reflection

My website, entitled “Redline-Greenline” examines the correlation between the historical zoning policies of Durham, NC with its modern-day implications on green spaces and consequently, meteorological patterns. Throughout the semester, as I have been working on developing this website, my progress has been both hindered and accelerated by certain aspects of the project and my background on it. Specifically, my personal interest in the topic of redlining from the context of an international student; limitations with obtaining archival material and manipulating them; and the intersections between my academic field of interest — media journalism — and the digital humanities have been significant influences on the way I have navigated this project.

 

As an international student with very little prior knowledge on American urban planning and policy, I was shocked when I first learned of the concept of redlining. Part of my shock came from how blatant and intentional the racism behind the policies seemed and part of it came from how little the topic was brought up in relevant modern day discussions. When I looked into researching the topic further, the vast majority of sources seemed to pose the issue of redlining as one based completely in history — without much mention or consideration of the present day impacts of its legacy. This motivated me to try and compile a resource that would compare the historical division of Durham with current disparities, to investigate a potential correlation between the two. There were many angles I could have approached these disparities from, but one stood out to me immediately: climate justice. Having recently completed a gap year working on projects addressing glacial melting in my home country Nepal, the global climate crisis is an issue I care deeply about. Even though the requirement to pick a topic centered around North Carolina felt challenging at first given my limited knowledge of the region, I was able to link it to a topic of personal interest which made the research process more personally engaging.

 

During the research process, I found that I often had to adapt or go beyond what was immediately available to me in order to reach my goals. After multiple visits to the archival documents section of my campus library (Wilson Library at UNC Chapel Hill), I had still not found a historical map that worked well with my topic. It was only after deciding to branch out that I came across the University of Richmond’s archives of redlining maps, through their project “Mapping Inequality.” I was able to use their maps to illustrate the scroll story in the “about” page and create a digital comparison of neighborhoods in the “history” page. I was also able to extract data from their archive of zoning documents to incorporate into my interactive map in the “present day” page. Similarly, while very user-friendly and convenient to use, Wix (the platform I built the website on) had limitations on how I could represent certain concepts. As I did not have much background in programming or web design, I had to manually achieve some tasks. For example, when digitizing the archival map on the “history” section, I wanted the website to give users the option of clicking on a zone to get information it. However, Wix did not have this function or allow me to import GeoJSON files. As a result, I had to manually trace out each zone on Photoshop, upload them separately as image files, and then add hover animations to emulate the effect. In hindsight, I am glad that I was able to adapt to lacking resources and functionality, so that I was not limited in my visual storytelling.

 

As a student of Media and Journalism with a background in photography, I approached this project with a strong emphasis on visual rhetoric and storytelling. From the beginning, I had taken a very journalistic approach to communicating my topic, especially in the scroll-story section of the “about” page and I believe that allowed me to be able to make my content more engaging to the reader. Knowing that I could take advantage of the flexibility and multimodal nature of a website, I had prioritized pairing strong visuals with my writing to make my argument more convincing. That being said, while I believe that it did make the website more aesthetically pleasing, I noticed that at some times it seemed like the visuals were taking precedence over — instead of supplementing — the written sections. In hindsight, if I were to do a similar project again, I would try to focus on producing the writing first and then using the written content to guide visual and interactive content decisions, to make the narrative more coherent.

 

Therefore, while the topic of redlining was very unfamiliar — yet interesting — to me at first, I was able to connect it with an issue I cared about: climate change. The motivation from researching an issue that resonated with me encouraged me to go above and beyond, introducing me to resources outside what was made available to me by my university and emulate features that were not supported by Wix. These features were also guided by my interest in journalism and background with visual storytelling — which made me prioritizng creating a more immersive experience for the viewer through a journalistic approach and emphasis on multimedia content. In this way, from the moment of fruition to completing the full project, my background as an international student; limitations in options and functionality; as well as academic interests have influenced the trajectory of this project.