A Guide for Instructors and Students: MLD Mapping Project

Authors

Maryanne Kowaleski, Fordham UniversityFollow

Disciplines

Digital Humanities | Legal History | Medieval History | Medieval Studies | Social History

Abstract

This site contains instructions and other materials for a linked data digital project developed by Dr Maryanne Kowaleski and Ms Camila Marcone for two Fordham University courses in Fall 2020. The assignment required students to structure information found in medieval London property records into a spreadsheet that had columns corresponding to fields in the Medieval Londoners Database (MLD), an online searchable database of people who lived in London from c. 1190 to to c. 1520. Each person in the deed was noted in a separate row or record in the spreadsheet. Students next summarized the data about each property into a grid format, which was transferred to a record they created for each property in a mapping platform called Layers of London. Mapping the property usually required some topographical research, for which resources were supplied. Finally, to link the data in the two platforms, students inserted the URIs of individuals in both MLD and in the deed (including witnesses) into the Links section of the Layers records, and then inserted the URL of the mapped property record in Layers into the MLD Mapping spreadsheet rows for all individuals named in the deed, even those who did not yet have a MLD URI. The undergraduates’ records in Layers of London are at Medieval Londoners 2 and the records of the graduate students (whose assignment was slightly different) are at Medieval Londoners.

Recommended Citation

Kowaleski, Maryanne. "A Guide for Instructors and Students: MLD Mapping Project." Medieval Londoners Digital Project. New York: Fordham University, 2021.