Author: admin

Something that I think I did well last semester was getting all of my deliverables in on time, even during busier weeks. I also think I did a good job communicating with my project lead, and making sure we were both on the same page. One thing that I will try to do better on this semester will be to provide better documentation for my digital project. I will also try to explore more about the digital tools we learn on my own time, as that was something I did not get around to doing much last semester.

Looking back at this semester, I think that the most important thing I learned were the non-technical skills, specifically the troubleshooting and problem-solving aspect of a lot of the training and tools we were exposed to. That being said, I feel like the most important technical tool that I learned about was Omeka, as it is the foundation for the database of my digital project. It did seem kind of difficult and clunky at first, since there is a lot going on in Omeka, but I think I have gotten the hang of using it for now. Some advice I would give my past self would probably be to try to find opportunities to explore tools outside of drop-in shifts and weekly trainings. A goal of mine is to do that more in the coming semester, specifically with learning more about what Omeka can do.

I think the training model worked pretty well for me, especially the self-pacing. There were a few weeks where I was notably busier than usual, and the self-paced model gave me the opportunity to complete training modules/blog posts in advance. While the Omeka training has probably been the most important for my project, I also really feel like week two’s training on accessibility has been important as well. I remember meeting with my project lead (who is AWESOME by the way) to discuss her goals with how she wants the database to be, and she made it very clear that she wanted the database to be as user friendly as possible, where the organizing principles are so clear that it would be accessible to everyone. There also weren’t anything that I found immediately confusing either.

As far as next steps for my project go, I hope to get all of the articles and peer reviewed references that I have created a summary and keywords for digitized in the near future, hopefully towards the end of January. I also want to add to the database my own selection of articles and references that I have found, and I would like to create documentation on how a future Vivero fellow can do the same. I hope to also work on documentation that goes into detail about how to use Omeka, and the different nuances and tasks that needed to be done to set up the database.

In the future, like I mentioned before, I would like to continue learning more about how to use Omeka, specifically in regards to the design aspect of things. I am also interested in learning more about the tool CollectionBuilder, despite my digital project not being built upon that framework. I would also like to explore WordPress a bit more, specifically in order to make my website look better, although I am pretty happy with how it looks now. All in all, I am really grateful for the opportunity to be a Vivero fellow, and I am really looking forward to continuing on next year. Yay!

I think I would feel pretty confident with helping someone use StoryMaps. I had used it prior for one of my classes, and I felt pretty confident with using it this week. That being said, I do think that there is more for me to explore, and I will most likely try some of StoryMaps’s other features when I have the time. I feel like StoryMaps is one of the more intuitive tools that I have learned how to use so far, not only because I had some prior experience with it, but also because it is very user friendly in how different elements are located. I especially like how you are able to integrate different widgets, such as videos, images, and maps, within your text blurbs. As far as the limitations of StoryMaps goes, it felt as if there were a limited amount of customization options, when it came to changing how the layout looked, and it felt like cropping the images was kind of inconvenient.

I think that what makes a good StoryMap is intentional design, where all the elements work together to help support the StoryMap’s narrative. Something to avoid would be the temptation to use all the features available, which can create a cluttered and confusing experience for a viewer. Instead, sometimes less can be more, and it’s better sometimes to focus more on what you’re trying to tell rather than what the software can do.

Learning how to use Audacity seemed fairly straightforward, although I am pretty sure that I do not know all of what the software is capable of. I was able to record myself and overlay sound effects on my recording, and I was also able to manipulate the volume of each track. In the future if I have time to revisit this tool, I would like to try to learn more about “blending” the audio, and having audio clips fade in and out rather than just overlaying them on top of one another.

I think I would feel pretty confident helping someone learn and set up Audacity, however I would like to explore more of what Audacity can do.

In order to create good documentation, the writer will need to describe each step that they took with a pretty notable amount of detail. It may also be necessary to add a visual aid, such as a video or images to the documentation in order to show certain steps that need to be done. For my own Vivero project, my project lead and I will need to create documentation on how to upload articles to our database, and how to extract metadata from these articles. However, I also would not be surprised if eventually we will have to provide more documentation in order to effectively communicate how to navigate our digital project. In order to make this happen, I will make sure to communicate often with my project lead when technical steps are implemented, and I will also keep a document that lists the steps taken for what is necessary.

Even as someone who has minimal experience editing videos, learning how to use WeVideo was relatively straightforward, especially after going through the training material. I would feel pretty comfortable helping someone learn how to use WeVideo, alongside helping them troubleshoot if needed. I think the aspect of WeVideo that I found most interesting was how much stock footage and audio was available to use. It makes me think that it would be a useful tool for a lot of courses at Grinnell that require video presentations. I didn’t find any aspect of the tool particularly frustrating, although I feel like it could have been clearer as to when videos would have finished uploading and were able to export.

I’m not sure which part of WeVideo I want to explore more deeply yet, as I kind of want to see more of what it is capable of when I have time. One thing I might want to try doing would be to create a longer video without the aid of any stock footage, and to use more of the cool transitions.

So far, I am really happy with how my project is going so far! As of now, the work that my project lead and I have been doing has been primarily parsing through the articles that will eventually encompass the entire database, and trying to categorize them by subject, keyword, and other methods. Along with this, I am also taking a look at other digital humanities projects, and making a mental list of traits that are in good digital humanities projects, and/or ones that have a long lifespan. My next steps would probably be to create the structure of the project itself, and right now I am deciding whether I should use Gale Digital Scholar Lab or Omeka, or both. Gale’s text analysis function and visualization capabilities are both things that I am thinking about when considering what I would theoretically be able to do with the text/information in the articles I have read so far. Additionally, with Omeka, while I still would like to do some more exploring regarding plugins and items, seems to be really useful in that it allows me to organize all of my files in a well thought-out manner.

In general, I am pretty proud of myself this semester. There have been times when learning about different digital tools has not been the most straightforward, but I have managed to work through any tough spots I have had. One thing that I am somewhat worried about as my project begins to ramp up is balancing everything in my life, whether it be academics, the Vivero Fellowship, or any personal extra-curricular activities I have going on. Moving forward, I would like to spend more time making my blog/website look better, as well as think about how I could theoretically implement the database I am making on my website. I will let my project lead know about Gale Digital Scholar Lab, and I will try to learn more about it after (or maybe even during) fall break.

Learning how to use Gale Digital Scholar Lab this week made me think about how I could use text analysis tools in not just my project, but other aspects of humanities research as well. I really liked how the platform walks you through the entire process, from collecting the data, to cleaning and visualizing it. Even if you don’t have technical experience with Gale Digital Scholar Lab, or tools similar to it, it still manages to feel approachable, which makes it a good entry point for someone trying to learn more about the “digital” aspect of digital humanities. One of my favorite things about Gale Digital Scholar Lab is the fact that you’re able to pull materials directly from the primary source archives, and then immediately begin working with them. The most interesting part for me was experimenting with all of the different analysis tools, such as topic modeling or sentiment analysis, and seeing how they could reveal connections that wouldn’t have been visible by just parsing through the text manually. The thing I found the most frustrating was definitely the data cleaning, which felt pretty time-consuming and rather confusing when deciding which filters to apply.

I think I would be pretty comfortable helping someone else learn the basics of Gale Digital Scholar Lab, especially since the process was pretty intuitive once I started to understand the workflow. Looking through the student research projects was really encouraging for me, because it showed me that meaningful analysis doesn’t require a super substantial dataset, or super advanced skills. It also made me more confident about using Gale Digital Scholar Lab in my own research, as the bulk of my digital project (right now) consists of me looking at a wide array of articles, and parsing through a lot of text. Going forward, I would really like to explore more of Gale’s visualization features, and see how I could combine it with other platforms like Voyant or ArcGIS StoryMaps.

Q: Consider some of the reflection questions embedded in the training. For example, what do you notice about the data and how it could be mapped? What do you notice about your visualization as you change its drawing style and customize its appearance?

A: When working with ArcGIS, one of the first things I noticed was how much the way data is mapped changes depending on what visualization style is used. A dataset that looks overwhelming in spreadsheet or table form becomes much clearer when plotted on a map. However, I think the effectiveness of what you are trying to represent depends on what you choose to use, whether it be a heat map, symbols, or even color-coding. For example, heat maps would be useful to show numerical data over time, such as household size, because the distribution is immediately visible. On the other hand, qualitative data, such as countries of origin, would be more effectively represented with a distinct color code or symbols. Something else I realized was that while popups are not always necessary, they can be helpful for accessibility, or when something on your map needs additional context.

Q: How would you feel about helping someone else learn how to use ArcGIS Online? What did you find most interesting? What did you find most frustrating? What questions do you still have, and what parts of the tool do you want to explore more deeply?

A: As of writing this, I think I would be reasonably comfortable helping someone else learn the basics of ArcGIS Online, especially in terms of uploading data, applying different styles, and experimenting with map design. The thing I found most interesting was how customizable the visualizations are, as small changes in style can completely change how a dataset is interpreted. One thing I did find frustrating was when I was trying to layer different data points on the same geographic location. It also was not always obvious how to achieve the layout I had in mind. Moving forward, I would like to explore more of ArcGIS’s advanced features, like mapping borders/boundaries or highlighting entire areas instead of just individual points.

If I am being completely honest, I think that I will still need some more time to fully get used to using Omeka, as it is a pretty awkward software to use. Right now, I think I understand how to upload images/items, and add metadata, but I am still trying to familiarize myself with some of the site customization aspects, such as editing themes. That being said, I think I would be pretty comfortable showing someone how to use Omeka, although I may not be able to show all of what Omeka is capable of.

I am curious as to how to use Omeka for non-image files, such as the studies that I am currently looking at for my digital humanities project. Recently, my project lead (who’s super cool by the way) and I discussed some goals in mind regarding creating the organizing structure of our project, with the hopes that the organization of the project database would be as user-friendly as possible. I am probably going to explore Omeka a lot more (specifically experimenting with how different plugins, item types, and collections can be used to organize non-image materials like PDFs and texts) , with the hopes that it would be a good software to fulfill the goals that my project lead and I have.