Mapping the History of Women in Higher Education
Jennifer Berdan · Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College (Bryn Mawr College) · 2013
The geo-temporal mapping project reported in this paper maps the history of women in higher education in the United States. This mapping visualization tool allows researchers to study the history of women in higher education from a broader perspective, seeing when and where single-sex and coeducational institutions exist in time and space over the last two centuries. The goals and purpose of this geo-temporal map and the decision-making process for creating such a tool are presented including uses for research and teaching, and choices around technology, content, and information sources. To show the presence (or absence) of women in higher education, we chose to map institutions, identifying their enrollment status as women's only, men's only or coeducational. Using historical institutional information and records, we indicate temporal changes such as institutions opening or closing, or moving from single-sex to coeducational. And by using Google Earth as the interface, users have control over the timeframe and focus of geographical region(s), customizing the tool to their needs. As a result of this map, we are able to detect geographical patterns of women's colleges and coeducational institutions, simultaneously seeing changes in these patterns over time.