Historical Geographic Information Systems and Social Science History

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 741-750 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Kelly Knowles

The interdisciplinary field of historical geographic information systems (HGIS) took root and flourished at the Social Science History Association (SSHA) in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This essay first recounts the growth of HGIS at SSHA and beyond. It then considers challenges that GIS continues to pose for historians and other scholars, such as the unfamiliarity of its conceptual framework and the time and expense often involved in building HGIS databases. The bare-bones visual culture ofSocial Science Historymay inhibit submissions by HGIS scholars, whose work typically includes color maps. Yet the enduring methodological and interdisciplinary interests of SSHA members provide a strong basis for continuing involvement by historians who use GIS. The essay closes with new directions in HGIS scholarship, including study of empirical uncertainty, historical gazetteers, textual analysis linked to GIS mapping, and comparison of topology and topography.

2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-404

At the Albert O. Hirschman Prize ceremony in October 2008, the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), in cooperation with the Social Science History Association, announced the inauguration of the endowed Tilly Fund in celebration of the lifelong contributions of Charles Tilly and Louise Tilly (see www.ssrc.org/programs/tilly-fund-for-social-science-history). Charles Tilly died just a few weeks after receiving that year's Hirschman Prize. The Tilly Fund provides travel grants to graduate students participating in meetings of the Social Science History Association and awards an annual Tilly Prize for the Best Graduate Paper in Social Science History. Funds permitting, it will also support graduate research and other activities with the goal of advancing historical social science, the interdisciplinary field to which both Charles and Louise devoted their careers.


1999 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 481-489
Author(s):  
Andrew Abbott

When one is asked to speak on the past, present, and future of social science history, one is less overwhelmed by the size of the task than confused by its indexicality. Whose definition of social science history? Which past? Or, put another way, whose past? Indeed, which and whose present? Moreover, should the task be taken as one of description, prescription, or analysis? Many of us might agree on, say, a descriptive analysis of the past of the Social Science History Association. But about the past of social science history as a general rather than purely associational phenomenon, we might differ considerably. The problem of description versus prescription only increases this obscurity.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael JE O’Rourke

In response to concerns regarding the social relevance of North American archaeology, it has been suggested that the tenets of ‘activist scholarship’ can provide a framework for a more publically engaged archaeological discipline. Maps have long been employed in the public dissemination of archaeological research results, but they can also play a role in enhancing public participation in heritage management initiatives. This article outlines how the goals of activist archaeology can be achieved through the mobilization of qualitative Geographic Information Systems practices, with an example of how ‘grounded visualization’ methods were employed in assessing the vulnerability of Inuvialuit cultural landscapes to the impacts of modern climate change.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 226 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Balsa-Barreiro ◽  
Pedro M. Valero-Mora ◽  
José L. Berné-Valero ◽  
Fco-Alberto Varela-García

Naturalistic driving can generate huge datasets with great potential for research. However, to analyze the collected data in naturalistic driving trials is quite complex and difficult, especially if we consider that these studies are commonly conducted by research groups with somewhat limited resources. It is quite common that these studies implement strategies for thinning and/or reducing the data volumes that have been initially collected. Thus, and unfortunately, the great potential of these datasets is significantly constrained to specific situations, events, and contexts. For this, to implement appropriate strategies for the visualization of these data is becoming increasingly necessary, at any scale. Mapping naturalistic driving data with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allows for a deeper understanding of our driving behavior, achieving a smarter and broader perspective of the whole datasets. GIS mapping allows for many of the existing drawbacks of the traditional methodologies for the analysis of naturalistic driving data to be overcome. In this article, we analyze which are the main assets related to GIS mapping of such data. These assets are dominated by the powerful interface graphics and the great operational capacity of GIS software.


1979 ◽  
Vol 3 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 204-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allan G. Bogue

At this stage in the development of the Social Science History Association it is appropriate for us to consider some of the general problems concerning the development and use of machine-readable data and the Association’s role in such matters.


1982 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Scott Smith

Despite the emergence of social science history, the profession remains organized around the study of periods in the history of societies. Departments of history still structure their curricula mainly along national and temporal lines, and the same principle of socialization thereby defines most academic positions (Darnton, 1980). To judge by the sessions of the annual meetings of the Social Science History Association (SSHA), those sympathetic with that orientation focus on topics, approaches, and methodologies. Only one association network, that for the study of Asia, mentions a locale in its title, and none specifies a particular time period. This article will examine the findings and implications of social science history for one well-established national/period field, that of early American history.


1978 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-384
Author(s):  
Don Karl Rowney

The following essays originated in a session of the Social Science History Association in October, 1976. Two of the participants, Bernard S. Silberman and Alfred J. Rieber, were asked to prepare studies of bureaucracy in Japan and Russia which also dealt with the problems of political power relationships in developing bureaucracies. A third participant, Cyril E. Black, was asked to compare, criticize, and synthesize the first two papers in a third paper of his own. Briefly, the substantive point of these essays as a group is that they deal with the effect of political decisions in achieving certain changes in economic, technical, and military structures and operations. They focus attention on the effects within a complex apparatus set up to administer those political decisions, the state bureaucracy. The essays themselves reveal, and Black’s synthesis details, that the points of similarity between Japan and Russia as they change across time are as numerous and instructive as are the differences. In this introduction, I will call attention to some aspects of these studies which, although technical, are nevertheless important to the research enterprise they represent.


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