"Digital Dualism"

Unreality:

Voltaire famously said, "History is a pack of lies we play on the dead." While that certainly rolls off the tongue, it also points at a fundamental truth about history. It is constructed. Histories are a construction (or a reconstruction, if you consider that what is "real" is a construction of the person and perception).

Discussion of the real versus the un-real on the interwebs follows a similar set of arguments. There exists ongoing arguments about the reality of the web, and the differences between a virtual life and IRL (In Real Life). Writer Nathan Jurgenson has written a thoughtful piece on these distinctions.

He argues that what is online is real, because it depends on the real people with their real histories and actions, creating it. I agree, but just tend to see the opposite. Jurgenson say both the digital and IRL are real, and I would argue that both the digital and IRL are somewhat unreal. I'm not arguing a Platonic theory of forms or anything. I believe there is a physical world, but human perception creates/constructs what is real.

Let's look at Professor Charlie Evan's 1897 "Plan de Saint-Pétersbourg," a map of the often renamed St. Petersburg, Russia (not Florida. Not that I've been to the Russian city, but I can assure you, those cities are very different. Maybe that's my first discovery looking at this map!). Professor Evan's difficult scanning in a large format map begins to open discussion of the problematic digital  reconstruction.

Problems:

1. digitizing tools

There are many different ways that one can begin to digitize material for the web, and depending on what you are digitizing and for what purpose, different tools should be used.

2. file type

Again, how you are using the information will begin to determine the type of digitization file. Evan's map, to be clearly viewed and utilized by students, would need to have a good resolution--keeping most of the information from the original. Obviously things like text, images, audio, or video require different file types.

3. accessability

Do you want to share that information? Or only to present it to folks?

3. costs

There are a lot of costs associated with a digitization project--person doing the digitization, time spent, tools for digitization, and as always the bandwidth costs. Just for this map reproduction, Evans had to scan multiple sections of the map, and then using Photoshop, stitch together the pieces to create a coherent whole.

Other Uses:

If combined with Google maps, this map from 1897 could really begin to highlight the changes of St. Petersburg over time. One can see the creation and destruction of streets, bridges, buildings, parks. As Google map shows historical spots and museums, the user could see buildings from 1897 re-appropriated for national museums. Also, in conjunction with Google maps, one is able to access 3D street views--a unique experience for someone who has never visited the city. GIS opens an almost infinite realm of possibilities, layering different historical data on top of the maps. One could see how epidemics or revolts spread through the city. It does get a bit complicated if the user has great the shift data files GIS maps.

1897 "Plan de Saint-Pétersbourg" Observations:

Like most major European cities, St. Petersburg lies on a major river, the Neva River. It is split into some major islands, as the Neva splits its route to Neva Bay.

The French letterings and words on the Russian map, show the influence on Russsian culture and highlights the connections between eastern and western Europe.

The map itself represents the division of St. Petersburg 1897 into twelve police districts. I don't know enough about Russian in 1897 to know why that's important, but I'm sure there is a reason.

The fewer, grid-like streets in the outer police districts, show new growth on the outskirts of the historical city, probably brought on by population booms in the mid-1800s, as well as the industrial revolution. Possibly, those fewer, grid-like streets are more industrial areas.

St. Petersburg in 1897 had three major railroad stations (one on the north side of the Neva, and two on the south connecting Moscow to the industrial, port city).

There are a number of parks located throughout the city.

There is a fortress, which seems to be right in the center of the oldest part of the city.

The "Cimètiere de Wolkow" (a cemetery is located in the southeastern portion of the map, far on the outskirts of the city--a good location for a cemetery). There is another on the Ile de Vassiliovstrov and a Catholic Cemetery in the north-eastern corner--leading me to suspect that Catholics were a minority in St. Petersburg at the turn of the century. Cimetiere de St. Mitrophane is located south of the Varsov train station.

The slaughterhouses (abattoirs) are just east of the Varsov station.

I suspect the Ile de Vassiliostrov, contains the ports and harbors.

Four bridges cross the Grande Neva, and a fifth looks like it's being built.

Two bridges cross the Petite Neva, a smaller branch of the main river.

Two bridges cross the Grande Nevka, the northern, large branch of the Neva River.

Two bridges cross the Moyenne Nevka.

Three bridges cross the Petite Nevka.

And one bridge crosses the isthmus between the Petite and Moyenne Nevka.