Digital Project 3: Time-mapping Alternate Realities
due: T 10/8
Science fiction often takes an explicit point of departure from historical events, and sometimes as in Watchmen, historical time is altered to fit an alternate timeline. This assignment asks you to investigate historical events relevant to specific texts we are reading. Beginning with Watchmen and continuing with the Handmaid’s Tale, construct a digital record of the interweaving of historic events with events in our science fiction texts. Work with Google Sheets and the TimeMapper visualization software.
Tech you need:
- You will need a Google account to work with Google Sheets.
- Follow my instructions and templates to prepare a Google Sheet file and TimeMap
You will need to share links to two resources:
- your Google Sheet
- your TimeMap
Requirements
Supply at least 20 entries (a combination of fictional and real events) for Watchmen to complete this assignment. At least 8 of these entries must be historical. And at least 8 events must be from the fictional world.
Building a Good TimeMap
Building a good TimeMap is all about patient curation of information and careful writing in the Google Sheets template, as well as careful testing and reviewing of the visualization in TimeMapper on the web.
A TimeMap is not helpful if it contains inaccurate information either from history or fiction. Reference and link out to authoritative and worthwhile resources on historical events. Describe events in your own words with emphasis on the relevance of an event to the science fiction text(s) we are reading. When representing fictional events, refer to chapters, pages, and/or panels (if referring to Watchmen) to help the viewer locate passages.
Your TimeMap need not record every single historical or fictional event, but rather select representative events that help with a visual interweaving of relevant historical events. You are a curator of alternative timelines with this assignment, and your curation should help illuminate interesting connections between our reality and the fictional worlds of science fiction.