\nPlaces, not locations, provide the backdrop for historical events. The key idea is to map events and tie them to locations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
and Paul didn’t have a quick answer, either<\/a>. After some unsuccessful searching for the original paper (which took me to several databases) and scanning citations from speaker Ian Johnson’s university bio page<\/a> and “long bio [DOC]<\/a>“, I started thinking about the problem more generally. Googling for “ian johnson” gis places locations led me to an interesting source: papers and presentations for Harvard’s China Historical GIS<\/a> group. Lex Berman gave a concise explanation in one of his papers<\/a>: [1]<\/a><\/p>\n
If we are to take the sum of the information about what transpired at a
\nparticular geographic location over the course of time, we must realize that
\nwhat we are not observing a single persistent identity, but a series of
\nhistorical instances. Each instance of an historical place, although it may
\nindeed be seen as occupying a certain temporal extent and geographic
\nextent, actually makes more sense in a political and cultural context which
\nexpands and contracts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nHe also says:<\/p>\n
\nWe have extensive historical documentation about the administrative units that were
\nestablished, abolished, re-named, or re-established in roughly the same
\ngeographic space as today\u2019s Beijing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThose are all the same location<\/em>. But they’re different places<\/em>. Suddenly I understood (at least some small part of) the difference Ian Johnson must have been articulating.<\/p>\n
My database searches, on the other hand, were a rich source of follow-up reading about space and place, on a variety of topics from computer science, to history of the book, to social science, to geopolitics. For me, database searching is great for keeping my fingers busy while engaging my head. And for turning up lots of things I’d like to read. However, I didn’t have enough data to figure out what paper Ian Johnson was referring to (something he wrote about places, locations, mapping events). In retrospect, writing him would have been most reasonable. Failing that, his profile might have been a better place to start. Other search strategies you’d suggest?<\/p>\n
Lex Berman on Finding Places in the Past: What's in a Name?<\/p><\/div>\n
Lex Berman has some beautiful slides (ZIP)<\/a>. [2]<\/a><\/p>\n
![\"Lex](\"https:\/\/jodischneider.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/placesinpast.jpg\" "\\"placesinpast\\"")