Assignment 2 Manual Geocoding vs Automated Geocoding S26
DRAFT Guidelines for the Assignment:
The Mapping Assignment, otherwise known as Assignment 2, will be completed in one step. It builds on work we did in the textual portion of the class, particularly with attempting to automatically geocode “1, the Road” by Ross Goodwin. This assignment can be done alone or in pairs.
- Format: Individual or pairs (maximum 2 people)
- Length: Approximately 1500 words (about an 8-minute read), plus visuals
- Due Date: Saturday, 19 April 2026.
This exercise has three main elements:
- Manual Annotation with Recogito: You will be provided with a text to annotate manually in Recogito.
- Supplementary Annotation: using other digital means–Google Maps, OSM, etc., you will complete to whatever extent is possible your geo-annotation.
- Comparison with Automated Geocoding: You will be provided with a Assemble your evidence, analysis, and visuals in a web-published essay in the form of a post that tells a coherent story about your findings. Make sure that one of your Voyant Tools visualization is a live widget embedded in your post.
Step 1:
Step 2: Research the Text in Question
Before you begin analysis, research the texts themselves: Who are the authors? What is the publication context? What are the general themes and contents? You will want to do background research using something like Wikipedia or other reliable web sources. This research may actually inform your choice of corpus.
By becoming familiar with your text, you’ll be able to:
- Justify your annotation more meaningfully
- Contextualize your findings rather than studying the corpus in isolation
The more you know about the texts, the more meaningful your analysis will be.
Step 3: Conduct your Analysis
For this exercise you must use the R notebook designed to generate the map. You can alternatively use Copilot to do it in a more “distant coding” way.
You will then be asked to compare the different versions (manual and automatic) pointing to what kinds of errors emerge in both, human and machine.
Step 4: Build a multi-layer map using Kepler.gl or leaflet and export it as a html to host on your GitHub site for class.
Step 5: Integrate Course Materials
Read XXXX and refer to it in your assignment.
Reference at least two (2) other readings or resources (podcasts, articles) from this course in your essay. You may also draw on external sources as appropriate. Be sure to cite what you use include LLMs.
Consider the questions raised in class on making Markdown posts legible: using Markdown Live Preview and Hemingway App as you compose your response. Keep the F-shape principle for web writing in mind too!
Guiding Questions (you do not need to answer all these questions):
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Background & Expectations: What did you know about your subject before beginning analysis? What hypotheses did you have about the language contained in the text?
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Computational Insights: What does computational analysis reveal that a linear read would not? Would reading all texts cover-to-cover have been feasible in your timeline? What interesting patterns emerged?
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Comparative Insights: What did Voyant Tools allow you to do that the Rmd Notebooks did not? How was working with the two methods different? similar?
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Trends & Surprises: What trends can you identify across your corpus? Were there unexpected findings? How do your results compare to your initial hypotheses?
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Methodological Questions: If you ran your analysis between Voyant and Rmd Notebooks, did you get consistent results? Why or why not? How do different visualization methods represent the data differently? Were there limitations in the tools or approaches you used? What risks are there in reading this way (draw on Underwood)?
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Scope & Scale: How limiting (or enabling) was the constraint of comparing five or more texts? What would you analyze differently with more or fewer texts?
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Transferability: How might you use this workflow in other courses, disciplines, or projects like a capstone?
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For Choice D: If you worked on texts not in English, what challenges did you face?
Assessment
Your work will be assessed according to the following criteria located here.
Tips for Success
Writing: Use tools like Markdown Live Preview and Hemingway App to refine your prose for clarity and legibility, without AI. Keep the F-shape principle for web writing in mind—readers scan top-to-bottom and left-to-right, so structure your argument visibly.
Visualization: Make your screenshots speak. Use clear captions that explain what readers are seeing and why it matters to your argument. Your visualizations should support and enhance your analysis, not merely decorate it or fill space. Feel free to annotate on top of the visuals (like putting arrows or circles).
Collaboration: If working in pairs, you may submit a single essay that links to both group members’ sites. Include a brief statement describing each person’s unique contribution to the work.
Publishing: Post your assignment to your course site as a post so instructors and classmates can read and engage with your work.
It is fine to publish your assignment iteratively, but when you finish the final version of your assignment, write at the bottom of it “READY FOR GRADING”.
Good luck with your analysis!