2021 Texas Map Society Spring Meeting

Virtual Experience via Zoom
April 16-17, 2021

Hosted by The Texas Collection & University Archives, this spring's meeting of the Texas Map Society will focus on innovative approaches to cartographic challenges. The program will include pre-recorded presentations and live Q&A moderated by Adrienne Cain, Assistant Director and Lecturer with the Baylor University Institute for Oral History.

Featured Presentations

“Mapping the Geographic Attention of Waco-Area Residents from 1916-1918” 
Joshua Been

To understand which parts of the world attracted the attention of Waco-area residents leading up to the U.S. involvement in WWI, this research examines the frequency of geographic locations mentioned in local newspapers from 1916-1918. Textual analysis was used to mine geographic locations from the Historic Waco Newspapers Collection held by Baylor University’s Texas Collection. The result is an interactive map allowing researchers to view the change in the geographic attention as the U.S. enters the conflict in 1917. This presentation will showcase the resulting interactive map as well as walk through the textual analysis techniques applied. 

“Millennials: Preservation Matters!”
Jennifer Blanks and Schuyler S. Carter

Preservation work may be viewed as work done by those in their retirement years. However, millennials can bring creativity, vision, and innovation into the field. As members of the Texas Freedom Colonies Project Research Team, the presenters will discuss how they contribute to the team as well as how the Texas Freedom Colonies Project uses the Atlas to collect data and map areas and communities that are not thoroughly documented.

“Red River Boundary: Two Centuries of Disputes”
Davey Edwards, PhD

From being an International Border between Spain and the United States in 1819 to an Act passed to survey a portion of the Red River again in 2020, the Red River that currently defines the jurisdiction between Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, along with private ownerships, is under scrutiny again.  Why is this natural boundary so confusing to understand?  What is the future of the boundary?  To better understand, a brief historical journey of the 200-year border needs to be discussed.

Registration

Register to attend the meeting at this link. You will receive the Zoom link and other information via email prior to the event.

Presenters

Joshua Been is the Director of Data & Digital Scholarship at Baylor University Libraries. His research interests in data science education includes text data mining, data visualization, and geospatial research. In addition to providing campus-wide research support in these areas, Joshua leads teams to build online, interdisciplinary education training programs in data research. Full bio

Jennifer Blanks is pursuing a doctoral degree in Urban and Regional Science at Texas A&M University. Jennifer is a member of the Texas Freedom Colonies Project under the mentorship of Dr. Andrea Roberts. Full bio

Schuyler S. Carter is a native of Muskogee and Summit, Oklahoma. She holds a Master’s degree in urban planning from the illustrious Alabama A&M University. She is currently a second-year student pursuing a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Science at Texas A&M University. Full bio

Davey Edwards, PhD is a professional land surveyor in Texas and Oklahoma. He also has been duly qualified as a Texas licensed state land surveyor and a U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Federal land surveyor. He is currently a professional assistant professor in the Geographic Information Systems and Geospatial Systems Engineering programs at Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi. Full bio