Practicum

Hello, future student! To tell you the truth, after a whole semester of this class, I’ve barely scratched the surface of what it means to study as a digital humanist. I came to this class knowing absolutely nothing about Digital Humanities. In fact, I felt a little scared. That said, let me assuage whatever doubts … Continue reading »

Virtual reality technology is much more than a novelty! Although, my experience with it has been generally limited. The last time I can remember playing with it was at Knott’s Berry Farm; the focuses of the game was Cowboy vs Indians. I certainly had fun, for a bit, but the charm quickly wore off when … Continue reading »

I feel like I do not know what code is. Or, I do— sort of, I think. I’m 20 years old, and a college sophomore. I contemplate my childhood and what I learned in elementary schooling. I’m not sure the districts I attended (La Habra, California) had the resources or the “innovation” to teach me … Continue reading »

Scalar is a fantastic tool. I really appreciate its capability to expertly organize media and pages through paths and tagging. I can imagine how certain scholars find this software to be helpful for their production of academic discourses and presentations in the digital landscape. That being said, I’m not sure I can value the software … Continue reading »

Chapman University’s Center for American War Letters is an admirable and incomparable pursuit of one tragic aspect of the American experience— war. Through collecting wartime correspondence (be it letters, emails, or photographs), this archive is able to respectfully capture the vast array of human tragedy, suffering, and love. The archive memorializes intimate moments of wartime … Continue reading »

My first thoughts direct me to feel more concerned over the idea of abundance. Rosenzweig points out that “the Google search engine … gets 300,000 hits [, which] should make us consider that future historians may face information overload.” Obviously, oversaturation of content overwhelms archivists and the cultural memory. For this reason, archiving digital landscapes … Continue reading »

I know that I’ve worked with Voltaire’s Candide in other assignments. Even so, I felt compelled to investigate Candide with a StoryMap since, like most picaresque novels, its plot unfolds in a chaotic number of places. Seeing the events of the narrative represented on a map interested me! The novel makes peculiar use of a … Continue reading »

Evidently, given the frustrating time I experienced while trying to get Java to run the Topicmodeling.jar program on my MacBook, I went with Voyant’s topic modeling feature for this week’s practicum! To insert into the program, I went with a rather large text that I am, to an extent, familiar with: Miguel de Cervantes’s Don … Continue reading »

I analyzed Voltaire’s Candide, or Optimism. This picaresque novel chaotically recounts the misadventures of the titular character, Candide, and his journey— spanning nearly the whole world— in pursuit of his dearly beloved, Cunégonde. Principally, the novel makes a scornful parody of the many philosophies coming about during the Enlightenment. It features a wicked sense of … Continue reading »

Zotero is an utterly magical software program! Its features are useful, convenient, and neat. For many scholars and students, I’m sure the program is a complete time-saver. With that being said, using Zotero (and playing with it for a bit) did prompt a few thoughts and realizations for me. I am in the fourth semester … Continue reading »