6. Facebook Cartographies and the Mapping of Local History : Storied Maps from the American Middletown

Place-related data from social media platforms are still awaiting further exploration in mapping and map-making and are useful to stimulate a debate on how to visualize cartographically this type of subjective and unstructured information. The example of a Facebook group on local history from a town in the American Midwest is used to discuss potentials and limitations of visually capturing historical events and processes. Variations of online story maps are presented as cartographic exercises of deep mapping, in order to point out the relationship between the digital humanities, historical GIS, and historical cartography. The text makes a plea for a narrative cartography of everyday life based on the experiences and values of ordinary people.