Koelker, Aaron. Green Oranges & Land: Challenges and Change in Florida Citrus. ArcGIS Story Maps. Esri. 2023. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/collections/68ba1955f063424884fc7c77dea8480e?item=5
“Green Oranges & Land: Challenges and Change in Florida Citrus” by Aaron Koelker uses ArcGIS Story Maps to explore the history of Florida through its oranges trees. The six sections of the project address the levels of orange manufacture in different regions; the effect of freezings, hurricanes, and extreme weather events; and the challenges behind citrus production.
“Green Oranges & Land” sees in Digital Humanities an opportunity to intersect history, meteorology, environmental studies, and geography by using oranges to expand the story of Florida itself. DH allows a multifaceted view of the topic, without overwhelming the reader. The project is packed with content, but the clever use of different visualizations makes each piece meaningful while still connected to a central theme.
However, interestingly enough, the first data visualization of the project is a static image: a timeline displaying the main freezes throughout Florida’s orange production history. At this moment, it is important to highlight what might be the greatest strength of this project: its design.
“Green Oranges & Land” is a prime example of how design is fundamental to the Digital Humanities. In the ongoing debate of functionality vs. appearance, this project shows that being pretty is being functional. The cohesive design allows static images to disguise themselves as seemingly complex data visualizations. Small details such as the little oranges as separators between sections make this project user-friendly.
The customization is also seen in other visualizations, such as the map of cities, towns, and neighborhoods with orange/citrus on the name, using oranges instead of pins to mark places on the map.
Further exploring the data visualizations in this project, another highlight is the map under the Tropical Weather section displaying the hurricane paths and their effects on orange production. The seamless transitions between the slides on the map, create the sensation of motion, which is fundamental to conveying the paths of the hurricanes.
However, “Green Oranges & Land” does not escape the ArcGIS curse: infinite scroll.
Even though the project uses headers as a way to break down the text and direct the user to a specific section, it still feels tiring to read towards the end. As someone who is definitely biased in favor of this project, I was hoping to use the mobile version of the website to justify the infinite scroll, but unfortunately, some of the visualizations were not responsive.
Overall, “Green Oranges & Land” showcases the originality of DH as a medium for storytelling. It blends multiple disciplines into a cohesive narrative through innovative design and visualization techniques. Furthermore, it demonstrates that thoughtful design and functionality are not mutually exclusive but rather complementary in creating an impactful digital humanities project.
