Monday Maps

It's Monday and the hashtag #MappyMonday has made another appearance.  The hashtag includes maps of all shapes and sizes and a number of the linked maps are historical in nature.  If you're on twitter and interested in mapping, historical geography, or spacial representations check out the #MappyMonday hashtag.

If you're not on twitter (and even if you are) some of my favourite maps from this week are:

• Terra Incognita: Maps that shaped the world Looks at an upcoming exhibition at the National Library of Australia.  The maps in the exhibit highlight the ways in which human perception of the world and mapping techniques have changed over time.
• Mapping history: How Google Maps and National Geographic are layering old and new. A collaborative project to integrate maps produced by National Geographic into present day Google Maps.  The overlay of historical maps can be great teaching tools and provide numerous opportunities for interactivity and mapping stories. 
• 40 Maps That Will Help You Make Sense of the World.  Unlike the previous two selections this link focuses on modern mapping techniques and more of an infographic feel.  The forty maps highlighted here use simple mapping techniques to highlight interesting facts, such as: mapping worldwide driving orientation by country, global internet usage based on time of day, and earthquakes since 1898, etc. 

Canadian Archives Summit

On Friday January 17, 2014 the Association of Canadian Archivists (ACA), the Canadian Council of Archives (CCA), and l'Association des Archivistes du Quebec (AAQ) are hosting the Canadian Archives Summit: Towards a New Blueprint for Canada's Recorded Memory.  The focus of the Summit is the future of documentary heritage in Canada and aims to stimulate discussion amongst the Canadian archival community.

 A number of 'Thought Leader' papers have been released in advance of the Summit and can be viewed online.  These papers tackle a number of interesting topics including community archives, archives in a digital world, the public perception of archives, and challenges archives are facing.

The Summit will be held at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto from 8:30am - 5:00pm and simulcast at select sites across the county. The distributed model of delivery is interesting and allows for engagement of archivists who are unable to travel to Toronto.  Granted, the majority of the simulcast and discussion sites are in larger centers so archivists in rural areas or smaller cities may still not be able to participate as fully. 

Full details of the event can be seen here. 

Archival Digitization and The Struggle to Create Useful Digital Reproductions

My most recent post, "Archival Digitization and The Struggle to Create Useful Digital Reproductions" can be seen over on the Activehistory.ca site.  The post focuses on the way that digitization has changed traditional archival research, common problems with digital archival surrogates, and efforts archives are making to improve digitization.