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[pearlmuststudy]

Blog Post 5 What We Think We Will Build and What We Build in Digital Humanities

William G. Thomas writes in this article about the fact that Digital Humanities is not what we really think it is. He explains that what we build or aim to build is not what we think we build, and that this difference or disconnection can provide opportunities and challenges. The disconnection is so tremendous that what we do is no longer fixed, but becomes dynamic and open-ended with heterogeneous datatypes, as per a previously analysed article. Thomas displays his work in a structure that is familiar to me, as one of my assignments involves a question-based presentation. The main idea of this article, or research paper, is to answer this question: how does scholarly practice change with digital humanities? with an interrogative thesis:

Is an archive an argument? Where is our scholarship? 

Thomas considers an archive as his main form presentation. An archive is a collection of documents and other resources in digital form. Yet, this archive, while providing easy access also wishes to contain analysed notes that can not be digitised because of its format. The archive then lacks key information and its author does not get to publish the archive that is really needed or originally imagined. A digital humanist does not only display authentic information, but also usually creates new history, a newly discovered aspect of a theme. In order to get that discovery to an audience, one must participate in collaborative efforts that help to model, to preserve and to create availability.

How do we work in terms of scholars in the humanities?

Digital Humanities projects are often characterised by multi-authored features. Collaboration used to mean teamwork, to a certain extent. Scholars and students only worked on the background of a project, like preparing the media that will share the project, finding resources and other works. Scholarly practice however has changed with digital humanities in that, it is no longer up to one person to make publications, but a team. Teams are now responsible for publications and creating their own audience on certain projects. Like at Create Caribbean, where interns are assigned a project and get to do their own research based on a theme that will be published on the website for students and teachers who are interested in that theme and believes it is important to share that publication.

What does scholarly argument look like in digital form?

The archive, although it contains original documents from various formats, will never look the same once in digital form. The once exact, oasis-like print becomes information that triggers and begs for further analysis and research from both the readers and the author(s); it becomes open-ended, which is a basic characteristic of any thematic research collection.

[onicka-blog1]

Designing Sustainable Research Projects

Digital humanities projects and publications need to know the research objectives and available technologies or resources.  A digital collection involves many interrelated activities.  Examination of the information will educate investigation of the objectives.

Humanists examine human artifacts. Any object created by humans which may be a primary object of interest or serve as proof of human activities, would be considered an aritfact. Users are the creators and must maintain the project. User functions into three types: querying (question/ evaluating), rendering, and navigation. Rendering and querying are two primary operations performed on XML-encoded textual documents. Economy must also be considered when completing these projects.

Data must not be simply entered into computers, but additional data must use. Data in databases are thoroughly organized and orderly and most chronicled archives and records basically. The information in computers exists in a coded form which is mechanically read and processed by the computer, with the use of the binary system.

Information represented in databases is characterized as "data-centric", and information represented in mark-up technologies is characterized as "document-centric."  File data controls the files used to store digital information.  

Descriptive data function as a scholarly surrogate for an object and is needed to distinguish objects used in building as well as objects digitally represented in a research collection. In computerized research recording and monitoring the sources and evidence utilized as a part of making a research project is as critical as it is in conventional research.

A procedure where collaboration is utilized build up the venture is known as collaborative design.  Collaboration exhibits challenges most humanists generally work alone and share the research's results, not the procedure.  A challenge of collaboration is balancing individual interests and shared objectives.

 The distinction between document-centric and data-centric information, although it is useful, it proves to be problematic. It is a valuable refinement since it highlights the qualities of markup dialects and databases, in spite of the fact that it doesn't reflect data reality, all things considered.

   Designing Sustainable Research Projects by  Daniel V. Pitti

[rheaxavier]

To Build or Not to Build

Cohen and Rosenzweig’s chapter about building an audience embraces the uniqueness of one’s topic and teaches how to reach your project’s audience and how a website is a cheap relatable method to doing such.

The body of the text teaches us about the value of the content in you project and methods in which we can easily direct our audience across our form of media. These include connecting with your community, assessing your audience and creating an easy accessible platform.

Firstly, connecting with your community is important in building an audience since through this method the creator becomes aware of the people accessing his/her site and therefore he/she is able to see the number of people accessing his/her site on a constant basis.

Secondly, assessing your audience is vital when connecting to your community since when you become aware of the preferences of your targeted audience you can change the content on the site to better facilitate the targeted audience whether it is through specifying said content and by being more flexible. If the topic of the site is too broad, less visitors will be able to connect to the content at hand. Cohen and Rosenzweig suggest that the focus of your website become narrower.

Lastly, Cohen and Rosenzweig recommend the creation of linked pages or drop down menus with each type of content. In the text, the writers use and example of a website which is fully comprised of the diary of Martha Ballard. Due to the diversity of the diary, the site has a drop down menu which encompasses the various topics in her diary. This is an easy way for the visitors to be able to access the information on your site and therefore the ease in accessibility will attract visitors.

This piece of writing elegantly addresses, what I consider, the most important methods of increasing an audience and how to maintain them through several what may seem the most overlooked methods of such.

Source: Cohen and Rosenzweig “Building an Audience”

[pearlmuststudy]

Blog Post 3: What Do ‘We’ Do?

As an intern taking this course (Digital Humanities), I can get away with calling myself a Digital Humanist. This week’s reading is the most significant, in my opinion, since its focus is on what we do.

Paige Morgan wrote an article that answers that question, entitled What Digital Humanists Do. She addresses the fact that Digital Humanities is an ever-changing sector by explaining several types of projects. These include knowledge sites, and digital editions of texts, both of which I can relate to or I have had experience with. She breaks each type down using subtitles such as “what is it”, “why do it”, ‘what’s involved” and “how big is the project”.

A knowledge site, as per Morgan, is a collection of sources, whether primary or secondary, and resources for research and teaching. A familiar example is S-Cool, a revision website for A-Level and GSCE subjects. A digital edition of a text is just the online edition of a book that is either specific to one aspect or just an online copy of the whole text. Darwin Online is an example of a digital edition of all the published and unpublished works of Charles Darwin.

The purpose of projects like these are very related. Accessibility is a common goal among Digital Humanists. As mentioned in recently studied reading, having a website provides free and open access to an audience. It allows the owner to communicate their ideas and concepts to their audience, and it allows the promotion of unfamiliar aspects and subjects to students and writers (example: historians). Additionally, these projects are ways to store newfound resources for further use and to find collaborators with mutual interests.

To begin and end a project, there are steps to take that are detailed and important. You must first choose a topic and identify your audience to build foundation for your project. Then other things follow such as the display of your work, considering the extent of contribution and developing standards and logs for sake of interaction. Over time, maintenance and updating must be put in place if you want the project to be continuously accessed.

The size of a project would depend on many things. The audience, the main idea and the purpose of the topic are considerations. Morgan explains that a good resource, one that is maintained and updated regularly would be long-term.

Knowing what Digital Humanists do is important not only for a student wishing to pursue a career in Digital Humanities, but also for students and non-students alike who plan on doing research and sharing their findings with the world.

[rheaxavier]

The Reading Revolution

Prior to reading the “10 Reading Revolutions before E-books” I was somewhat unsure as to what I would expect, but to my relief I was pleasantly surprised. This article encompassed a large amount of historical aspects that I was unprepared to see, from cuneiform to the current method of writing information. It awes me to see how our writing has evolved to the current style which transcends generations.

The “10 Reading Revolutions before E-Books” showcases the drastic changes in the world which led to the current book industry we know and appreciate. Firstly, the Reading Revolution changed our way of reading the actual books from intensive to extensive. During our Digital Humanities class meeting last Thursday, I clearly recall Dr. Esprit explaining to us how we, Digital Natives, don’t read in depth as we do in breadth. This meant that what we read is as vast a sea however we may not know a lot about the actual topic at hand. Secondly, due to the Print Revolution, more people had access to lighter, more modern folded codices rather than the heavy scrolls. This change of book style also led to the change in sheets used to hold the actual information. Thirdly, the Industrial Revolution led the way for books to be printed in bulk. Thanks to the cheapness and ease of accessing books and the state driven educational push, more people became literate. Fourthly, the Industrial Revolution steered the current Electronic Age. In this era, many people welcomed newer computers and other electronic devices with open arms. This Age uses text written by computers rather than humans largely increasing the amount of information we receive constantly. The Electronic Age is the reason why E-books are now possible and this creates a great amount of convenience for us Digital Natives.

In conclusion, the past and all the events occurring in the preceding centuries has led to the generation of literate individuals with the world and all its reading material at our fingertips.

[onicka-blog1]

10 Reading Revolutions Before E-Books

German Historia Rolf Engelsing made famous “reading revolution” which was shift from intensive reading to extensive reading which he called “Lesenrevolution”.  Many historians displayed their own idea of “reading revolution” but its “real” meaning is let to discover.

 Johannes Gutenberg introduced the “print revolution” which proved to a difficult piece of equipment but print changed and improved readers' expectations of texts.

 Scripts allowed the exchange of symbols for sounds. The first decent alphabet was brought about by Greeks, every single alphabet and abjad can trace itself back to the same Semitic roots.

The ‘rolled scroll to the folded codex’ shift were cheaper, easier to read and carry.  Anagogic readings were easier, thus, Christians spread the codex all through the Roman Empire.

Papyrus was swapped for parchment but later paper was popularized.

My favourite revolution being the industrial revolution, brought about steam powered presses were invented and papermakers improved paper quality as time went on.  This is when technology was booming.

The time taking to create what was needed for reading and parchment was just plain heavy and difficult to get from place to place there was paper, radio, and television became a more favourable means of communication.

In the electronic age an entire new family of audio-visual media turned out to be more important to culture even as content kept on multiplying. The change of alphanumeric content to binary languages, content written to be "read" by PCs instead of people, and increasing the reading amount and writing. we perform on screens.

The vertical way of writing was not always popular, in the past horizontal writing became famous. Many experiments were conducted to perfect or improve the reading revolution.  Numerous revolutions took place to perfect reading which many people do not see its worth and importance. This is a revolution which contains the history of the book, from manuscript scrolls on papyrus, graffiti on the walls all the way to texts and image on one single screen.

[onicka-blog1]

NEATLINE Introduction

Neatline is an interactive system for the creation of maps no matter the complexity and can also incorporate timelines.  In making a Neatline exhibit, you accept the part of interpreter which plays a important role in bettering the site.  It can work in union with plugins like Omeka to assist digital humanist, web publications etc.  This website promotes being social and creativity since one it is customizable with its a wide variety of designs to attract users while to improving user experiences.  To ensure users have smooth sailing and little to no confusion when using the site there is a detailed tutorial on ‘how to use the plugin’ with the use of questions and answers.

Base maps to conduct your work can either be provide or the site possesses many different base maps which is at your disposal.  How general or localized your analysis is will determine whether you will need geo-reference for your map.

When using satellite imagery, the use of points on mapping sites maybe be a problem because it may not be accurate besides giving the point option Neatline gives the polygon option.  Polygon outlines the city/country you are trying to plot.

Neatline gives the option of the date ambiguity gadget which permits you visually communicate any uncertainty you have inside your timetable. This is an extraordinary approach to abstain from deluding clients with false specificity.

With Neatline one is able to control how a user will view their map with the use of their map focus which points them in a particular perspective settings on your map, guaranteeing that those spatial representational they perceive matches the things or records you matched with it.

In the beginning, it might appear superfluous or unreasonable with the wide variety for features Neatline offers but we are to keep in mind that maps and timelines are not objective images, but visual translations of time and space.

  Iman Salehian

[jodine-r-blog]

Neatline

Like every Digital Humanities (DH) project there must be a platform used, Neatline is the most common at Create Caribbean and other digital humanists organizations. Neatline.org describes the platform as, “A geotemporal exhibit-builder that allows you to create beautiful, complex maps, image annotations, and narrative sequences from Omeka collections of archives and artifacts, and to connect your maps and narratives with timelines that are more-than-usually sensitive to ambiguity and nuance.” This simply means that neatline is used to create and organise maps while plotting the necessary information. Also neatline is a an add-on to omeka which is a free, open source information management system. The key features to consider when choosing neatline for a project are maps, plotting and narrative.

The most important of the features is maps. However, the type of map chosen depends on whether the project information is historical or modern. Each map must have a base map because it depicts reference information for the actual maps. Curators can either create their own base map or choose a base layer. There are over 8 layers to choose from including openstreetmap, google (physical, hybrid, streets or satellite) and stamen (watercolor, toner or terrain).

Plotting is a technique used to represent data on a graph, chart or map. When plotting on a map points,polygons or custom points can be used, however it is based on the type of information. Points are used for specific places such as a church, but polygons are used for areas like a community or city. For custom points .jpg image files can be used to replace points. In the event that person's are unsure of the accuracy of the content, a date ambiguity widget is offered by neatline.

The narrative is a report of related events that can solicit an argument. Creators must be careful when directing the audience as it is directly related to the content presented. Also, setting the map focus and the organisation of the data will also influence the direction.

The most vital features of a neatline based project are the maps, plots and narratives. While each feature is important, their level of importance may differ based on the data being presented.

Source: Neatline by Iman Salehian