tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3533010775907799154.post3334078087672847118..comments2023-08-01T01:15:40.086-07:00Comments on Northwest History: Mapping Spokane's Dead: A Pedagogical Experiment in Flash-mob Data VisualizationLarry Cebulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16798046652983001155noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3533010775907799154.post-1479398177239338682013-02-15T21:49:33.472-08:002013-02-15T21:49:33.472-08:00What a great exercise! You're right, of course...What a great exercise! You're right, of course, that this data retrieval shows migration (and immigration) patterns to the Inland Empire. I was interested to see the reference to the Chinese immigrant who passed away at age 35 in 1988. This would have made it likely (in my estimation) that he came through initially with the Northern Pacific Railroad crews in the early part of that decade. I just published an historical novel about the Chinese immigrant experiences building the NPRR through Spokane Falls, Eastern Washington, and North Idaho Terriotory. It was no easy life for these folks. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12944158475038012122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3533010775907799154.post-24410239497654513822013-02-13T10:26:21.282-08:002013-02-13T10:26:21.282-08:00Also--here is the cemeteries tag on this blog: htt...Also--here is the cemeteries tag on this blog: http://northwesthistory.blogspot.com/search?q=cemetery<br /><br />The best post is the second one down, "Deciphering a Mysterious Headstone."Larry Cebulahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16798046652983001155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3533010775907799154.post-53181468766060949262013-02-13T10:22:38.176-08:002013-02-13T10:22:38.176-08:00Thank you Cynthia. Cemeteries are a wonderful teac...Thank you Cynthia. Cemeteries are a wonderful teaching resource, aren't they? When I worked in SW Missouri I regularly sent students out to rural cemeteries to do research and be consumed by chiggers. The cemeteries they explored (and there are 150 in Jasper County alone!) were not as interesting as yours in Lawrence but they too were struck with the deaths of children and young women. <br /><br />Cemeteries also offer great digital teaching opportunities, because students can collect data, link it to online databases, and do all sorts of visualizations and mapping. Take one family from the cemetery and create a Google Earth field trip of their lives--from where the parents were born, where they moved, and where the kids wandered off to. So much good stuff.Larry Cebulahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16798046652983001155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3533010775907799154.post-12706944179166132932013-02-13T05:21:06.387-08:002013-02-13T05:21:06.387-08:00What a wonderful exercise! For many years I took m...What a wonderful exercise! For many years I took my undergraduate field ecology course to the old cemetery in Lawrence KS and had them record data off headstones for a human demography exercise. This was a great place to do it because there is so much rich history to explore (even though we did it as a biology lesson)- for example, students found the mass grave from Quantrill's Raid, they discovered a small group of escaped slaves with handmade headstones, the Chinese railroad workers, etc. But what always hit them the hardest was the number of infants and young mother's who died in childbirth during the 19th century. That made demographic research "real" for them. I love what you are doing with records and Fusion Tables and will circulate it to my colleagues in biology as a great way to expand on our labs.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07358876998460389369noreply@blogger.com