Category: Assignments

Lab 11: Mapping and Spatial Analysis with Leaflet

March 30, 2026 / Margaret Smith

Spatial analysis is a method that uses mapping and geographic information systems (GIS) to analyze the relationships between people, places, and resources. Those relationships dictate what kind of access people have to things like grocery stores, banks, employment opportunities, green spaces, and more. Spatial analysis is a great tool for exploring concepts of spatial justice. In this lab, we’ll explore the spatial relationship between SIUE and the town of Edwardsville.

There are lots of tools we can use for spatial analysis. The most common one is ArcGIS, which is a proprietary (that is a paid) platform. We’ll be using a free tool. Those are sometimes less versatile (although you can do an awful lot with them!), but they also allow us to keep our data and our analysis regardless of whether we have access to a particular platform, and they’re often easier to use because they’re not as complex.

Understanding the Lay of the Land

Go to https://mymaps.google.com and sign in. Hit the Create a New Map button.
Navigate to Edwardsville. Using the push pin button, drop a pin onto the university and label it.
Use the search bar to search for a particular kind of amenity – for instance, restaurants, grocery stores, or parks.
Use the + button to add the results to your map.
Make some observations: what does the distribution of those pins look like? Where are they clustered? Are they in proximity to the university? Are they distributed evenly throughout the area? Are they all grouped in one spot?
Make sure you share your map with all group members before the end of class!

Thinking About Access

Pick the closest pin to the university and grab its name or coordinates. Head over to Google Maps (the regular kind) and get the directions from the university to that place.
Look at a few modes of transportation. How long would it take to drive there? Bike there? Take public transit there?
What would it cost to get there? Think about gas, parking, transit fares, exertion, and other costs that might crop up.
Now go back to your original map and look through the pins you added. Which one would you most like to go to? That is, which one would best serve your needs?
Do the same thing for that location, mapping out directions and analyzing costs.

Reflecting on Resources

Due as a blog post, 4/1/26

What are the implications of your analysis? Is this an example of good access to resources, or are there challenges here? Is this an issue of spatial injustice?
Reflect a little on your spatial analysis lab. What observations did you make? Have the things you noticed impacted how you experience SIUE and/or Edwardsville? How do you think they might impact others’ experiences, whether they’re students, faculty/staff, or community members? What do you think has caused the patterns you identified? If there’s an element of spatial injustice in what you observed, how might it be addressed?

Cultural Asset Mapping with Leaflet

Today, we’ll carry on talking about spatial justice, looking more broadly at the St. Louis metro. To begin with, we’ll start by building a data set. Each individual should add two locations to this spreadsheet that you find culturally significant.

Data Set Review (Due 3/18)

March 4, 2026 / Margaret Smith

Sometimes we think of data as something that just exists, that we discover or access. But data sets are shaped by the people who create them, who structure them, and who use them. In order to produce visualizations and analysis that are accurate, critical, and transparent about data sources and bias, we have to evaluate our data sets.

Choose a data set from the list below and answer the following questions in about 300-400 words total. The first four questions are about the sources of the data. You can answer these relatively briefly. If you can’t find the answers to any of them, note that in your review. The last questions are about how we can or should use it, challenges with the data, and any perceptible biases in it. These will take more reflection and should accordingly make up the bulk of your review. Submit the review as a blog post on the class website by Wednesday, March 18 at 1:30, with the tag “Data review.”

Data set profile:

Who is credited as the creator and/or contributors of this data set? Who are they?
What are the sources of their data?
Why did they create or compile it?
How has it been used?
What format is the data set in?

Data set evaluation:

Take a look at the data itself. How have they structured it? What fields have they chosen? What effect might that have on how it can be used?
Read the creators’ description of the data set. Have they described the choices they made in cleaning the data, and if so, how? What effect might those choices have on the data?
Consider the creators’ identities and goals in creating the data set. How might those things have shaped the data, either intentionally or inadvertently?
What would you use this data for?

Data sets to choose from:

Average Weekly Hours of All Employees, STL Metro Statistical Area

Monthly and Seasonal Temperatures, St. Louis (since 1874)

Washington Park Cemetery North Reinterment Index

Tombstone Transcription Project (choose a local cemetery that’s been transcribed)

Illinois Landcover in the Early 1800s

If you have another data set you’d like to review instead, please check with me (the earlier, the better).

Frederick Douglass Speech Annotations

February 26, 2026 / Margaret Smith

In the Google doc containing Frederick Douglass’s speech on the Dred Scott decision, leave at least two to three annotations on the text. These can be anything that you think would make the text easier and more enjoyable to read: explanations of historical references, definitions of unfamiliar words, context that helps explain Douglass’s meaning, and more.

AI Fiction

February 11, 2026 / naortiz

After reviewing and comparing the multiple of stories the two that I choose were In the Forest of Memory by E. Lily Yu and The Pedestrian written by Ray Bradbury. What was interesting about these particular stories was the showcasing of a world where humans gave the ability to allow technology to reshape their current lives and futures.

In the story written by Yu, what was interesting was the assumption that technology balances out society. When in reality it just reinforces the ability that the rich have. The Holographic memorials preserve the lives of the wealthy, as the lives of the homeless are forgotten because of their social status.

Where as the story written by Bradbury, has a similar concept in a different form though. He describes a society where they are accepting of letting go their independence for a screen. And because of that any act out of the so called “ordinary” such as taking a walk at night is meant to be seemed as abnormal. Which is also one of the consequences of letting a machine try to dictate the normality of what human behavior should be like.

Both stories enforces to think critically about the power people surrender to AI, when they let it dictate their lives. What they allow AI to become. Bradbury’s police car implicates a world without empathy and a certain way of living. As Yu’s explains that the socially visible and acceptable people are the only ones who deserve remembrance.

These fictional AIs resonate with my understanding of what AI is today by the portrayal of what they can ultimately create our world into. In today’s world technologies often try to alter the world not in a such positive way but in a more controlling way, and they try to signify that by saying things like “to make life easier” or “a better way for humans to live.” Though I believe it is to strip us of our ability to choose for ourselves and think critically. In both stories, it creates the question to what the world can come too when we hand over total control of our lives to a machinery of any kind.

History of Computing events (due 2/4)

February 2, 2026 / Margaret Smith

Choose at least three events from the history of computing that you think constitute significant moments. You may use any source you like, so long as you cite it. Write a brief description (a couple sentences) for each event noting why you think it’s a milestone worth noting.

Add your events (one per line) to this spreadsheet.

If your event duplicates someone else’s event, that’s ok! But your description of it should be your own.

Timeline spreadsheet

Assess the Cahokia VR app (due 2/2)

January 28, 2026 / Margaret Smith

Read the article and watch the video about the Cahokia AR app: https://cahokiamounds.org/augmented-reality-project/. You do not need to buy the app!

Write a blog post applying what we’ve read and discussed about audience, accessibility, and representation to the Cahokia app. What does the app do well? For what audiences does it enhance access and accessibility? What groups does it exclude? Your blog post should be at least 200 words. Add the tag “Cahokia” before you publish.

Place-based idea generation (due 1/29)

January 21, 2026 / Margaret Smith

We’re doing a lot of place-based work this semester. Reflect a little about where you live. (This can be on campus, in the local area, or wherever you’re from.) What questions does it spark? Think about the times you’ve thought “I wonder where that comes from,” “I wish this could be different,” or even “Damn it, why does that happen?” Writing for someone who’s never been to that place, your blog post should lay out 1) the question, 2) the context, and 3) why your audience should care about it. Add the tag “Place” before you publish. (150-200 words) [Reflect, 20 pts]

Interest statement (due 1/21)

January 6, 2025 / Margaret Smith

Take a look at the course schedule in the syllabus. What topics, readings, or assignments look the most intriguing? What might you want to pursue further as the semester goes on? Write a blog post on this website of about 150 words about some of your initial interests in this class. Add the tag “Interest statement” before you publish it.