Visualising One Irishwoman’s Experience of the American Civil War Using StoryMap JS

As most of you are aware by now, I am constantly looking at new techniques to visualize the Irish experience of the American Civil War. My latest foray into this area has been with StoryMap JS, a free tool developed by Knightlab at Northwestern University. StoryMap is designed to allow you to tell stories with maps, facilitating the integration of multimedia such as images, Wikipedia entries, videos and audio clips into the storyline. At the suggestion of Shawn Day (thanks Shawn for pointing me in its direction!) I have used StoryMap to examine one individuals experience of the American Civil War. It concentrates on Sarah Jane Cochrane of Limavady, Co. Londonderry. You can see her StoryMap by clicking here or on the image below. It works in a similar fashion to a slideshow, so when you are finished with a page click on the right or left arrow to advance or move back in the storyline. Let me know what you think!

Sarah Jane Cochran: Irish Pensioner of the American Civil War (StoryMap)

Article Comments

John A McCarthy
June 22, 2014 6:25 am

I think this format is great. However once it got to the page with the National Park Service video the right arrow disappeared and I could not continue. I did enjoy the part which I was able to view.
I have been looking at your site for over a year and enjoy it very much.
Thank you.
John McCarthy

Damian Shiels
June 22, 2014 9:44 am

Hi John,

Thanks I really appreciate that! I think it can be browser sensitive as it is still in testing, so trying it with a different browser might resolve the problem. That is the one drawback of these brand new tools.

Kind Regards,

Damian.

Susan
June 19, 2016 9:13 pm

Not able to view

Damian Shiels
June 19, 2016 9:20 pm

Hi Susan, it can be browser sensitive so if you try with a different browser it hopefully should work ok for you. Kind Regards, Damian.
Damian Shiels
July 1, 2016 2:01 pm

Hi Susan,

It can be browser sensitive, so if you try a different browser hopefulyl it should work!

Kind Regards,

Damian.

Jackie
June 19, 2016 9:24 pm

Excellent storytelling tool, Damian, and content is very well done. As always, thanks so much for acknowledging our work at the U.S. National Archives. Your continued research into the pension files to tell these stories highlights why we do what we do — the continued preservation of the holdings digitally to allow for enhanced access around the world. Your efforts deserve great applause!