History - The Public and the Peoples' Weather Map

Published: April 9, 2015, 10 a.m.

The Peoples' Weather Map is a county-searchable digital map of historical and current severe weather stories in Iowa. To help find and compose the stories in text, photograph, and video, researchers partnered with the State Historical Society as well as local museums and libraries, but also with weather enthusiasts from various corners of the state. One of the goals for viewers of the Peoples' Weather Map is to invite shared empathy among the victims of severe weather across time and space - directly, across Iowa, and by implication, across the globe. Another goal is to encourage inquiry-based learning about severe weather and climate change by providing many links from the county story maps to an array of scientific information.

Presenters from the project team include: Barbara Eckstein, UI Professor of English and Faculty in the Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research; Mark NeuCollins, Intermedia Artist and UI Staff in the Digital Studio for the Public Arts and Humanities; Eric Tate, UI Professor of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences; and Nate Otjen, UI Un undergraduate, Honors Research Fellow, English and Anthropology. For more information about the State Historical Society of Iowa, visit www.iowahistory.org.