Author: Christina Noto

Week  nine was so crazy! I was so stressed about my project and getting everything done. But its so interesting to look back and see what we have created. My goal was to have everything done by the end of week nine. Although it was unrealistic, I think it would have made week ten a lot easier!

I would just like to thank everyone that made this project possible. I had a wonderful time and really learned a lot. I really appreciate all of the time and work you all put into the fellowship. I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the summer… and I will see you in the spring! Have a wonderful fall!

Christina

During the first week of this fellowship my definition of DH was very theoretical. There is nothing wrong with theoretical definitions, but as the summer went on, my definition became more practical. I think the change in my understanding is like the difference between knowing what Storymaps JS is and actually being able to make a Storymap. I think after completing this fellowship I understand the strengths and weaknesses of DH.  I think it is important to look at it critically, but also appreciate what it stands for.

I am not sure which definition my project represents. In some ways, I think it represents the first “ideal” definition, but in some ways I think my project represents the practical definition.

Advice to the next year’s cohort

1. Don’t be afraid to think big in the first few weeks.
2. Accept that your project will not be as big as you would have hoped
3. Ask lots of questions… during sessions, to specific people, or when you need help.
4. Don’t be afraid to reach out to the greater DH community
5. Don’t rule digital tools out right away
6. Have fun
7. Don’t be afraid to fail

Do you consider yourself a nerd? What classifies someone as a nerd? Is there a nerd spectrum? These are all questions that I have had over the last few days. This was not something I had thought about until someone told me that they didn’t think I was a nerd. This surprised me because I have always classified myself as a nerd.

I looked up some definitions of nerd and they are kind of mean. You can look them up on your own.

There are also some quizzes you can take.

What Percent Nerdy Are You?

How Nerdy Are You?

What do you think? Is there one way to classify nerd? From the people that I have talked to being a nerd has no concrete definition and it is not exclusive.

I love the term “elevator speech.” The idea of being in an elevator with a stranger and having to talk to them sounds like so much fun! I love talking to strangers (and friends). I guess that is my extroverted self! The following are scenarios that are actually possible .

It’s the start of the fall semester and you’re early for a class. Your professor is already in the classroom. They make small talk and ask how your summer went.

My summer was really great. I spent it here, at Gettysburg, in the Library. I was a Digital Scholarship Summer Fellow. The fellowship consisted of 6 students and a cohort of several people in the library who helped us and taught us how to use different tools. The goal of my project was to research sheet music during the Civil War and presents it digitally. I research the song Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!. I looked at the cover, researched the composer, and did other background research. I really enjoyed learning more about the Civil War and the implications of music. Then I created a website that showcased my research. For example the sheet music cover has five vignettes on it. Each image has a caption and the caption is a song that composer of my piece, George Frederick Root, wrote. With the digital tool that I used, you can click on each one of the images to learn more about the cover. It is really interactive. If you would like to look at my website here is the link.

A librarian from another school is visiting Musselman Library and you happen to be studying on the Main floor; a member of the digital scholarship committee introduces you both and you find out quickly that the librarian is really excited about digital scholarship work.

Last summer I really learned a lot about digital scholarship and digital humanities. I am really excited to see how the field will progress over the next few years. My project looked at the song Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!. I researched the cover, researched the composer, and did other background research. I really enjoyed learning more about the Civil War and the implications of music. I used WordPress as the platform of my website. I then used Storymaps JS to annotate the sheet music cover. I also used TimelineJS to create a timeline that would help to provide context to the song. I believe that because I presented my work digitally, it can be more easily understood by others. If you would like to see my project, here is the link. It was so nice meeting you! I would love to continue this conversation and hear about your work with digital scholarship.

After being part of this fellowship this year and aspects of it last year, I can’t help but think in terms of Digital Projects. The following are some digital projects that would be really cool to do.

• Easy Meals to Make for College Students
• Ways to Save Money as a College Student
• Fun Things to do and Places to Eat in Gettysburg
• More projects on Sheet Music
• Greek Life at Gettysburg
• The Social Implications of Twitter
• Campus Culture at Gettysburg
• A Website Dedicated to Blue and Grey’s Menu (and the significance of the names of the good).
• Comprehensive Sex Education Information Center
• The History of Sandwiches
• How Feminist are Disney Movies?

Those are just a few of my thoughts! Maybe someone will turn one into a project.

As I was reading, Reflections on a Movement, I realized that I really connected with it! A lot of my frustrations with DH were being addresses and talked about! I really appreciate #transformDH, for what it has done and what it can do. I think it is important for all people to be aware of hierarchies and how they affect the work that we create and the production of knowledge. The values that Moya Bailey, Anne Cong-Huyen, Alexis Lothian and Amanda Phillips are really important values:

“1. Questions of race, class, gender, sexuality, and disability should be central to digital humanities and digital media studies.

2. Feminist, queer, and antiracist activists, artists, and media-makers outside of academia are doing work that contributes to digital studies in all its forms. This work productively destabilizes the norms and standards of institutionally recognized academic work.

3. We should shift the focus of digital humanities from technical processes to political ones, and always seek to understand the social, intellectual, economic, political, and personal impact of our digital practices as we develop them.”

I believe that every movement should embrace the values like the ones above. The world would be a much better place if these issues were addressed in all walks of life.

By making DH more inclusive not only will more people be able to interact with digital projects, but more people will be able to be part of the DH community. I believe that the more diverse a community is the better it is. It can more easily meet the needs of others, help to educate those in the community and address the bias in some forms of scholarship.

I didn’t realize how powerful hashtags could be. I knew of #OccupyWallStreet and #BlackLivesMatter but I didn’t realize the extent to which that hashtags can literally support/ create movements and be used by activists. I think it is really cool that no one can own a hashtag. Although that might be a little scary, because they are not owned they are open and anyone can share their beliefs with a hashtag. All opinions might not be taken seriously, but they are all documented if the same hashtag is used. Hashtags can empower people to change the direction of a movement by having their voice heard by everyone that uses it.

Before this summer I did not have a lot of respect of Twitter and I did not like using it. Although I may not use it in my everyday life, I think it is extremely beneficial to connect communities, especially DH communities. I am very excited to start using #transformDH.

The most important values of DH are openness and accessibly and I believe #tranformDH should be given credit for helping to create that.

This weekend I went home for my sister’s graduation from high school. While I was home I went to 8 graduation parties for 12 of my sister’s classmates. Because I have not been home since January many people wanted to catch up with me. I told them about my trip to Morocco, Little Rock and this fellowship. Each time I explained my research, my elevator speech got a little better. I am going home this weekend for my sister’s graduation party and I will mingle with more people and talk to them about my research. I will also practice my elevator speech with them. I did not have a hard time explaining my research, I actually had a harder time explaining this fellowship and the digital humanities.

Social media is controversial. Some people post all of their thoughts, beliefs and ideas, while others are more private and some edit every photo only posting the perfect ones. I think only posting perfect photos leads to several issues, but that’s not the point I am trying to make. Facebook is literally a digital scrapbook of our lives. Future researchers will look at our profiles to understand our lives and our beliefs. Books (or maybe digital websites??) will be published about some of our lives using Facebook as a primary source. Wow… that’s crazy to say. Facebook as a primary source?!?!

Although Facebook depicts my life, and others lives, how accurate is it? I was recently going through my newsfeed and one of my friends was dating someone that looked different from whom I remembered. After looking at her profile I realized that she had a new boyfriend. I tried to remember the name of her previous boyfriend, so l looked through her old photos but noticed that none were there. I completely understand why someone would delete previous photos from a relationship or friendship or even delete embarrassing photos of themselves, but what will happen in 50 years when someone is trying to understand your life and there are huge “Facebook” gaps ? I mean I guess understanding the culture of Facebook is key to understanding the bias depiction of someone’s life… but still.

There have been countless times throughout my research where I have wished there was more information about an event, another photo, or a photo at a different angle. It’s okay if those documents never existed, but if someone purposely deleted them because they were standing next to their ex-boyfriend, or they looked bad in it or whatever, I find that so frustrating.  I would consider myself a relatively sentimental person when it comes to photos, but my main hesitation towards deleting digital photos is that they never come back! Just because the photo is not there, does not mean a friendship, or a relationship or a bad hair phase did not exist it means there is poor documentation of it.  Every time permanently I delete a photo, I cringe a little bit.

Just like you need to think before you post please think before you delete.

Sincerely,
Many people that have done research on poorly documented events