Author: Lauren White

The fact that I am once again addressing an act of systemic violence in this blog makes me furious.

Before I begin to address the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philandro Castile, I would like to acknowledge that my identity as a white woman distances me from these tragedies. My feelings and reactions are undeniably different than those of people of color–I do not feel that I am under threat because of the color of my skin. However, the multiple acts of violence warrant productive discussion and action, regardless of race.

In wake of the two shootings, many people, myself included,  took to social media to express their thoughts and feelings. On the one hand, it was affirming to see so many people reacting to the injustices the two men faced with anger and sadness. However, I realized that for a majority of the people who posted, their response would stop with the hashtag; that is, they would express condolences and frustration in words, but not act to change the systems that necessitated the hashtags.

College students not only have the opportunity but also the responsibility to take action and affect change. Hashtags, prayers, and condolences are not trends–they are motivators. I sincerely urge every person who reads this to find out what they can do to alter the systemic racism evidenced by these two shootings and make a more just world. It is within our power to do so.

When reading Daniel Allington, Sarah Brouillette,  and David Golumbia’s critique of the digital humanities, I initially found myself feeling alarmed, especially upon reading the early line, “digital humanities has played a leading role in the corporatist restructuring of the humanities.”  Speaking as someone who is wary of corporations, (to say the least), the thought that I could be contributing to their reconfiguration of the humanities was terrifying. However, as I continued to read the article, I found myself refuting nearly every argument the authors made with the experiences I’ve had this summer. Contrary to Allington, Brouilette, and Golumbia’s assertions, I have found the digital humanities to be a field that highlights individual passions within a community of creators, rather than an inauthentic corporate enterprise.

 

My conclusion about the digital humanities is largely sourced in the people that make up the field. The article focused on the institutional side of digital humanities–where the funding comes from, why they are fostered by college administration, and the corporations that benefit from the field. However, Allington, Brouillette, and Golumbia fail to give proper credit to those individuals who truly constitute the digital humanities–those whose interest in and passion for a subject drive them to make an individualized project that transforms the material they are working with to educate or even inspire a user.

 

There were two lines I took particular issue with as I was reading the article, the first being “Digital Humanities is pushed far more strongly by university administrators than it is by scholars and students, who increasingly find themselves pressured to redirect their work toward Digital Humanities.” As I’ve become more acquainted with the domain, my perception has been that the digital humanities is more of a grassroots field, which is particularly evidenced by the number of projects that are motivated by the creator’s personal interest in the subject as well as the format of DH conferences, which is determined by all those in attendance.

 

Secondly, I took issue with the authors’ assertion the the digital humanities are “about the promotion of project-based learning and lab-based research over reading and writing…and the redefinition of technical expertise as a form (indeed, the superior form) of humanist knowledge.” The quote reminded me of a venn diagram R.C. had showed me of two separate circles, one being “students interested in English and literature” and the other, “Students interested in advanced computers and technology and programming”. Despite the number of portrayals of the digital humanities as being completely distinct from the traditional humanities, my experience has been that it encompasses and integrates both areas. One cannot be sustained without the other; consequently, one does not have importance over the other.
On the whole, I felt that this article was written by people who were distanced from the core of the digital humanities field–the people who are truly committed to the individual and open creation of projects and communities.

On Friday, I was surprised and alarmed to learn that the United Kingdom had voted to leave the European Union, especially because of the xenophobic implications this vote had. As the morning continued and voter demographics were released, I was dismayed to learn that a majority of young voters had voted that the UK should remain in the EU–and their voice had been silenced by older generations.

This event, in my opinion, highlights exactly why social justice movements in college campuses are so important. When college students stand together for a cause they believe in, it is in an attempt to shape the world that they will inherit,often in a way that makes the world more equitable and just. College protests allow for students’ voices to be heard, even if they are not represented in elections.

This week, I decided to critique “The Garden of Earthly Delights” which is an example project for Storymap JS. The project offers background and interpretation on the painting it details, “The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch. It can be found at https://storymap.knightlab.com/examples/bosch-garden/.

Something unique and appealing about this particular story map is that the “map” platform it uses is an image, rather than a traditional geographical map. Because it’s a large image, it is sorted into Storymap’s gigapixel collection, which is created for large, detailed, images. By moving around, the storymap brings the image to life and draws the user’s attention to the most important and distinguishing features of the image. As such, the learning is more interactive than if a user were to read about it in a textbook. However, the site has the potential to be even more interactive by integrating more media sources than just text. The text that is included as a part of the project is simple enough for the average user to understand, while still being useful and informative.

One of the drawbacks of this project is that it does not feature an about page for the project. A link in the introduction takes the use to a Wikipedia page about the time period the piece was created in, which is helpful but not necessarily reliable. However, the project is clearly made on Storymap JS. A link at the bottom left of the site takes the user to the Storymap JS website which has information about how to make and use Storymap. The metadata on the image is provided in the introduction to the website and includes the title of the piece, the artist, the date it was created, and the place where it is housed.

Given that the website does not have an about page and is hosted on the Storymap JS site, it appears that the intended audience is people who are interested in see what a project using a gigapixel image on Storymap JS would look like. If this were to be a more fully-fleshed DH project, it would need to have more of a sense of community by including and about page and contact page, and increasing interactivity by incorporating more forms of media.

I spent the larger part of Thursday and Friday researching in special collections. The more I researched, the more I realized how scant my sources were. As it stands, the information I plan to use in my project largely relies on individual photographs, or small written anecdotes, rather than a comprehensive and fully fleshed history. The noticeable lack of materials made those sources that I could find all the more significant to me, and helped me to realize that we are constantly documenting and shaping our own histories through the memories we immortalize through pictures, words, or sounds.Even if they seem commonplace in the moment, we cannot anticipate the importance they may hold in the future.

For this week’s blog, I chose to review Identities: Understanding Islam in a Cross-Cultural Context which is hosted on an Omeka platform. It can be found at http://marb.kennesaw.edu/identities/.

The project was created by Museums and Community Collaborations Abroad (MCAA).  Its aim was to use a variety of sources to create an exhibit that examined the cultural similarities and differences between the materials (especially oral histories and photographs) in a museum in Morocco and the materials from a museum in Georgia.  MCAA planned to analyze these materials and infer how identities are formed in immigrant communities, both in Morocco and Georgia.

Though not explicitly stated, it seems like the site is meant to appeal to a general audience, and especially highlight and connect with immigrant Muslim communities.  The central question the project asks is how identities are formed in these communities, both in Morocco and Georgia.  The project also centers on the idea of integrating community in general—by featuring community input in the exhibit, the project becomes a community itself.

Identities is an easy project to explore. My favorite aspect is that it’s structured, but still allows the user to take their own path through the website.  The homepage uses a slideshow tool to draw in the user and highlight various parts of the exhibit. Because the slideshow never goes in the same order twice, users can expect to explore a different part of the exhibit each time they visit. The writing on the website is informative and interesting without being dense, especially with regard to the photo captions.

The website features an about page that provides a comprehensive overview of the project and all the museums and organizations that helped to make it. However, there is not information about the specific digital tools they used to make the website. The metadata on the website is comprehensive and follows dublincore formatting.

     Identities’s most compelling feature that distinguishes it from a traditional research paper or exhibit is how easily a user can bring themselves into the website’s narrative. A tab on the home page named “talk back” allows users to either share their story or answer a survey that asks questions about how the user views Islam or what further topics they’d want to see included in the exhibit. Instead of being a passive experience, Identities is active because it fully immerses and incorporates the user.

cw: This blog post will discuss the events that occurred in Orlando on Sunday, June 12th

 

In light of the shooting that occurred at Pulse nightclub early Sunday morning, I have been devoting a lot of thought to the vision and goal of my project.

It is obvious that there is still a need for people to take action and a stand for the rights of those communities who are the targets of hate and discrimination. College students have the unique opportunity to not only shape their institution’s history, but also to learn from one another and consequently advocate for the values of acceptance and respect in the world outside of their undergraduate career.

The readings and discussions we have encountered as a part of this fellowship have stressed the communal aspect of the digital humanities. Creating a timeline that incorporates past and present social justice movements effectively establishes a community of people who can learn from one another’s experiences. It is my earnest hope that my website users will be inspired by the social movements that have occurred at Gettysburg College and take action to further advance the causes begun by others so that campus communities and the world in general are righteous places where all people, regardless of identity, can thrive.

Timeline JS is a free digital tool that allows a user to create a customized digital timeline. Its ease of access, both in accessing the tool and using it, make it unique.

Organizing research in a chronological format is a useful way to show trends and development. Using a timeline in my project will show how various events at Gettysburg influenced the others. I can also create parallel timelines that detail what social justice movements were taking place on other college campuses and across the nation. Because of the way Timeline JS is structured, I can embed multiple forms of media (such as Youtube videos or pictures) so that I can visually represent the people who were involved in each social justice instance.

Timeline JS is well known and documented. The timeline JS website has a documentation page featuring tips for beginners as well as links to FAQs and support forums. There is information about the Northwest University Knightlab (the Timeline JS creators) at the bottom of each page, and they provide means of contact.

Timeline JS provides each user with a template that adapts the user’s research and formats it into a timeline. The first thing the template asks for is the beginning and end dates of the event. The next section asks for a display title for each event, and a brief description of what happened. These titles can be hyperlinked to other pages.  The template also provides a space for including media and documenting and captioning any media that’s used.

The only privacy concern associated with Timeline JS is that the template is hosted on google sheets, which means that a user needs to log in with their google account, which could provide Timeline JS with some of the user’s personal information.

Timeline JS is an easy tool to master. The spreadsheet is an easy means of compiling and presenting data. As a beginner, I had next to no problem using the program, and the questions I did have were easy to answer. Additionally, the program adapts the actual timeline according to any changes that are made in the spreadsheet, so it is easy to embed and work on continually.

I will absolutely be using Timeline JS in my project. Its most redeeming quality, in my opinion, is that it presents a timeline in a way that engages the user.  The timeline output is clean and easy to navigate. Additionally, because it updates along with the spreadsheet, it allows for the potential to be updated as further social justice movements take place. I am confident that I will be able to use Timeline JS to both my advantage and the advantage of my users.

This past week, we spent a lot of time planning our websites and exploring digital tools, constantly keeping our potential audience in mind. Throughout this process, I thought a lot about how projects in the digital humanities are meant to engage an audience. If a project’s digital platform is hard to use, it detracts from the user’s experience and distances them from the project. As such, it is vitally important that a website be easy to understand so that a user can connect with the material on it, the person who created it, and actively learn something new from the material presented to them.

This past Friday, we visited the digital scholarship cohort at Lafayette College. Interacting with the students reinforced the idea of collaboration within the field of digital humanities. It was really useful to hear what technical tools they’d used, or about the methodology they used to carry out their project. I was particularly thrilled to learn that one of the students had a project that very nearly matched mine, and that we shared some of the same research limitations. Also, it was interesting compare and contrast the Lafayette student’s interests and college experiences with our own. I’m excited to remain in contact with them and expand the networks we set up.