On a website about a historical topic or any topic in that matter, including a geographic element can help the viewer understand better of what the topic is. It can give a more realistic idea of what or how or even when the topic occurred. For instance when I go to the Historic Jamestown website I can find a variety of geographic elements such as timelines, maps, or even archeological findings from digs. This information helps the viewer of the website better understand what happened back in the time of Jamestown colony. Without these geographic elements on the site, there would just be words. If there were only words then I as the viewer can read about the facts of what happened during the Jamestown colony. However with the geographic elements it is easier to visualize what and where things occurred. It can provide a better story, but also add more interest to the factual information. Certain data elements can be more helpful than others based on the information the website is giving to you. I have been on some websites that have geographic elements that made me more confused. If you have too many or the wrong geographic it can muddy up the website which can lead to confusion. I also have found that some websites just don’t need any additional elements to get the information across. For my website and project I will be doing it on the topic of the history of the Loudoun County Courthouse and the significance of the Declaration of Independence. With this topic I would not necessarily need a layout of Loudoun County as a whole but the layout of the building could be useful. If a website like the Historic Jamestown one lacked in these geographic elements of the different maps of the land but had maps of buildings or other images, this could potentially not be as helpful to someone trying to learn more about the history of the Jamestown colony. For my project and website I am hoping to include interactive maps of how the Declaration of Independence traveled from Pennsylvania to Virginia and then to where it went after Virginia. I want to be able to show how the importance of the Declaration of Independence needed the people to take good care of the safety of this document.
I asked ChatGPT to look over my above work. It came up some interesting ideas to “enhance” my work. Some of the ideas included do not use the same word repeatedly which is a good idea, however the word they said not to repeat was geographic elements. This word does not have another word that can replace it. It is the word for it. Another suggestion ChatGPT gave me was “Paragraph Breaks: Break the text into shorter paragraphs. Each paragraph should focus on a single idea. This improves readability and allows readers to digest information more easily.” this suggestion I found to be interesting because my above paragraph was all about the same idea, a single idea. I do not know where I would put a break in the paragraph to make it make sense. Overall I think the ideas ChatGPT gave me were very general and not targeted to my writing.