Archives in the physical realm and the digital realm might look a bit different, but both serve the purpose of providing access to items and collections to scholars, instructors, and the general public. Just as one would enter a physical gallery and view items, the goal is to have the same experience digitally as well. …
Text analysis in the field of humanities has been around for many years, some going back decades prior to the digital generation. Like any type of information, some questions remain such as is it accurate? Is it necessary? Is it helpful? Is it biased? Are the results presented in an appropriate way? The debate also …
In the past, I would have thought of maps as being absolute as far as borders and uniform names. However, after the readings and discussions this week, I have reflected on all that I consumed, and it is just not so, especially when it comes to web-based mapping. The interpretation of lines between countries, particularly …
For my research question, I was interested in seeing what parts of the country had the highest populations of Free Black women in 1840. For the image I uploaded, I chose Ages 24-35. I didn’t really run into any problems with this data visualization. However, the first data visualization I attempted did run into a …
The main criticism that I’ve heard regarding text analysis is something that we discussed in class, which is the idea that data such as word frequency doesn’t necessarily tell us anything larger about a work or primary source. I remember attending a talk where someone in the audience questioned the speaker’s methodology, as he asserted …
I know that we discussed this at some length already in class, but I still can’t stop thinking about the article “Google redraws the borders on maps depending on who’s looking”. As I said in class, I had already known that corporations like Google weren’t objective when it came to naming places (See: Gulf of …
When reflecting on the care of historical items maintained in institutions through the years, one thinks about the shift in physical management based on the evolution of technology, resources, implementation of datasets, and other organizational techniques. Just as these practical applications have evolved, we are beginning to see discussion of an equally important movement through …
Creating an “archive” in a digital context means creating a virtual representation of an archival collection online. This is often done to make materials more accessible and to preserve physical items by reducing handling. Digital archives can include born-digital materials or digitized versions of physical items, such as photographs, newspapers, letters, artifacts, and paintings. In …
Pertaining to digitization and accessibility to items that may be considered sensitive, there needs to be a blend of both compassion and sensibility. While there is a need for sharing of information and materials to help promote the concepts of understanding and knowledge, the question needs to be asked, “At what costs?”. Topics which came …
Research question: Of the Mississippi and Louisiana newspapers, what other languages in addition to English were published? I found it intriguing to delve into the history of newspapers in Mississippi. What started as a question of how many newspapers have existed across the Magnolia State soon took on a greater in-depth look into family history, …