Hypermedia Berlin, created by Todd Presner, is the result of a collaboration between UCLA’s Center for Digital Humanities and Stanford University’s Humanities Laboratory. Basically, it’s a series of layered maps of Berlin. What’s different about them is that they portray the city from a nonlinear multimedia perspective; users are able to move freely, backwards and forwards, in time to learn about the political, historical and cultural importance of present landmarks, according to the website. Historical base maps and urban development maps from as early as 1237 to 2003 show users how the city has changed over time. By clicking on the markers on the historical base maps, users can also read chronological narratives in pop-up windows about how Berlin’s noteworthy landmarks like the Brandenburg Gate have evolved in historical, political and cultural importance.
The website is easy to navigate. By clicking on a date from the temporal axis at the bottom of the page, users can explore a map from that time period and click on the markers or the landmarks on the right side panel to see the narrative and images of the landmark. They can also learn more about historical figures from a certain time period by toggling to the “People” tab next to “Places.”
Based on the project’s editorial statement, I can understand why Todd Presner used historical base maps, which are in and of themselves primary documents that paint a vivid image of what the city looked like in the past. Also, he mapped the same landmarks over time to visualize how the city changed in relation to those specific places, and as a user, that consistency helped me better understand the city spatially. However, from the perspective of someone who did not take the class for which this website was created, I had trouble understanding what the colors and lines on the base maps represented, although I’m sure Mr. Presner would have gone over the details in class. Another feature that I couldn’t seem to wrap my mind around is the urban development maps. How are they different from the base maps? What are their use?
I think the project does a good job incorporating traditional maps and an online, multimedia interface to provide users a more tactile, comprehensive and visual understanding of Berlin’s history. Users can explore through time and space through a mere click of a button. However, the website is inconvenient to use and redundant at times. The narrative for each landmark is the same for every date, which begs the question, what is the point of having a pop-up window? It might have made more sense to have a separate tab for just narratives on the right side panel. That way, users don’t have to close the infowindow every time they hope something new might appear for each time period. Also, it would have been easier to use if Mr. Presner made the use of the urban development maps more apparent. One idea would be to place them side by side with the base maps.