Digitally Mapping the Republic of Letters – NYTimes.com. This is a fascinating way to map social and political connections both spatially and temporally. (It’s also a testimonial to the nineteenth century postal service!) I find the emerging digitization of historic data (especially in the humanities) exciting and would love to see this similarly in the history of science. How geographically clustered were schools of thought on ecology and evolution? Was there really an East/ West Coast divide in the early 20th century? Some would look to the mentoring system as a metaphor for familial lineage and influence but active correspondence would likely be more revealing and significant.
Thanks Jeni for pointing this article out!
And Happy GIS Day!
MVZ GIS Portal 