While looking at various maps used to present historical data, I found an article that used ones of these maps in a wonderfully visual way. The topic of the article and map is the loss of Native American lands over time. The article can be found here: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2014/06/17/interactive_map_loss_of_indian_land.html.
It references a map created by Claudio Saunt, a historian at the University of Georgia. The map can be found here: http://usg.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=eb6ca76e008543a89349ff2517db47e6.
The map uses the ArcGIS mapping tool. From the examples on the University of Georgia website, the ArcGIS mapping tool seems like it has been very well designed for displaying historic data.
My final project is coming along nicely, and I hope to have all of the text and pages completed by tomorrow (Sunday, July 7th).
As a side note, this week I read an article about a new app that is relevant to this course: https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/news/indigenous-dc-there-s-an-app-for-that-BJ9S8QV6EUKdp0PKYXjSLg/. The app is called "Guide to Indigenous DC" and it is available for free for iPhones. The Android version is in development. The app allows users to take guided or virtual tours of DC with information about Native American historical events and perspectives. I look forward to downloading and using the app the next time I go into DC to explore.
Saturday, July 6, 2019
Thursday, July 4, 2019
Crowd Sourcing History
I believe that crowd sourcing history is one of the most fascinating aspects of public history, and one that is the most ready for innovation and out-of-the-box thinking.
I've been following NARA's Citizen Archivist project for the past couple of years. This is incredibly important work. Computer programs are able to convert most type-written text into searchable text these days, but most historical documents are difficult for computers to handle. Handwritten text, text that is somewhat blurred from damage to the paper, or other more complicated documents cannot be auto-scanned in this way. There are thousands of people in the world who would love to have the opportunity to volunteer on a worthy project like this, though.
One of the best uses of crowd sourcing history that I have found is for tagging photos. This is a task that is more difficult for computers to do than converting text to searchable text, and it is something that humans can do very quickly and easily. Tagged photos allow researchers to quickly search through large databases to find what they need. I would like to see more projects that partner with descendant communities of the subjects of the photos, such as immigrant communities, indigenous groups, etc, to tag the photos using their cultural and historical knowledge. There are many opportunities for these types of partnerships with museums and archives today.
There are two issues that make it difficult to create these crowd sourcing projects, though. First, most museums and archives do not have the manpower or budget to create high quality scans to upload to the internet to begin these projects. Having worked on digitization projects myself, I know that it takes an incredibly large number of hours to do and the machines are very expensive. The majority of museums and archives in the U.S. have a hard time just cataloging and caring for what they have in their collections. They certainly don't have time to digitize it, as well.
Second, the technology platforms for starting a project like NARA's Citizen Archivist project are difficult to program and out of reach for most museums and archives. If the platform does not run smoothly and the user interface is not intuitive and easy to use, volunteers will not want to work on the project. I did find this platform that is already designed and available at a cost to institutions: https://fromthepage.com/software. However, the cost plus the internal employee manpower needed for these projects still puts this out of reach for most institutions.
When I was looking for other examples of history crowd sourcing for this unit, I came across this lovely Wikipedia page (a very meta example, a crowd-sourced list of crowd sourcing within a crowd-sourced project; and yes, Wikipedia is on the list): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_crowdsourcing_projects. It includes many examples of history-focused projects. Some of the ones that interested me were:
-Historic Cambridge Newspaper Collection
Right on the homepage it has a list of the top text correctors, which is a nice way to encourage participation. Here is the link to how to edit the text: https://cambridge.dlconsulting.com/?a=p&p=help&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------#correcttext
-Colored Conventions Transcribe Minutes Project
This project is not active at the moment, but the work from the project can be seen here: http://coloredconventions.org/transcribe-minutes
-The Historical Marker Database
https://www.hmdb.org/
-DIY History by the University of Iowa
http://diyhistory.lib.uiowa.edu/
-Shakespeare's World
A historical document transcription project focusing on documents from Shakespeare's contemporaries: https://www.shakespearesworld.org/#/
For my final project, I am working to complete all pages and text this week so that next week can solely be for any last edits and revising.
I've been following NARA's Citizen Archivist project for the past couple of years. This is incredibly important work. Computer programs are able to convert most type-written text into searchable text these days, but most historical documents are difficult for computers to handle. Handwritten text, text that is somewhat blurred from damage to the paper, or other more complicated documents cannot be auto-scanned in this way. There are thousands of people in the world who would love to have the opportunity to volunteer on a worthy project like this, though.
One of the best uses of crowd sourcing history that I have found is for tagging photos. This is a task that is more difficult for computers to do than converting text to searchable text, and it is something that humans can do very quickly and easily. Tagged photos allow researchers to quickly search through large databases to find what they need. I would like to see more projects that partner with descendant communities of the subjects of the photos, such as immigrant communities, indigenous groups, etc, to tag the photos using their cultural and historical knowledge. There are many opportunities for these types of partnerships with museums and archives today.
There are two issues that make it difficult to create these crowd sourcing projects, though. First, most museums and archives do not have the manpower or budget to create high quality scans to upload to the internet to begin these projects. Having worked on digitization projects myself, I know that it takes an incredibly large number of hours to do and the machines are very expensive. The majority of museums and archives in the U.S. have a hard time just cataloging and caring for what they have in their collections. They certainly don't have time to digitize it, as well.
Second, the technology platforms for starting a project like NARA's Citizen Archivist project are difficult to program and out of reach for most museums and archives. If the platform does not run smoothly and the user interface is not intuitive and easy to use, volunteers will not want to work on the project. I did find this platform that is already designed and available at a cost to institutions: https://fromthepage.com/software. However, the cost plus the internal employee manpower needed for these projects still puts this out of reach for most institutions.
When I was looking for other examples of history crowd sourcing for this unit, I came across this lovely Wikipedia page (a very meta example, a crowd-sourced list of crowd sourcing within a crowd-sourced project; and yes, Wikipedia is on the list): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_crowdsourcing_projects. It includes many examples of history-focused projects. Some of the ones that interested me were:
-Historic Cambridge Newspaper Collection
Right on the homepage it has a list of the top text correctors, which is a nice way to encourage participation. Here is the link to how to edit the text: https://cambridge.dlconsulting.com/?a=p&p=help&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------#correcttext
-Colored Conventions Transcribe Minutes Project
This project is not active at the moment, but the work from the project can be seen here: http://coloredconventions.org/transcribe-minutes
-The Historical Marker Database
https://www.hmdb.org/
-DIY History by the University of Iowa
http://diyhistory.lib.uiowa.edu/
-Shakespeare's World
A historical document transcription project focusing on documents from Shakespeare's contemporaries: https://www.shakespearesworld.org/#/
For my final project, I am working to complete all pages and text this week so that next week can solely be for any last edits and revising.
Sunday, June 30, 2019
Data Visualization and Draft Final Project
Data visualization can serve as an incredible resource both for teaching about history and for researchers looking for historical trends. It is very hard to process long lists of numbers, such as those seen in census records or other sources of historic data. But once you see the numbers on a graph or chart, they start to make sense.
As a historian, seeing data in graph form can help shape questions for research. For instance, if you look at the population for a certain city and see that there is a drop one decade, or the start of a growth trend, that can raise questions about what caused these changes. Then the population data can be compared with other data sets that the census might give, such as number of people who moved from other locations, education level of the population, average household salary, numbers of people employed in certain professions, etc., to learn more about the historic happenings in that city.
Census data is the easiest to access for populations. However, depending on what you are studying, you can draw from all kinds of data sets. If you are studying Civil War history, it might be interesting to create data visualization of the number of combatants in each battle on each side, number of deaths on each side, and how those numbers changed over the course of the war. Or if you want to look at something like how building a new company headquarters or a transit system in a town impacts the population, you could create a data visualization of the census data from shortly before the event through the decades after. There are many ways in which data visualization can be useful.
My final project website has been published in draft form. It can be found at: https://sms244924.wixsite.com/cherokeecarvings. There is still a lot of work to do. On the artists list page, each of the artists' names will link to their own page on my site with information, photos of the objects, and signatures of the artist. I will also add additional information about the history of the art form. I also need to finish the "Sources" and "To Find Out More" sections on the "About" page. Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions. I welcome any feedback. Thank you!
As a historian, seeing data in graph form can help shape questions for research. For instance, if you look at the population for a certain city and see that there is a drop one decade, or the start of a growth trend, that can raise questions about what caused these changes. Then the population data can be compared with other data sets that the census might give, such as number of people who moved from other locations, education level of the population, average household salary, numbers of people employed in certain professions, etc., to learn more about the historic happenings in that city.
Census data is the easiest to access for populations. However, depending on what you are studying, you can draw from all kinds of data sets. If you are studying Civil War history, it might be interesting to create data visualization of the number of combatants in each battle on each side, number of deaths on each side, and how those numbers changed over the course of the war. Or if you want to look at something like how building a new company headquarters or a transit system in a town impacts the population, you could create a data visualization of the census data from shortly before the event through the decades after. There are many ways in which data visualization can be useful.
My final project website has been published in draft form. It can be found at: https://sms244924.wixsite.com/cherokeecarvings. There is still a lot of work to do. On the artists list page, each of the artists' names will link to their own page on my site with information, photos of the objects, and signatures of the artist. I will also add additional information about the history of the art form. I also need to finish the "Sources" and "To Find Out More" sections on the "About" page. Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions. I welcome any feedback. Thank you!
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Digital Archives
For the Northern Virginia Digital History Archive, I chose to take photos of the town in which I live, Tysons, VA, because of the fast and remarkable changes that have been occurring in the town over the past few years and will be progressing into the future. With the rise of huge corporate headquarters and government contractors in the town, and then with the expansion of the Silver Line of the WMATA through the town, the town has completely changed over the past few decades.
The process for uploading the photos into the archives was easy. I had no difficulties, and the instructions were very clear.
One of my personal favorite online digital archives is the Find A Grave website (https://www.findagrave.com/). I use it frequently for my personal family history research and for searching for information on Native American artists and craftspeople for my job. It is extremely easy to search for a person, a location, or a specific cemetery. Each photo of a grave site or a person has attribution for who uploaded it. The range of cemeteries and people included is impressive. I have found very few weaknesses. Obviously the viewer cannot expect to have photos of every single grave site or cemetery, but I think anyone searching will be shocked at how often the website will actually have what they are looking for. The only drawback that I have encountered in using it for research is that the information people put on tombstones is not always correct and contradicts what can be found in official records. This is not something that the digital archive can be held accountable for, but it is something that researchers need to keep in mind. The same is true for obituaries and any other self-reported or family-reported sources.
My own final project is progressing. I have set up the basic layout of the website, taken photos of the objects for the exhibit, and conducted the research needed. Wix made it very easy to set up a professional-looking template that I am pleased with. I am mostly working out the best way to direct people through the pages of the website in a way that encourages them to access the background info first and then move into looking at the objects and artists that I've included.
The process for uploading the photos into the archives was easy. I had no difficulties, and the instructions were very clear.
One of my personal favorite online digital archives is the Find A Grave website (https://www.findagrave.com/). I use it frequently for my personal family history research and for searching for information on Native American artists and craftspeople for my job. It is extremely easy to search for a person, a location, or a specific cemetery. Each photo of a grave site or a person has attribution for who uploaded it. The range of cemeteries and people included is impressive. I have found very few weaknesses. Obviously the viewer cannot expect to have photos of every single grave site or cemetery, but I think anyone searching will be shocked at how often the website will actually have what they are looking for. The only drawback that I have encountered in using it for research is that the information people put on tombstones is not always correct and contradicts what can be found in official records. This is not something that the digital archive can be held accountable for, but it is something that researchers need to keep in mind. The same is true for obituaries and any other self-reported or family-reported sources.
My own final project is progressing. I have set up the basic layout of the website, taken photos of the objects for the exhibit, and conducted the research needed. Wix made it very easy to set up a professional-looking template that I am pleased with. I am mostly working out the best way to direct people through the pages of the website in a way that encourages them to access the background info first and then move into looking at the objects and artists that I've included.
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Real or Not?
This week's focus on the dichotomy between real and not real with objects that have been digitized is interesting. I don't think the focus should be on whether one is better/worse, or if one is "real." Instead, like with most forms of technology, historians and museums need to figure out what the best uses of each type of medium are, and how to create "real" experiences for the viewers.
The recorded lecture for this week touched on some of the benefits of a student being able to hold a physical object. It creates a connection with the history. Holding a document that you know that George Washington held (http://catalog.mountvernon.org/digital/collection/p16829coll18/id/595), or even standing in front of it in an exhibit, is very different from reading a digitized version on a screen. This is part of the reason I chose museum work as my profession.
However, there are benefits to the digitized versions that the physical objects cannot match. The lecture said that seeing a huge painting in person is a different experience than seeing it on a small digital screen. But with that digitized image, the viewer can zoom in to see all of the tiny brush strokes (if the image is good enough). They wouldn't be able to get close enough to do this at a museum. I'd say that this brings you closer to being able to understand the workings of the artist than seeing the whole canvas does. Also, the digitized image can be placed side-by-side with any other digitized artwork to compare them, which a visitor obviously can't do in a museum. These experiences of the artwork are still "real," but different. Just like reading an e-book is still reading a book, but with a different type of experience.
On a side note, today so many things are "born digital" that this idea of real and not real becomes irrelevant. Photos, documents, emails - all are only in a digital form. The digital is the real in these cases. 3D printing is also changing this idea of the real and not real in very interesting ways, particularly in museums. But all that a philosophical matter for another day ...
The recorded lecture for this week touched on some of the benefits of a student being able to hold a physical object. It creates a connection with the history. Holding a document that you know that George Washington held (http://catalog.mountvernon.org/digital/collection/p16829coll18/id/595), or even standing in front of it in an exhibit, is very different from reading a digitized version on a screen. This is part of the reason I chose museum work as my profession.
However, there are benefits to the digitized versions that the physical objects cannot match. The lecture said that seeing a huge painting in person is a different experience than seeing it on a small digital screen. But with that digitized image, the viewer can zoom in to see all of the tiny brush strokes (if the image is good enough). They wouldn't be able to get close enough to do this at a museum. I'd say that this brings you closer to being able to understand the workings of the artist than seeing the whole canvas does. Also, the digitized image can be placed side-by-side with any other digitized artwork to compare them, which a visitor obviously can't do in a museum. These experiences of the artwork are still "real," but different. Just like reading an e-book is still reading a book, but with a different type of experience.
On a side note, today so many things are "born digital" that this idea of real and not real becomes irrelevant. Photos, documents, emails - all are only in a digital form. The digital is the real in these cases. 3D printing is also changing this idea of the real and not real in very interesting ways, particularly in museums. But all that a philosophical matter for another day ...
Sunday, June 16, 2019
Class Project Proposal and Informational Databases
As I have mentioned in earlier blog posts, I plan for the final project of the Intro to Digital History course to be an online exhibit of woodcarvings from Eastern Band of Cherokee artists. I will be using my own collection of woodcarvings to create this exhibit. Currently I am planning to create a website for this project.
By using only the carvings in my collection, I am limited in the scope of my exhibit. This happens to museum curators when they are creating exhibits, as well. They are limited to the scope of the museum's collection unless they can pursue a loan from other institutions. With those loans they might not have the rights to use photos of the objects in an online exhibit, though.
For example, Amanda Crowe was the artist who popularized the Eastern Cherokee woodcarving tradition and taught almost all of the Eastern Cherokee artists who carved after her (or taught the people who taught them). Unfortunately I do not have any of her carvings in my collection because they are much too expensive. So, though I will speak about her work throughout the exhibit, I will not be able to include photos of her work. There are a few photos of her available in the public domain through the National Archives that I will probably use.
There has been very little scholarly literature written about these artists, and all of the carvers created their works within the past 50-70 years, so there is not much information in electronic databases that I will be using. Western Carolina University has created a wonderful website with information about Eastern Cherokee artists, and this will be my main source for information for the exhibits. It is called "Cherokee Traditions: From the Hands of Our Elders" (https://www.wcu.edu/library/DigitalCollections/CherokeeTraditions/People/Carvers_AmandaCrowe.html).
Thursday, June 13, 2019
Digital Materials
During my time working in museums and libraries, I have digitized many materials. I worked on book scanning at Widener Library at Harvard University. Due to copyright restrictions, there were many rules about how these scans were accessed, the number of users of the scans, the percentage of a book that could be scanned, etc. It was interesting to see how these copyright laws worked in the real world.
In museums I have taken photos of artwork and objects to be published online in web-base catalogs or online exhibits. Research both on the object itself and the museum's rights to the object are required to learn whether the museum can publish these photos online.
I plan for my final project to be an online exhibit of wood carvings made by members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. I own the carvings and will be using my own photos. I am excited to create a publicly accessible exhibit of these objects to share with the wider world. There are many sources online for digital images, including of similar wood carvings. But a web publisher (which includes all people creating web content) must consider copyright issues when sharing or posting digital images, both for ethical and legal reasons. By using my own photos, I can guarantee that the content is legally used.
In museums I have taken photos of artwork and objects to be published online in web-base catalogs or online exhibits. Research both on the object itself and the museum's rights to the object are required to learn whether the museum can publish these photos online.
I plan for my final project to be an online exhibit of wood carvings made by members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. I own the carvings and will be using my own photos. I am excited to create a publicly accessible exhibit of these objects to share with the wider world. There are many sources online for digital images, including of similar wood carvings. But a web publisher (which includes all people creating web content) must consider copyright issues when sharing or posting digital images, both for ethical and legal reasons. By using my own photos, I can guarantee that the content is legally used.
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