Progress of Project

For my final project I am portraying Gandhi’s life. I have always been very interested in Gandhi and his life story before and during India’s fight for independence. Before I started researching about the topic, I had a very basic knowledge on who Gandhi was. He was not heavily covered in my schooling. Therefore, I learned a lot about him while working on this project. I learned that he was married at a very early age and traveled a lot for his schooling and work. He studied in London, and he worked as a lawyer in South Africa. Through my project I want the user to be able to navigate through parts of India, UK, and South Africa and understand how the situations he encountered at each location shaped his views.

I am primarily using Neatline to present my project. I am also using a timeline and waypoints to help enhance the presentation and to show a more complete story. Neatline allows me to pick specific locations and describe the events that might have taken place there. The timeline allows me to connect the map to dates. I believe this adds some more context to my project. Finally, waypoints allows me to make me put my exhibit in a specific order. I want the users to follow a linear sequence while they travel through Gandhi’s life. By following a linear sequence, I hope the user can connect different events in Gandhi’s timeline to his actions in future dates.

My main issue while working on my project was that I thought that I was not putting in enough work. I thought the presentation looked too plain and simple. Therefore, to help enhance the experience for the user, I have started picking out pictures that I will add to each location on my map. In Thursday’s class, I also learned how to connect different points in my map. As I continue working on my project, I hope to keep adding more updates(pictures, color). My goal for my project is to be both educational and creative. Overall, I want the user to be able to make connections between the information in Neatline and the timeline to better understand Gandhi.

Working with Palladio

We did not meet for class last Thursday, but we were assigned to either get familiar with Palladio or Tableau. I followed Miriam Posner’s tutorial on Getting Started with Palladio. I thought the tutorial was pretty simple and I was able to follow each step. Palladio allows you to layer your data on a map. The application also allows us to view a timeline and sort our data through facets. By using facets, I was able to find different relationships between different data. The tutorial also helped me in making a network diagram. The network diagram helped me make relationships among different entities. Finally, the tutorial showed us how to download our maps. Overall, I thought the tutorial was straightforward and I really did not encounter any hardships with Palladio. I have pasted a screenshot of my network diagram below. I enjoyed Palladio, however I do wish the tutorial showed how to add more color to the map or the network diagrams. Overall I felt that my map and diagram were a little dull. Also, I personally felt that Palladio was a little buggy.  My browser would freeze and I had to start over.

I am excited to formally start our projects next week. We have learned various tools in class, and I can’t wait to put them together for my project. I hope to have a lot of fun working with the different applications we learned this semester and applying the data I find. I am also excited to see wheat relationships I find in my data, and how I will choose to display the data. Therefore, I am looking forward to next week!

My network diagram.

Maps

Last class, we discussed maps and the different uses for maps. My personal definition of maps is that they are a geographical representation of a certain location at a certain time period. For example, a map of Creighton University provides the location of various buildings and streets around Creighton. However, if Creighton were to add more buildings on campus, our map would change. Therefore, I believe that maps only depict the geographical and to an extent spatial location of a certain place at a certain time period. If the geography were to change, the map would also have to make adjustments.

In class, we also learned that all maps distort the shape and size of certain land-forms.  In my early schooling, we used the Mercator projection to learn about the different continents. At the time, I thought that Greenland was larger than most continents. I thought it was the same size as Africa. In reality, Greenland is a lot smaller than Africa. We also discussed that based on who made the projection, there might be biases of the map. For example, a projection made by the US, might have America as the middle of the map. If the map was made by Russia, that certain projection might have Russia in the middle. These projections would also result in distorting the size and shape of certain continents.

Globes on the other hand, provide us with a good visualization of the earth’s surface. The shape and sizes of the various continents is not as distorted. This is because the globe gives us a spherical representation of the Earth, while the standard map gives us a flat representation. However, Maps also have their own advantages. They can be drawn at any scale and can also provide good detail on certain regions. They are also easier to modify when there are changes.

As stated on David Rumsey Map Collection, overlaying historic maps on modern maps can reveal changes over time and help us in making analysis and discovery. For my project, I am focusing on British Rule of India with a focus on Gandhi. Therefore, in class I searched for a map that shows the British rule of India and the divisions at the time. I then used Map Warper to overlay this map onto a modern map of India. I immediately noticed many differences. For example, the city of Chennai(now) was known as Madras in British Rule. I personally found this demo very useful and I would like to use a similar map in my digital project. However, I did face some difficulties. I was not able to properly crop my map. After cropping my map, a black box remained in the parts that I had cropped.

If possible, I would like to use Omeka as my main website for my digital project. However, I was wondering if it is also possible to use neatline and omeka together. I would like to have a timeline and a map in my exhibits. I would like my domain to be OmahaBritishIndia (histories).

 

My Map on Map Warper: http://mapwarper.net/maps/16199#Export_tab

Title:India_British Map

Greenland vs Africa on the Mercator Projection vs Reality. Source

Data Sorting

In Thursday’s class, we discussed how to organize historical data. We used import.io and OpenRefine to sort and clean up messy data. Import.io allowed us to import an online data table and customize the table to our taste. I used the time allotted in class to look up a possible table that would potentially be beneficial for my project. I found a table of Indian activists during the time period of India’s Independence. By using this table, I might be able to understand how Gandhi may have been influenced by those who came before and after him.

We also discussed the concept of big data. Big data involves very large sets of data and we discussed how analyzing this data is very difficult. OpenRefine is a software that allows us to sort out our messy data. In class, we attempted to organize a data set involving different books and their publishing companies. I noticed how simple human errors caused the computer to not distinguish Titan from Titan]. The computer is not as smart as we believe. It can only understand simple commands and cannot think for us. Therefore, the computer can’t distinguish slightly misspelled words, commas, special characters, and variations from a word as the original.  OpenRefine helps us recognize these errors, and allows us to sort these words in an organized manner. I believe while working with data, we have to be smarter than the computer. We are the ones giving the computer the commands. If we don’t understand the data, the computer would not be able to help us. Therefore, I believe that we need to be able to catch our mistakes and not draw incomplete conclusions from our data. Personally, I do not believe I can be able to use the coding option on OpenRefine. I would feel more comfortable using the programs that they have built in to the software. Other than this challenge, I was able to keep up with the demo in class.

For my digital project, I would like to first compile my data on excel and then use OpenRefine to sort my data. I am more familiar with excel, therefore I am more comfortable entering data quickly on excel when compared to OpenRefine. However, I would like to use OpenRefine to fix any of the mistakes I might have made while entering the data. I am also looking forward to the coming weeks where we learn to make unique visual representations of our data.

OpenRefine allows us to sort and organize data. Source

 

Timeline

Last class we learned how to make timelines and story maps. Personally, I believe both timelines and story maps are very effective in displaying and organizing material. They both require user input and also provide information about a topic. For example, for a time line the user can click on the information or the dates to learn more about the topic. For the story map, the user can click on different parts of the map and learn more about the place. Both techniques are useful in helping the user make connections between various dates, locations, and information.

Timelines are most effective when the information provided about each date is kept to three to five sentences. Under three sentences would not provide the reader with enough content and over five sentences would risk the reader losing concentration. Videos, pictures, and gifs can be added to the timeline to help engage the reader in the topic.

I plan on using a timeline for my digital project. I would like to include important dates to help the reader make connections between different events. I plan on also utilizing pictures and videos to help the readers obtain a better understanding about my topic.

The story map option is also promising. If I use story map, I can make connections between different parts of India, South Africa, and Britain. I would be able to effectively tell the story of Gandhi’s life and his roles in different parts of the world during different periods of his life.  I plan to explore the story map option is more depth. Overall, I would like to utilize both the timeline as well as story map for my digital project.

I made a timeline using TimelineJS to get more familiar with the program. The program requires you to have a google drive account. I used a Google spread sheet to enter dates and content about an example topic.  I also added pictures, sources, and changed the background color between different dates. My example topic was about Red Velvet, a girl group in Korea. My friend introduced me to Korean culture and music, and now I enjoy listening to music and learning about Korean culture with my friend.

Link to my Timeline: https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1mvxiPZlNE1dDmrU46BUTtCAEi2Te-_NViD5NLTxmleA&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650%27%20width=%27100%%27%20height=%27650%27%20frameborder=%270%27%3E%3C/iframe%3E

Red Velvet’s third mini-album.  Source

 

 

My Digital Project

On Wednesday, I met with you to discuss possible topics for my digital project. Before Wednesday, I did not know in which direction I should take my project. I had possible topics in mind, but I could not think of ways to effectively display my thoughts.  Through the meeting, I narrowed down my topic to Gandhi and his role in India’s independence. We then discussed how I would go about putting together a digital project with this topic in mind. You suggested that I should explore Omeka as well as Neatline. In class I signed up for Omeka, and after our meeting I explored the site. In Omeka, I can add various items. These items could include: a moving/still image, oral history, and text. I can also add collections and exhibits to display images and artifacts.  I plan on organizing various artifacts together in exhibits and making connections between them. I would like to create separate exhibits based on his life. For example, I would like to separate his childhood, his life in South Africa and finally his role in India’s independence. I also want to create an exhibit for Gandhi’s alternate image. He is mostly known for his non-violent nature, but I have read that he is similar to us in that he is not perfect. I would like to use Neatline to put together a timeline or a map to accompany my Omeka site.  This might help users to see connections between different ideas and artifacts.

During our meeting, you also suggested to do some research on possible archives and libraries to use when finding artifacts. On DPLA, I found various pictures of Gandhi that I could use for a good visual representation on my Omeka site. On the Digital Library of India, I found various sources that I could use about Gandhi that were published around 1935. A problem with this source is that some of these artifacts are in English, but majority of them are in Hindi. On Internet Archive, I found some footage of Gandhi. On the National Archives of UK, I found various original sources in English about Gandhi and his impact in India. All of these sources look promising, but I am still worried on how I am going to decide if the source is an appropriate source for my digital project. I need to do more research over my topic before I can start organizing my information and creating my Omeka site for Gandhi. Overall, I am excited to have a topic narrowed down to conduct more research.

 

I would like to create a digital project about Gandhi and cover various aspects of his life. Source

Copyright

In our last class, we discussed the topic of copyright and how it may apply to us when we start researching for our digital projects. Copyright allows the creator to publish and print their work in many forms as well as authorize others who would like to do the same. Copyright was originally legalized to help the creator of the work to gain profit (it originally only lasted for 28 years), but now it has more commercial. I believe copyright is fair as long as the creator of the work is still alive. This way, the creator can gain profit from their work. In class we also discussed if it is fair to allow the copyright to be passed down in the family. I personally believe that it is a bit unfair, but I can also see the other side of the argument. I believe copyright can be seen as a company that the father or mother passes down to their kids after they retire. The kids can either decide to take over the company or go down their own path. If they are willing to take over the “company”, then I believe it is okay to pass down the copyright. However, if the family does not contribute to the brand, then I believe the copyright being passed down in the family is unfair.

Google Books has helped to digitize books and has made these books searchable for the public. The database allows you to see the title, information about the author, and also snippets of the book as well as the page numbers. I have used Google Books many times in the past. In high school, I was part of the IB program. This program required me to write a final research paper on a topic of interest. I wrote my paper on the Meiji Restoration in Japan. To write this paper, I used Google Books to help search for sources.

I used Google Books to help me find sources for my paper on the Meiji Restoration in Japan. Source

Then I checked if these books were available in the UNO library and checked out the books to further my research process. To my surprise, the books I checked out had not been checked out for ages. Personally, I believe that Google Books allowed me to find sources that I would not be aware of otherwise. Therefore, Google Books allows readers to obtain a deeper interest in a book and acts as a catalyst for the reader to go and purchase the book.

For my digital project, I am still thinking along the lines of India’s Independence. However, I am still not set and stone on a topic. I hope that the meeting with you this week will help me to get a clearer picture of what direction I should take my digital project.

Digital Humanities and Research

This week in class we discussed the transparency and impermanence of sources and how this might impact us while we conduct research for our projects. One of the readings that we had to complete was: “Edward Owens, the Last American Pirate”. I really enjoyed

Team photo of the class that pulled the hoax. Source

reading the blog posts made by the students. The blogs had personality and she showed many imperfections that I could relate to. For example, we both share the common dislike for problems with technology. She also had videos and pictures to support her blog posts. Therefore, while reading the blog posts I only appreciated her effort and never considered that the project was a hoax. However, I believe the overall message of the blog was very eye-opening.

Before reading this project, I always thought that I would never be one to fall for hoaxes like this blog. I would try to obtain information from trusted websites and sources. I thought that webpages that end with “.edu, .gov, .org” were all trustworthy. However, as we discussed in class, these webpages can also have flaws. For example, “.gov” might provide outdated information and “.edu” can also be outdated or might provide biased information. The US government might provide the history of America with a biased viewpoint, similar to how other countries such as India or South Korea might provide a biased history of their respective country. I personally do not believe that there is anything wrong with this. But as a student, it is important read multiple sources to obtain a clearer picture.

Also in class, we discussed the impermanence of online sources. We often think that things posted on the internet are permanent, however the web also has an impermanent aspect. I used to have a viewpoint that many things on the web are permanent. For example, if I would post something inappropriate on social media and I was applying to medical school, the admission board would look down on me as a candidate. I have heard many stories where students do not get jobs, and interviews due to the content on their social media accounts. However, after our class discussion, I agree that there are also impermanent parts of the web. For example, the domain may change or the webpage might expire.  Therefore, as we find sources for our projects and put together our projects, we should keep this in mind.

As we progress in class, I have started to get more ideas for my final project. Initially, I wanted to do a project regarding Indian classical dance. However, I am still confused on how I would go about finding the right sources. Now, I am considering on doing a project on India’s Independence. This is a big topic, but I would love to narrow it down and learn more about it.

Digital Projects

In our second digital humanities class, we discussed the definition of digital humanities and also looked at various digital projects. We discussed how digital humanities encompassed research, learning and teaching about various topics including literature, history, classics, and the arts in a digital aspect. This digital aspect can vary from individual to individual. One can build and use their software to interact with readers, others create websites and databases etc. I learned that the subject is accessible, flexible, diverse, and interactive. By the end of class, I got a clearer picture on the topic. I have come to the conclusion that I will form my own definition for digital humanities as I progress deeper into the course.

During the second half of class, we split into groups and looked at three different digital projects. My groups picked: Her Hat was in the Ring, The Valley of the Shadow, and Voting America. My personal favorite of the three was Her Hat was in the Ring and my least favorite was The Valley of the Shadow. I enjoyed Her Hat was in the Ring because it was very well organized, professional, and neat. The purpose of the website was to give a short bio on women in politics. In this website, you could search a woman by her name, state, office and party. I learned from Miriam Posner’s blog that the use of programming

Diverse search option in Her Hat was in the Ring website.

languages might come in handy while designing these projects. This website may have used languages such as Python or JavaScript to manipulate data as well as customize the website. I also liked how all the creators were listed along with research students. They also clearly their sources. Overall, this project was very readable, diverse, and accessible.

The Valley of the Shadow conveys the life in two

Hard to navigate through The Valley of the Shadow.

American communities during the Civil War. In this digital archive, you could look at letters, diaries, newspapers, speeches, as well as census data and church records. For me, this website was complicated and not very user friendly. I found it difficult to navigate through the different sections of the website. However, it is important to consider that this archive was put together in the 90s. Therefore, it would have been difficult to digitize all the resources and present them in this digital archive.

After looking through all the digital projects, I am a little more confused on how I am going to go about my project. At the same time, I am very excited to get started and start exploring different options and formats. I look forward to learning more about the subject of digital humanities as well as different technologies that I could implement in my project.

Thoughts on My First Digital Humanities Class

I have heard a lot of good things about this digital humanities course from my computer science adviser. However I have no prior knowledge about the subject. I would love to learn about what digital humanities encompasses. From the class description, I read that this class combines various topics from different subjects.  Therefore, I would like to learn how I can apply what I learn in this course to other courses that I am also interested in.

I think I would like to do my final project on Indian Classical Dance. I am a Kuchipudi dancer, which is one of the classical Indian dance art forms. Since I have been learning this art form for more than 10 years, I would love to learn the history behind it and other dance forms in India.

Photo credit and URL: Chicago Tyagraja Utsavam

Photo Credit