Overall, I wouldn’t say that there were too many challenges that I faced creating both maps and the timeline for skill assignments/my project. I also believe that all three of these will be able to be used in my final project, as I created them with that in mind. The only reason I wouldn’t include any of these resources, would be if I created a newer, better version of one.
I ran into the least issues while creating both the Google map and the Story map. I don’t believe I ran into a single issue while creating my Google map, and the process was very straightforward in my opinion. I like this map because it’s very easy to navigate and users can also easily look at other aspects of the world map if they wish. I believe the StoryMap was a bit more difficult to create, but just because it felt more in-depth. I didn’t run into a problem creating the actual map or importing it into my website, however I did run into a few technical errors. Firstly, there was an issue with my device’s OneDrive connecting to the software’s servers, but I was able to resolve the issue pretty fast. I ran into a more difficult issue while trying to upload and connect .mp4 files; however, after trying different ways of trying to upload the files themselves as well as the avenues of uploading, I was able to figure out the issue. I like the layout and idea behind this mapping tool because it fits my topic and how I will design my overall project very well.
During the making of the timeline, I ran into two issues that I was able to resolve myself, but these definitely took the longest to figure out. When trying to download the actual Excel timeline file, my computer refused to do so for an unknown reason. Both of the provided links/files were either not able to be opened at all by my computer or they wouldn’t download with an error that couldn’t be manually overridden. I also was not able to open the file directly from the hosting site. A classmate was able to download and convert a file for me, which my computer was then able to read perfectly; I believe this issue must be in regards to my specific technology, and there weren’t any problems on/with the hosting sites. The secondary issue I faced was an error message stating that specific items had “era” issues and therefore the timeline could not be created. Honestly, I am still not sure how I fixed this issue, as it always seemed each item was entered the same way (didn’t seem connected to the “era” option), but only select items had this error, and only sometimes. Again, I believe this must be an issue specific to the technology I was specifically using, and not having to do with the host site/program. I really like the idea behind how this timeline was able to be created and the ways it could be personalized.