What is digital mapping? In class today, we looked at a website called “Who Reads What?” We had to read through it, pick terms that we were unfamiliar with, try to understand what the general idea of the site was, and look at a map. There were three terms that stood out to me that I was unfamiliar with. One being an algorithm called t-SNE. Turns out, some of my classmates were also unfamiliar with this term. Together, we researched this term and learned what it meant. I got the general understanding of what this website was about when I read over it for the first time. I knew it was about readers, their genres of books that they enjoy, and how similar some readers are. Then we looked at the map. When I first looked at the map on my own, I saw a bunch of colors and little shapes, placed around randomly. Some were clumped together, others were scattered. From a glance, I didn’t understand how to read this map because there are a lack of labels and names. Just colors, shapes, and a key for what each shapes genre represented. But as a class, we figured out together how to read it. We discussed what digital mapping was and got a better understanding. Digital mapping is when you collect data and create an interactive image. In this case for the site “Who Reads What?”, they gathered different pieces of data about what genres different people enjoy, and they compiled it to create a digital map for viewers to look at. It made much more sense to me after learning how to use it. Digital maps also make it easier for people to understand. Some people are more visual learners, so seeing a map laid out of all the data can make it more simple for some to view.
