View the Missoula Children’s Poetry Map

We had a debut of the Missoula Children’s Poetry Map at the Missoula Public Library June 4 attended by a standing room only crowd of student poets, librarians, teachers, administrators, parents and other interested folks. Over a dozen of the 500+ 4th grade poets read their poems in a live poetry reading. We debuted the short list story map version of the poetry map, and it is now available to the public http://geodataservices.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Shortlist/index.html?appid=63b846b5de3f485a9c5150e394f6fc70

We also previewed the final draft of the original art work forming the base map of the second version of the map, featuring 20 selected poems representing the most popular places the student poets wrote about. Xplorer Maps created a beautiful watercolor and pen and ink base map inspired by the student poems about their most popular outdoor activity places in Missoula.

Leland Buck, Chairman of the Board of the Missoula Writing Collaborative sent this follow up note to Caroline Patterson who dreamed up the idea, wrote the grant to the National Endownment for the Arts, and coordinated the work that made it possible.

I think this project took us well beyond what I had in mind, and clearly sets us apart as innovators in our field. There is an elegance in the simplicity of what we do: with little more than a pencil and paper, and some time for observation and consideration, poets can reshape the world. But with this map, we’ve shown that we can frame and elevate that simple act by using technology. The map connects the poems to us, not just to the spaces we occupy. And it does this without losing the power of the individual writers and their poetic expressions. As interesting and impressive as the technology in the project is, the technology is not the star, the kids and their poems are. The technology just helps bring it all together in a way that is more collective and community-centered. I think that makes this a really cogent illustration of good educational technology and a brilliant demonstration of the benefit to us all when 500+ 4th graders join forces. I know we’re going to hear more about this project in the months and years to come. It’s worthy of all the attention it gets. … Leland Buck

Both story map versions will be installed at the end of June in the Children’s section of the Missoula Public Library in a new permanent exhibit. The story map contents will be moved from the current staging location at Geodata Services, Inc to the permanent location on the Missoula County Public Schools ArcGIS Online account and web server.

http://geodataservices.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Shortlist/index.html?appid=63b846b5de3f485a9c5150e394f6fc70

Ken Wall
Geodata Services, Inc.
P.O. Box 8081, Missoula, MT 59807
101 E. Broadway, Suite 316
(406) 203-4684