Victoria Landry

Jana Remy 

Intro to Digital Humanities 

COVID-19 Remote Learning Archive 

The COVID-19 Remote Learning Archive is an initiative to curate an archive that will act as historical data from college students’ individual or shared academic-based experiences during the 2019 Coronavirus pandemic that carried over into 2020 and 2021. This archive will be available to access by all college students who attend universities within the United States to share how the pandemic directly affected their educational experiences. Participants will be encouraged to share these experiences through an archive that is based on featuring  personally narrated blurbs, videos, voice recordings, hyperlinks and imagery. The archive should be built upon by future students as universities continue to make adjustments and changes in an academic setting as we are gradually coming out of the pandemic. The collected narratives provide future generations of students, professors and scholars with rich first-hand historical data from individuals directly impacted from remote learning and academic adjustments. 

The intended audience for this project is college students who are enrolled in schools within the United States as a way to narrow the focus. This archive is not meant for students who graduated pre-pandemic, but rather for students who were already enrolled during the emergence of COVID-19 and for college students post-pandemic. This audience also includes international students who currently attend universities within the United States or who were attending a college in the United States during the start of the pandemic. 

This archive will utilize a technology, ArcGIS StoryMaps, which is a “web-based software that allows you to share your maps in the context of narrative text” and other multimedia content (ArcGIS StoryMaps, 2021). This content includes imagery, video content, hyperlinks, text, and other embedded media content to tell an overarching story. No datasets will be requested, as this project is meant to create a new historical data set. 

As there is limited access to student records and contact information due to “Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act laws”, this archive cannot deliver guaranteed responses from students (FERPA, 2020). While we hope that our contact within Universities across the United States will encourage the participation of responses for the project, it is not required and is solely a participation based archive. Additionally, this archive cannot deliver guaranteed responses from already graduated college students who may not have access to their school emails to receive information about the project. 

This team will consist of professors within the Humanities field at Universities across the United States. If there is not a humanities program at a college with potential participants, then the dean of the college will be used as a substitute to share the project with its student body. It is necessary that the team has a direct relationship to the students participating in order to maximize response rates.

The schedule for this project would be rapid. The ArcGIS StoryMaps webpage would be developed in a three-week time frame, and dispersed the following week after development in order to ensure accessibility to current college seniors who would access their student email for information directing them to the webpage. After the webpage has been shared with students who fit the criteria, response time-frames are optional. There is not a designated time-frame for the end of the project, as it is meant to be built upon over time by students who are documenting their past or current experience in relation to the objectives for this project.  

Appendix A: Mockups of Interface

Mockup 1:

Mockup 2:

Appendix B: Environmental Scan 

The humanities places a huge emphasis on collecting and displaying data, especially that of historic data. For the last two years we have all been living through a historical event, the Coronavirus pandemic. While there are several projects that utilize archive based data regarding COVID-19, there are very few resources that highlight student experiences in an effective way based on geographic location. This gap in effective data collection from the proposed audience creates an opportunity to utilize an available resource, ArcGIS StoryMaps, to capture memories from arguably one of the largest historical events during our lifetime. Existing projects in their field with comparable subject matter and approaches have been examined to provide this project with a basis to grow and expand from. 

The first identified digital humanities project is similar in approach, and was a memory based archive curated from ArcGIS StoryMaps titled COVID-19 Memory Archival Project. This project was developed at The Duke Kunshan University in Jiangsu, China and was a professor run initiative sent out to students to encourage “reflection on how the pandemic affected their livelihood” (Zhang, 2020). However, the reach was only within that one University and responses primarily contained information about how the pandemic affected their personal lives. There was little to no information about the students academic experiences. A con to this project is that the aim and audience did not quite match. By only requesting responses from students and staff within the university they were unable to accurately meet their objective of documenting how the pandemic affects the livelihood of ‘people’. The project I am proposing has an aim directed towards university students and is academically driven, thus focusing the responses specifically to how the pandemic altered their academic life, not personal life. This project also did not showcase the map in its presentation but was more narrative focused because all of the students were in the same location, creating a gap in the capabilities of the resource they utilized.

Various other organizations utilized ArcGIS StoryMaps as a way to connect people who had valuable resources and stories to share with others. The RedCross created a StoryMap to highlight their mission activities and document their work. They successfully “utilized the platform to showcase the scope of their reach” while volunteering by highlighting the stories on the map itself (Bell, 2020). My proposed archive will use the map as a core element to highlight the narratives being displayed, as ArcGIS StoryMaps key component is how the geographic location represents the narrative intended to be told. The home page will feature the map and make the stories accessible per college location. 

Another digital humanities project similar in subject matter, is the “San Diego State University COVID-19 Memory Project” which requires you to fill out a questionnaire that is then compiled into an archive of memories specifically for the SDSU community (SDSU, 2021). The project asks questions related to how the pandemic has affected students in their academic life, however, there is nowhere to view the archive and it is limited to that campus in particular. There was a large gap in resources for this project, being that there was nowhere to view the responses and the responses were contained to that particular community. In my proposed archive, all responses will be viewable to the public so that the project reach is large and available to the general public. 

Developments within the software I plan to use, ArcGIS, make focusing on the map element of the software easy to use and add to. Multiple people can edit a StoryMap by co-authoring a collection. These permissions are accessible by “updating sharing capabilities and publishing the collection” with a group update capability (ArcGIS, 2021). The alternative to this is to publish the content with the Everyone setting and emailing it to the account holder to be added. Both options make the reach of this project feasible. This proposed project would contribute to the humanities by utilizing ArcGIS software to reach a large audience and display a relatively new historical database collection in regards to geographic location. 

Funding is essential to obtain the reach for the desired proposal. The NEH, National Endowment for the Humanities, would be a perfect fit for this type of project. The NEH has twenty-four million dollars to allocate towards 225 digital humanities projects nationwide. The NEH gives grants to support the preservation of “historic collections, documentaries, and scholarly research”, all of which fit the criteria for the proposed project (NEH, 2021). 

From the academic reading, What is Spatial History, we can learn that ArcGIS forces individuals to think about different kinds of representational space. Seeing how the space correlates to the data being displayed is essential for “revealing historical relations that might go unnoticed otherwise and it generates questions” for future historians (White, 2010). By utilizing ArcGIS, we will be able to see how the narrative of students correlates to their representational space as a historical archive to draw questions from later. Another course reading, Humanities Approach to Graphical Display, discusses how graphic display can often cause us to participate in “interpretation bias” (Drucker, 2011). To avoid this, ArcGIS acts as a tool that both displays the graphic data while also prompting the desired interpretation with its text based applications to avoid misconstruing the information that is visually displayed. 

I curated a ArcGIS webpage for a practicum project that helped me explore how to correlate a topic to a geographic location. I was able to map filming locations for a TV show that was set in one town, but the actual footage was shot in a variety of cities all over the United States. The project taught me how visual representation is essential to understanding an overarching theme. This proposed archive should accomplish a similar goal of tying in the historical recollection of events from college students to the geographic location of where they went to school. This may open up dialogue for further analysis in the future, and provide an immediate resource for students to connect with people from all over the country who may have shared academic experiences. 

Link to Adobe Spark Video “Pitch”

https://spark.adobe.com/video/Ymu1r9ERdcfnD

Bibliography

Drucker, Johanna. (2011). DHQ: Digital Humanities Quarterly: Humanities Approaches to Graphical Display. http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/5/1/000091/000091.html. Accessed 19 May 2021.

White, Richard. (2010). Spatial History Project. http://web.stanford.edu/group/spatialhistory/cgi-bin/site/pub.php?id=29. Accessed 19 May 2021.

“The National Endowment for the Humanities.” The National Endowment For The Humanities, https://www.neh.gov/home. Accessed 19 May 2021.

Coauthor a Story or a Collection—ArcGIS StoryMaps | Documentation. https://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-storymaps/author-and-share/co-author-a-story.htm. Accessed 19 May 2021.

Bell, Michelle Bush, Chris Nickola, Jennifer. “Connecting People with Lifesaving Resources Across the Globe During COVID-19 | Storyteller Role Enables More ArcGIS StoryMaps during COVID-19.” ArcGIS Blog, 3 June 2020, https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/story-maps/mapping/storytelling-with-maps-supports-users-across-the-globe-during-covid-19-2/.

SDSU COVID-19 Memory Project | SDSU Library. https://library.sdsu.edu/covid-19-memory-project. Accessed 19 May 2021.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). US Department of Education (ED), 15 Dec. 2020, https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html.

“ArcGIS StoryMaps.” ArcGIS StoryMaps, https://storymaps.arcgis.com. Accessed 19 May 2021.

Zhang, Chi. (2020). Call for Participation: COVID-19 Memory Archival Project – Duke Kunshan University Humanities Research Center. https://sites.duke.edu/dkuhumanities/call-for-participation-covid-19-memory-archival-project/. Accessed 19 May 2021.

“Do Your Research!” The National Endowment for the Humanities, https://www.neh.gov/blog/do-your-research. Accessed 19 May 2021.

Dear Future Student,

I learned a lot of important things this semester about Digital Humanities. Some of the most important things include the softwares that we learned to use. My favorite was Zotero which helps with citing sources. We also learned to use the Voyant tool, which could be beneficial for documentation practice. Topic Modeling is great for understanding the breakdown of compositions and how word choices impact the text. Studying archives gave me a new perspective on ways to interpret historical data. We even learned the basics to coding which was really fun and informative and really exciting, especially from a potential graphic design perspective which is my minor. Finally, exploring the uses and future of VR prompted interesting discussion about the future of technology and the ways that we interact with it. 

My advice to a future student in this class is to really read the weekly readings! They help so much when you are doing in class activities and engaging in in-class discussions. I would also really encourage building a friendship with the people in your small groups because you will be working with them all semester and it makes the class so much more enjoyable. Lastly I would say to not get overwhelmed with all the softwares that are introduced. It may seem like a lot up front but they are all fairly easy to learn.

The most important skill I have learned in this class that I will definitely be using in the future is the software Zotero. It allows you to combine a mix of books, articles, and other media into a folder and create a bibliography from that section. The best part is, you can use any type of formatting you want, whether that be MLA or APA and cite all your sources at the exact same time. It has already saved me so much time on assignments this semester and will be great for future work purposes with creating bibliographies as well. However, I would love to find a way to incorporate using coding skills into graphic design and website development if my career leads me in that direction. Overall, I would just say to enjoy the class and make friends with your classmates. It’s interesting conversation, wonderful skills and lovely people. 

Sincerely,

Victoria Landry

VR has an equal amount of pros and cons in my opinion. As we learned in our class reading, What is Virtual Reality by Robert Cable, VR is being used in the military and in medicine. He also points to the fact that VR is well suited to training, and is notably an immersive medium. In our class reading 3D Recording and Museums by Stuart Robson we learn of all the possibilities that come with 3D imaging of surfaces for museums and digital reparation. This author states “3D models offer new ways of interacting with, and understanding, museum objects within the museum, providing eye-catching contextual information… that encourages visual thinking, communication and learning” (Robson, 97). Kenderdine reiterates the positive museum experiences by stating that the technologies can provide “creative visualization” and “creative data collection” (Kenderdine, 36). I really love all the good that virtual reality can do in a variety of scenarios. I think that these uses should be limited to work, education, simple games and research. 

Robson discussed concerns, which include its “high cost, accessibility, overall process, risk of damaging the real objects in museums and shifting perceptions of real objects” (Robson, 98).  Another author from our class readings, Cable, states that a con to VR is cultural criticism that can come into play when using the virtual environment by deconstructing the real world with an artificial one. I personally believe that VR can create damage by providing a false perspective on reality. As we discussed in class, these virtual spaces might become more fun and appealing than the real world which in my opinion could turn into a real problem, especially as technology continues to advance.  

I really loved the Traveling While Black video. I think experiences like this can be really educationally beneficial. As the video stated, experiences like these can be helpful to understand things from a new perspective and sometimes feeling like you were in these spaces creates an impact that pictures and videos simply won’t envoke. The Pure Land AR experience is crazy to me. It really helps set in the idea that these technologies are far more accessible in ways that we never would have imagined. I have an ipad and it’s crazy to me that small modifications can totally change the future of mobile media. Finally, The Virtual Studio shows how museums can use VR technologies to create virtual spaces with unique perspectives, colors, geometry, sense of time, and floor plan constructions. I am taking an Art History class right now and we viewed lots of virtual exhibitions over the semester so I definitely appreciate the use of technology from an art perspective. There are things you experience from these virtual environments that provide a deeper level of understanding than you ever would have got from the physical space. 

Overall, I think I am probably on the same page as Robert Cable which is neutral. The pros are really unique and have enhanced a lot of experiences and provided lots of historians and educators with amazing tools. Yet, the cons are very scary to me.  I already feel so connected to technology that the idea of becoming connected in a way that can shift reality freaks me out a lot. With that said, my neutrality only extends so far. As soon as games become too realistic on VR where individuals cannot separate real life from an imaginary one, then I will no longer support the advancements in VR or its uses. 

Cited Sources: 

Schreibman, S., Siemens, R. G., & Unsworth, J. (2016). A new companion to digital humanities. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons.

Cable, R. (2019, May 18). What is virtual reality? Retrieved May 09, 2021, from https://shc.stanford.edu/news/stories/what-virtual-reality

Claire Warwick, et al. Digital Humanities in Practice. Facet Publishing, 2012. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-com.libproxy.chapman.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,uid&db=nlebk&AN=558471&site=eds-live.

Week 12 Practicum

In class we played with several tools: IFTTT, Monkeys Writing Shakespeare, a Twitter Bot and a re-mixing of Emily Dickinsons. I want to begin by talking about the tools IFTTT. It essentially connects services you may have together by using Applets. These Applets help your apps do things that they wouldn’t normally do on their own. I was able to connect my Google Assistant to my iPhone calendar which has been very helpful especially during finals week. There were a variety of ways I could have connected my Google Assistant, and I have included a screenshot of those varieties below. I have learned that sometimes it’s necessary to break things in order to build new things. This activity was a perfect example of that. 

Another tool we played with was Monkeys Writing Shakespeare. This was helpful to just look at to get familiarity with how the site works. It essentially replaces words in the simple script with common words and words found within the text. Later in class we used this as an avenue to practice and learn how to code. We used JavaScript and GitHub to add words to arrays and switch out the source text with a new block of text. Even though we worked in our small groups, I think this is a great introduction for anyone wanting to learn how to code on a basic level. 

Another tool we discussed was a Twitter bot which can be used very playfully or as an actual tool to revise things. However, the instructions to complete this were a bit too over my head and I also don’t want to break any terms of service with the app. After reading professor Remys “CREATING AN ACTIVIST TWITTER BOT”, I do think that this tool can be used for good on a platform that often has cycles of negativity if coders choose to use it in a similar fashion. I can totally stand behind that! 

To relate this to class readings, I do think breaking things is necessary in Digital Humanities in order to build new ideas or projects. Our class reading, The Digital Humanities is About Breaking Stuff by Jesse Stommel, is a great source that introduced me to this opinion. I learned that “digital humanities reframes the work we do…” in order for it to be more “collaborative” (Stommel, 2013).  This gives us an opportunity to take something already known or created and develop a deeper understanding of it in a new way. 

In regards to the other reading, Think Talk Male Do: Power and the Digital Humanities by Miriam Posner,  I think that coding should be more accessible and approachable to women. Most of our class is female and if I learned anything from our most previous meeting time, it’s that women can code! We can do it just as fast and well as our male classmates. I think overall it is something valuable to learn if that interests you, but I don’t find it necessary to be successful in Digital Humanities. There are many avenues to take to create and explore different projects without those skills, as long as someone on your creative team does know how to execute them if you do not want to. 

Cited Sources: 

Stommel, J. (2013, September 02). The digital humanities is about breaking stuff. Retrieved May 03, 2021, from https://hybridpedagogy.org/the-digital-humanities-is-about-breaking-stuff/

Think talk make do: Power and the digital humanities. (n.d.). Retrieved May 03, 2021, from http://journalofdigitalhumanities.org/1-2/think-talk-make-do-power-and-the-digital-humanities-by-miriam-posner/

Miriam. (2012, February 29). Some things to think about before you exhort everyone to code. Retrieved May 03, 2021, from http://miriamposner.com/blog/some-things-to-think-about-before-you-exhort-everyone-to-code/