistent the site, data, presentation, and display are. It just makes the whole digital experience more fluid, enjoyable, and straightforward – it makes the process of taking in so much data much easier on the audience. I think this is a great point to keep in mind as we begin to work on our own DH projects!