Link to Narrative Map:
The process of creating a narrative map allowed me to touch base with my creative side as well as research intensive side. The collection of data and research took longer than I thought and because this assignment took more than just writing, it was hard to have what I would call a finished product due to the greater possibility of input error. I had to keep going back and double checking I was using the right information with each slide. However, I still believe this challenge elevated my understanding of digital history as well as my topic of interest Frederick Douglass.
Many people already know of Frederick Douglass and his impact he had on the United States. I choose Frederick Douglass as my person of interest knowing some of his previous accomplishments myself and was excited to see how I could connect and tell his story on a map. His famous story was also rewarding and interesting to dive deeper into finding many details I never heard and was able to relay their importance in my narrative construction. When dealing with these extra details, it was hard to find what I needed to include and what I could leave out to make the map less of a research paper and more of a visual learning tool. This however creates pitfall I have noticed with many digital history methods. The use of narrative maps for example, helps numerous persons in learning of topics for the first time but must leave many predominant details out of the narration. This can create problems when using these constructive maps as a main study of history and should be treated only as an introduction into an in-depth analysis of the subject. Overall, I found the creation of a narrative map very helpful in not just a better understanding of Frederick Douglass but bettering the questions of reliability of sources when doing my own research.