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  Course Description
  
  EES Department

Course Description

Maps are powerful tools for navigating the physical world.   In addition to their basic utility in getting us from point A to point B, they are also important in literature, as art, and as cultural artifacts that reveal how people in different times and places have understood reality.   This colloquium will explore the evolution of maps from prehistory to the present, focusing on the human, social, and cultural context of maps and mapping as well as the technical aspects of map making and cartography.   Using a variety of materials, including academic texts, novels, interactive mapping tools, the proliferation of geographic information on the world wide web, and (of course) maps, we will develop our ability to think spatially while considering the ability of maps to reproduce complex reality, how to mislead with maps, and what makes something a map.

Texts Required

1) Hacker, Diana. 2004. A Pocket Style Manual , St. Martin's, Fourth Edition.

2) Harmon, Katharine.   2004.   You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination. Princeton Architectural Press.  

3) Krygier, John and Wood, Denis.   2005.   Making Maps: A Visual Guide to Map Design for GIS .   Guilford Press.

4) Monmonier, Mark. 1996.   How To Lie With Maps (second edition).   University of Chicago Press.

5) Wilford, John Noble. 2001. The Map Makers Knopf.

6) Additional Readings available electronically from Course Reserves at the Hatfield Library.

7) Students will also need to purchase a map at a local map store.

Course Requirements

The MAPS colloquium is designed with two goals in mind.   The first goal is driven by our subject matter, MAPS, and it is to develop your skills reading, analyzing, designing, and making maps. The second goal derives from the nature of the college colloquium which mirrors our mission at Willamette: to introduce you to our liberal arts curriculum, and the tools by which we engage that curriculum, close reading, writing, and critical thinking.   As we engage this semester as a community of scholars, please note the following course expectations:

Projects (60%)   Each student will complete five projects focused on reading, analyzing, interpreting and making maps. The projects will increase in complexity over the course of the semester as your spatial analysis skills become more sophisticated. Likewise the writing process will build upon basic ideas about good questions and problem statements to developing arguments and lines of evidence. There will be opportunity to revise your projects based on peer and instructor feedback. Each of your projects will become part of your maps portfolio, due the final day of class. This year's projects include: mental maps, topographic maps, mapping using census data, landscapes and maps, and a final project of the one's own design.

Commentaries (40%)   Because this is course is designed as a colloquium, students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss the assigned materials. To encourage lively and engaing discussions, you will prepare written commentaries on the readings. As we get better at discussion students will take on more and more responsibility for leading discussion.

Course WebSite
A WISE site has been created for the course. Supplemental readings, relevant links, course announcements, and other materials will be uploaded to this website throughout the semester.

Attendance.   Faithful attendance is expected for all class activities (this includes class as well as group meetings, conferences, and outside events). In the event that you do miss class (whether an excused or unexcused absence) you will be responsible for writing an additional commentary on the readings/materials discussion during the class you missed. If you are absent more than 3 times during the semester without a valid excuse your final grade will suffer by 10%.   Valid excuses include a legitimate medical condition (please obtain a note from the Wellness Center if you miss class due to illness) and mandatory university activities such as musical, theatrical and athletic activities (I usually receive official notice of students excused for these events, but I also appreciate some advance notice from you). I have final discretion on what is considered a legitimate absence.

Late Assignment Policy . I do not accept late assignments without an excellent reason and/or prior approval.   Please refer to attendance section above for details on valid excuses for late assignments, but keep in mind that I almost always require prior approval for late assignments.

Any student eligible for and desiring academic accommodation due to a disability should provide documentation to Disability and Learning Services located in the Bishop Wellness Center within the first two weeks of the semester.