Category Archives: Project

HIST 694 Digital Public History, Project

Prog Blog

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“As it has for more than two centuries, progress will come in fits and starts.  It’s not always a straight line.  It’s not always a smooth path.”                                                                                                   Barak Obama

First it was Tech Week.  On the Tech side…I am getting more comfortable with the concept of trial and error.  Then it was Ad Week, as in administration.  In both cases, it has been about stopping and revisiting the plan.  It is about checking in with the partners.  To recap, this web page project is serving multiple purposes and involves a minimum of 4 partners.  Discussions on the tech side, are leading me to re-consider, either the theme or the look of the landing page.  I already have a minimum of elements in place.  I am looking to gain a better sense of the full set of resources we will be adding.

Then I caught up with my collaborating partners.  This involved following up with personnel who are in charge of items for the page.  I also moved forward in discussions involving the institutional issues of the page: such as locus of content and who is controlling which aspects of the content, whose permissions are required for additional links, who will be involved in creating, revising and maintain specific areas of content, etc.  This involved several exchanges of emails, calls and preparation of another proposal which included identifying and getting agreement on the following:

  1. A paragraph or two outlining the purpose of the page and other relevant information to help visitors understand what to expect and give them some background.
  2. A couple of suggested images to illustrate the page and explain its theme.
  3. A list of relevant institutional resources
  4. A list of relevant external resources

Directions have been re-established.  Items have moved forward in the approval process, issues are being clarified.  Project management is about keeping things moving, navigating expectations and continuing to visualize the goal.  We are moving toward the goal!

HIST 694 Digital Public History, Project

Digital Humanities Projects are Collaborative!

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Cleveland Women’s Archive Project Update or “Digital Humanities Projects are Collaborative!”

The words of my mother ring in my ears, “how many times do I have to tell you”!  The things I know, but have to be repeated until I finally take action.  ‘Digital humanities projects are collaborative’ and like all good academics, I looked around for the collaboration within my institution and my (actually fairly wide) circle of friends.  But when my known resources failed me in resolving my issues with Omeka,  I swallowed my pride and reached out to strangers in my community.  What a concept!  Is that not what “community” is all about?  Cleveland is a Midwestern town, where folks still help others!  I made an appointment at the Center for Public History + Digital Humanities at Cleveland State University.  Extraordinarily generous with their time and expertise;  Erin Bell clarified my understanding of Curatescape and some of the nuances of Omeka while Dr. Mark Souther introduced me to their goals for the Cleveland Historical ‘living history archive’ and the activities of Center.  We shared our love of the city and its history.

Armed with these new perspectives, I am somewhat back at the drawing board.  My recent investigations into the Landscape and Oral history modules have reminded me of the need to focus on audience and more intentional design.  The Omeka User Manual  clearly states that planning is critical, but an individual cannot know, what they do not know.   My new understanding of Omeka will necessitate re-calibration of what I can and cannot do within the Omeka structure in the time available to complete the project.  Traditionally, I have been uncomfortable with trial and error, but a huge benefit of my collaboration, was Erin Bell’s assurance that is an on-going aspect of “digital” humanities.  I will be eternally grateful for that advice.

My immediate goal is to finish the administrative aspects of the collaboration with the CSU Special Collections division, complete the identification of all the resource materials to be included on the site while I ponder the design.  This  IS  Community History!

HIST 694 Digital Public History, Project

A Social Week

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“Living organisms including humans are social when they live collectively in interacting populations, whether they are aware of it, and whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary.”  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social)

Interaction is almost always necessary to accomplish your goals.  Also the ‘victory’ of accomplishing a goal is always more satisfying when it can be shared with others.  Basic speech classes and media classes study theories of communication and while the essence of ‘passing information’ remains the same, the circumstances, customs, medium and many aspects of “communication” seem to be constantly changing.  One of the defining characteristics of historical periods is how they communicate.

Allen-Griel et al make an effort to examine the ways the new period of social media communication and its’ production is impacting museum organizations.  Although focused on museum organizations, the analysis provides a broader insight into changes and behavior in contemporary public communication.  Museums, which are all organizations of collection and public education, are approaching public communication very differently – as building relationships, a necessary vehicle for promotion or as a content management system.  The fact that contemporary communication is being delivered via social media which requires the use of systems not controlled by either the ‘speaker’ or the ‘audience’ profoundly changes the dynamic from face-to-face or print mediums.  Allen-Griel argue there is a fundamental issue of trust* for public organizations which must be established within the organization itself and is reflected in its communications.  Furthermore, the creation of social media communications changes the relationships with-in the staff of these large institutions, but its successful implementation depends on {new} cultures of freedom and trust.  Management of these organizations needs to reflect on how social media impacts not only the production operation of these institutions, but how it shapes their character. roceedings.Toronto   But all projects working to communicate ideas to active public audiences need to consider these issues and styles of communication as well.

In working on the Cleveland Women’s Archive project, I have been struggling with the nuances of the Omeka platform.  I have been able to restore some of the links and basic exhibit that had been lost.  I effectively added some additional plug ins for functionality.  However, my mental disconnect between working a ‘back end’ that doesn’t mirror the ‘public face’ is stalling construction.  While making baby step progress working with asynchronous means of communication – tutorials and web support; I have searched for and contacted some local people who have worked with the program.  Throughout the formative period of my education, communication was face to face so I am using an older, but familiar pattern of communication.  This ‘dated’ method of physical communication has an inherent time lag, which is also impacting my production schedule.   A key attribute (and sometimes detriment) of the digital social networks are their speed.  Even if I can immediately access the tutorials, if they are not communicating in familiar terms or processes, the value of their speed is lost.

Dudareva and Lindsey explore how institutions make connections with the quirks and desires of varied audiences.  Museums and heritage sites have multiple goals including among others; marketing, education, membership development and quality.  The potential audiences also have different motivations and styles.  Dudareva identifies and defines 5 types of relationships that a user might be seeking with an institution, “Enthusiast,” “Connected,” “Contributor,” “Interested,” and “Informational.  Lindsey investigates the planning and structural elements that need to be considered in attracting the “virtual tourist” and developing the relationships with them.  She explores the methodology of three historic sites: Mount Vernon, Colonial Williamsburg and Monticello.  These studies provide not only technical aspects to consider, but the deeper choices that impact the relationship and ability to communicate with these audiences.

I have been exploring local and community websites and examples of expression and engagement in various forms of Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs).  Wide diversity of personality among institutions is displayed.  Sometimes more, sometimes less effectively, organizations highlight their unique qualities and work to stimulate engagement.  Reflecting on these communications introduces important considerations like the impact of immediate communication, as well as ‘life span’ issues, technological longevity, web presence risks and publication costs of the digital modalities.  The digital communication style, while still new, is also evolving at an intimidating pace.  Large institutions even with intentional planning have to adapt and change policy to meet shifting needs. King “Narrations”.  The establishment of a web page, what appeared to be, and is, a technological challenge; is also a complex multi-disciplinary psychological, political, economic and social interaction. It is evident that investments in time and money can create authentic reflections of institutional purposes and treasures.   Thoughtful exposure and ease of interaction results in attracting larger audiences.  From this ‘traffic’ a certain percentage establish virtual relationships of great benefit to these heritage institutions.

In my project, I aspire to great ideas and impact.   But real time and knowledge constraints requires that I study and reflect on the nuances of sites that are doing similar things and adapt what I can.  I appreciate ingenuity, design and all the functionality of professionally created sites like the Citizen Archivist Dashboard and the Western Reserve Historical Society.  However, many local sites are capturing their own audiences and demonstrating the breadth of the human experience.  While I have some ethical questions about the re-enactment of Quantrill on Twitter, it does provide an open opportunity to raise ethical questions and interpret the meaning of local history in shaping current identity and beliefs.  Exploring blogs, I stumbled on The Jewish Women’s Archive  and new faces in Cleveland women’s history.   The goal of any research project is to uncover new information, but digital sharing expands communication across new mediums.  Getting social is essential, as really always has been.

Allen-Greil, D., et al. “Social Media and Organizational Change.” In J. Trant and D. Bearman (eds.) Museums and the Web 2011: Proceedings.Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics. Published March 31, 2011.

*Note the Allen-Griel article was written in the Pre-Trump era of public institutions.

N. Dudareva. “Museums in social media.” In Museums and the Web 2013, N. Proctor & R. Cherry (eds). Silver Spring, MD: Museums and the Web. Published June 1, 2014.

Lindsay, Anne. “#VirtualTourist: Embracing Our Audience through Public History Web Experience.” The Public Historian 35.1 (February 2013): 67-86

King, Mary. “Rebooting the Social Media Strategy for the National Archives.” Narrations: the Blog of the National Archives, August 25, 2016.

HIST 694 Digital Public History, Project

“Progress” Blog

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“Progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer.If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

So the question for this weekly progress report is “what constitutes progress?”

I am learning the ins and outs of Digital Humanities – I am evolving in terms of my understanding of the larger significance of changing presentation modes from text to Digital Formats.  There is improvement in my abilities to navigate tutorials and digital interfaces that are growing with practice, practice, practice.  This practice IS frustrating, but skills are skills and skills get developed through repetition.  Preferably the practice would be fruitful, rather than fruitless. I spent hours in tutorials, I then searched for videos on the tutorials, and user forums.  I have contacted complete strangers and asked for help.  I called in somewhat helpful techies, but they got frustrated also.  I studied other’s exhibits…. trying to figure out how they were adapting the same theme I was using and getting very different results.  I spent more hours with dual screens following the directions and trying to make my page work.  I have something similar to the plan…but not quite what I had envisioned.  I have another section to go… but don’t even know how to attempt it or if it is possible to do.

The challenge for the traditional historian is the shift in time.  Traditional historians spend time in documents and research, not in presentation.  The loss of research time to computer construction is quite frustrating because it feels like “wasted” time.  A portion of the frustration arises out of unrealistic expectations.  Omeka is “an open-source platform” for digital archives and collections.  It is described as,  “makes web-publishing easy”.  Furthermore, “The developers at the Center for History and New Media have done a wonderful job providing a concise and understandable tutorial for first-time Omeka users”.  Teaching Hist.org   There should be a caveat behind these words…..’if you are already a developer, have computer programing or web skills.

Our public humanities literature promotes awareness of audience.  Review of local history and community websites demonstrates their need to define themselves as relevant to outsiders.  I have become acutely aware of ‘unintended bias’.  While struggling to navigate digital tools and production, I am wondering if my historical content is as difficult for digital natives to learn or appreciate, as learning the digital platforms is for me.  I think about the classes I teach and I believe it is.  Historians have jargon and expectations – surely you know when the U.S. Constitution was signed.  ‘Everyone understands that there are 3 branches of government in the U.S. and why the Supreme Court decisions are significant’…but really, not so much.  In on-line tutorials, it is evident the person who wrote the tutorial knows the product.  Their knowledge assumes digital literacy in the person to whom they are explaining the process. I find myself spending as much time looking up instructional terms or for other sites explanations of the tutorial ideas, as I do actually implementing the tutorial. There is a gap between the novice user and the literature around web design and development.  There are gaps between the historian and the historical novice.  There are gaps between the person or organization creating a public humanities exhibit and the audience.

Some of the challenges I have faced are:  It took me 2 weeks to get my page sort of working and then I realized there was a problem with the version of the Omeka Exhibit Builder I was using (from others working on similar projects – all along, I thought the problem was me).  I upgraded my exhibit builder and lost my exhibit in the process.  Working with Support is difficult, because even Support acts like you should have a certain degree of expertise to even be attempting this, ‘What were you thinking?’  …’I don’t know, I believed your promo that this software is designed for the non-techie?’.

I have made progress in: The Support site told me to change the source code….yeah, right – well I did, but it didn’t work…so fortunately I was able to change it back.  But I actually had the courage to change the SOURCE CODE!  I have learned, I am capable of following instructions that are more and less helpful.  Dual screens are really helpful.  I have realized that techies in person are much like the tutorials – they are thrilled with what they are doing …while I struggle to follow.   This has led to a critical realization … when I talk history, I am thrilled with what I am doing and people may be finding it hard to follow.

History must be a public endeavor.  The world can become isolated in digital silos.  The rewards of digital history are more understanding and connection.  Humanities engagement teaches how other people think and how to conquer obstacles and how to work together.  Learning new tools and skills is time consuming  and frustrating and making the world PROGRESS!

Notes:

https://quotation.io/page/quote/progress-means-getting-nearer-place-want  accessed 3/30/18

http://teachinghistory.org/digital-classroom/tech-for-teachers/25115  accessed 3/30/18

Some of the work shaping my thinking:  Tim Sherratt, “It’s All About the Stuff: Collections, Interfaces, Power, and People,” Journal of Digital Humanities 1, no. 1 (March 9, 2012), http://journalofdigitalhumanities.org/1-1/its-all-about-the-stuff-by-tim-sherratt/; Michael Whitelaw, “Generous Interfaces for Digital Cultural Heritage Collections,” Digital Humanities Quarterly 9, no. 1 (2015) http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/9/1/000205/000205.html; John Kuo Wei Tchen, “Creating a Dialogic Museum: The Chinatown History Museum Experiment,” in Museums and Communities: The Politics of Public Culture, edited by Ivan Karp, Christine Mullen Kreamer, and Steven D. Lavine (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992) 285-326.  Katharine T. Corbett and Howard S. (Dick) Miller, “A Shared Inquiry into Shared Inquiry,” The Public Historian, Vol. 28, No. 1 (Winter 2006) 15-38.  Michael Frisch, “From A Shared Authority to the Digital Kitchen, and Back,” in Letting Go?: Sharing Historical Authority in a User-Generated World. Edited by Bill Adair, Benjamin Filene, and Laura Koloski (Philadelphia: The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, 2011) 126-137.  Spichiger, L., J. Jacobson, Telling an Old Story in a New Way: Raid on Deerfield: The Many Stories of 1704 , in J. Trant and D. Bearman (eds.). Museums and the Web 2005: Proceedings, Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics, published March 31, 2005. http://www.museumsandtheweb.com/mw2005/papers/spichiger/spichiger.html

Guides, HIST 694 Digital Public History, Project

Transforming History Processes

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In the past, I have shaped exhibits after the content.  So my process has been focused on identifying the key elements of the project at hand – Subject and artifact centered.  Build the comprehensive history from research around the elements; distill the exhibit from (essentially) my interpretation of the significant history and relationships, engage in dialogue with design experts and then determine how that exhibit can be mounted with in the identified space, open the exhibit, gather feedback.  The readings assigned for Modules 4 and 5 call for a much more engaged approach to all facets of the project – history, design and ‘experience’ of the exhibit …extending into an on-going conversation and continuing impact of the history beyond the immediate exhibit space.

A simplified revised conception of the public humanities project process would be: focused on identifying the key elements of the project at hand – Subject and artifact centered.  Consider the audience for these elements (what will they need to know, how would they use this information). Sherratt.  Build the comprehensive history from research around the elements while engaging professional and audience partners in the process of research, design and engagement. Spichiger, Rabiinowicz, Lubar. Finalize the conception of the history with the team (possibly including an audience test – Colter).  Determine how the exhibit can be mounted with in the identified space, how the previously identified and potential audiences can be informed, engaged and consider potential for on-going collection of history and engagement of the audience (archive building and social media).  Open the Exhibit.  Receive audience feedback and finalize institutional review.

This project process is a dramatic shift from the “Ivory Tower” conception and accomplishment of projects that was the 20th Century model.  Fortunately there is a gallery of digital humanities projects that demonstrate how this format can work for both the physical display of exhibits and new digital forms of exhibits and historical engagement opportunities (web search Digital Humanities Projects on almost any topic or refer to examples listed at the bottom of this page).  Not unexpectedly, the content and quality of these projects can vary based on access to resources and the quality of the personnel involved in the projects.  Quality projects include in the recognition of the need for the curation and maintenance of supportive materials and archive of the metadata to maintain veracity, accessibility and usability of the historical material being created.  Inclusion of the various perspectives involved in the new methodology requires early and expanded identification of the exhibit “team”.  Enhanced and frequent communication (written and face to face) and focused intentional collaboration is needed to assure that all perspectives are truly being considered and incorporated into the ‘story’ being created.  Documentation of resources, metadata, on-going team collaboration are essential to keep the direction and component parts of the project progressing toward the same end product.  Owens, “Metadata”, Brennan & Kelly, Whitelaw, Fisher, Kissane

The value of this updated process is the creation of a more holistic, engaged history.  Social historians of the late 20th Century (Labor, Ethnic & Gender) called for attention to and expansion of the conception of history to include ‘the wider public’, a movement away from the focus on ‘Great Men and Great Deeds’.  However in the early days of this new history, the content and delivery still utilized traditional approaches and methodologies.   Since resources to acquire the history of ‘the wider public’ didn’t exist.  Technological advancements and refinement of digital methods has made access to the interpretation of public documents, GIS infrastructure analysis and inclusion of “the crowd” and a more accurate representation of ‘the wider public’ possible.  Including participation and involvement in the creation of public humanities projects increases the awareness of and access to new historical sources, expands the perspective in the creation and expression of the exhibit, builds a larger and more engaged audience and develops new avenues for future historical questions: What is the historical impact of audience engagement in the development and presentation of their own history?  This type of question is already being developed in the 911 and Hurricane archive.  It is a new and exciting time to be a “stuffy old historian”.

Sheila A Brennan and T. Mills Kelly, “Why Collecting History Online Is Web 1.5,” Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, March 2009, http://rrchnm.org/essay/why-collecting-history-online-is-web-1-5/  accessed Feb. – Mar. 2018.

Angela Colter, “Testing Content,” A List Apart, December 14, 2010, http://alistapart.com/article/testing-content  accessed Feb. – Mar. 2018.

Erin Kissane, “A Checklist for Content Work,” A List Apart, March 8, 2011, http://alistapart.com/article/a-checklist-for-content-work  accessed Feb. – Mar. 2018.

Steve Lubar, “The Curator Rules,” On Public Humanities, February 7, 2015, https://stevenlubar.wordpress.com/2015/02/07/creative-curation-curatorial-rules-and-when-to-break-them/ accessed Feb.- Mar. 2018.

Metadata,” JISC Digital Media, http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/infokit/metadata/metadata-home accessed Feb.- Mar. 2018.

Trevor Owens, “What Do You Mean by Archive? Genres of Usage for Digital Preservers | The Signal: Digital Preservation,” Blog, The Signal: Digital Preservation, (February 27, 2014), http://blogs.loc.gov/digitalpreservation/2014/02/what-do-you-mean-by-archive-genres-of-usage-for-digital-preservers/  accessed Feb.- Mar. 2018.

Tim Sherratt, “It’s All About the Stuff: Collections, Interfaces, Power, and People,” Journal of Digital Humanities 1, no. 1 (March 9, 2012), http://journalofdigitalhumanities.org/1-1/its-all-about-the-stuff-by-tim-sherratt/  accessed Feb.- Mar. 2018.

Spichiger, L., J. Jacobson, Telling an Old Story in a New Way: Raid on Deerfield: The Many Stories of 1704, in J. Trant and D. Bearman (eds.). Museums and the Web 2005: Proceedings, Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics, published March 31, 2005.

Richard Rabinowicz, “Eavesdropping at the Well: Interpretive Media in the Slavery in New York Exhibition,” Public Historian 35:3 (August 2013), pp. 8-45.

Michael Whitelaw, “Generous Interfaces for Digital Cultural Heritage Collections,” Digital Humanities Quarterly 9, no. 1 (2015) http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/9/1/000205/000205.html  accessed Feb.- Mar. 2018.

Examples of Digital Public History Websites:

 

HIST 694 Digital Public History, Project, Tools

Cleveland Women: Project Proposal

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Cleveland Women: A Prototype public humanities website dedicated to promoting access to digital & traditional archival resources in Cleveland and providing a forum for interpreting Cleveland women’s history.

The northeast region of Ohio was created, as the “Connecticut Western Reserve” in 1796, under the Articles of Confederation, within the boundaries of the Northwest Territory.  This property was given to the “People of Connecticut” to compensate for Revolutionary war costs and losses.  The region’s past is deeply rooted in the Calvinistic and Congregational religious and patriarchal traditions of New England.  The public history discourse regarding the settlement, growth and maturation of the Western Reserve rarely mentions women.  The Cleveland Women website is seen as an opportunity for creating an awareness of the role of women in the development of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio.  Historical questions this site will investigate include:  Who are the women of Northeast Ohio?  What was daily life like for area women in times past?  How have they shaped the region?  What forces propelled them into public awareness and public roles?  What is women’s “activism” in Northeast Ohio?  How has our history shaped women’s opportunity today? The site will also provide access to resources that may help answer these questions.

Cleveland Women: A Prototype will utilize Omeka.  “Omeka is a free, flexible, and open source web-publishing platform for the display of library, museum, archives, and scholarly collections and exhibitions.”  Website configuration will consist of: an attractive headline; featured interpretive exhibit; and offer links to major collections and archives about women in Cleveland, including: “The Women’s Archival Collection” located in the Special Collections of the Michael Schwartz Library of Cleveland, Cleveland Memory, the Dittrick Center for Medical History, Cleveland Public Library and others.  The first featured exhibit will present an analysis of “Black Women’s Activism In Cleveland”.  An early depiction identifies Polly Simmons & Eliza Simmons Bryant and their role in creating the Cleveland Home for Aged Colored People at the end of the 19th Century.  More recent history embraces the activism of Mareyjoyce Green and her efforts to combat domestic violence and provide educational opportunities for African American women.  Plug in tools will ease and highlight site navigation.  Prototype components for Current Events, On-going Research, and invitations to Help contribute information and project assistance will be designed.  Ideally, these areas will eventually be made interactive.

Cleveland Women will attract as its principal users: Cleveland & NEOhio researchers, students (K-12 and post-secondary), journalists, and academics, primarily local but also national, who are interested in the specific history of the region or women’s history, or any of the topic areas included within the site (health care, women’s activism, volunteer and charitable organizations, etc.).   The site will coalesce and promote access to Cleveland women’s history.  Persons interested in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio will form the secondary audience for this website.  This audience includes local residents and tourists.  People searching for general local information or subject matter similar to the content that Cleveland Women promotes.  Engaging these users requires an attractive site and the metadata that connects search terms.   Many portals will access links to Cleveland Women including those above and other local history organizations: Western Reserve Historical Society, Dittrick Medical History Center, Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, International Women’s Air & Space Museum, Dunham Tavern; State and possibly national women’s research centers like Ohio’s History Connection and the National Women’s History Museum.  Tourist and marketing organizations for the city (Destination Cleveland, the Downtown Alliance and The Greater Cleveland Partnership) are also resources for site promotion.  Cleveland Women seeks to engage and inform!

HIST 694 Digital Public History, Project

Audience Personas

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Name: Tina Schaffer

Demographic: 48yrs old Caucasian woman, who lives in a ring suburb, in a house with family.

Descriptive Title: 3rd grade teacher

Favorite Quote: “Some people come in your life as blessings; some people come in your life as lessons” Mother Teresa

A Day in a Life Narrative:

Tina and her husband rise early in the morning. He goes off to work for an accounting firm. She gets her teenagers up and out the door and heads off to her own job fortunately, in the neighborhood school. After the school day ends, Tina spends an extra hour on her course work before going home. Tina lives in a ‘ring’ suburb of Cleveland, OH Middleburg Hts. Her garden is sad, but her son mows the lawn and her husband shovels the walk. Tina loves teaching, but disapproves of the testing and charter schools, worries about the levies and taxes.  Tina believes introducing Cleveland (regional) and American (national) history to her third graders as well as reinforcing their basic skills in reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmatic builds their identity and it makes her happy. She does not get as much free time to read & play games in her class as she would like. Tina is an avid T.V. Browns Fan. Rarely going to the games, “I’d rather snuggle on my couch with a bowl of popcorn”. Tina attends her children’s activities in band and sports and together they will occasionally visit one of the downtown museums or citywide events. They make the annual pilgrimage to Cedar Point, Amusement Park in nearby Sandusky. Tina recalls going to the Euclid Beach Park on what is now called “the North Shore”, rather than “the Lake”. She is happy they have reassembled the Carousel and placed it in the Western Reserve Historical Society. She has heard it runs and would like to go see it, but other things take priority. Tina is happy to do internet shopping and social media on-line, since it saves time and helps her feel connected. She frequently gets information from Cleveland.com (the Plain Dealer website), but has never heard of the Cleveland Memory Project. She watched the Women’s March on T.V. and was glad they marched.

End Goals:

Tina’s goal is to have a good classroom, successful children, keep her family healthy and happy. Tina believes she is making a difference in the lives of children and her community every day.

Persona 2

Name: Drew Harmon

Demographic: 53 African American woman, condo inner ring of Cleveland, divorced, lives alone, but attends church and organization meetings regularly.

Descriptive Title: Journalist and Women’s Activist

Favorite Quote: “Our greatness has always come from people who expect nothing and take nothing for granted” Michelle Obama

A Day in a Life Narrative:

Drew is an over achiever, she was an honors student in HS and double majored in history and communications. Drew “fits” in exercise because she knows it’s good for her, but is more intellectual than athletic. Drew married young had 2 children, but it didn’t work out and she went back to work for the newspaper where she had interned during college. Drew is the researcher for the editor’s stories. Because she loves the ‘background story’, she occasionally gets in trouble for being late with her corrections. Drew is tech savvy and meticulous.  She accesses all resources, including the news services.  Cleveland Memory is one of her ‘go to’ resources for local history, to cross check her facts. Drew has been known to pop into the Cleveland Public library research divisions and the Michael Schwartz Library at CSU, Special Collections (particularly for the “Cleveland Press” photography collection) pursuing stories. When she is done at the end of the work day, Drew goes home to a condo in Cleveland Heights. Her daughter recently finished college and started a job in Pittsburgh.  Her son works for Lincoln Electric and has 2 children.  Drew likes to go to the movies, coffee shops and local activities with friends. She “covered” the Women’s March, but also occasionally participates in Cleveland’s activist initiatives with Delta Sigma Theta. On the weekends, Drew is often busy with her church and family.

End Goals:

Drew would like to write books, but just ‘can’t find the time’. She occasionally submits an article for the weekend special feature magazines. Because of the intensity of her daily research, Drew likes to interact with friends, family and groups on the weekend. She wants her family and her community to be successful.

HIST 694 Digital Public History, Project, Reviews

Collecting DIGITAL Public History

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Digital collections first allowed for the “movement” of text.  Ease of correction improved attention to the words, increasing editing, which promoted clarity, and actually, more content.  This movement drew more attention to placement of the words on the page, and the evolution of ‘text’ (a newspaper term) in ‘space’ as opposed to on a page.  Technological innovations have placed the power of movement, placement and publication into the hands of an individual, away from big machines with numerous workers.  (An unintended consequence has been the loss of jobs in the publishing industries, but that is another story).  For public history, this “movement” has resulted in reformulating “the exhibit” from a static “display” into an “engagement process”.  Audiences have become used to instant access to information and overloaded by the constant barrage of information both useful and useless.  Public history has needed to innovate to capture and engage (hold the attention of) its audiences in order to help them slow down and help them reflect upon the meaning of their past, present and future.

Ronald Grele’s, “Whose Public?  Whose History?” critiques traditional history for focusing on the grand “dramas of wide sweep and broad interpretation, up-beat pageants which trace a major theme in American culture and point to the inevitable success of the United States as a nation.” He asserts the creation of a “monograph {reading} elite”, “isolation from peers and the market place” are the results from this form of historical work.  Grele calls for skill based historians that can enable the public to “do their own history”.  Progressive historians have been around for a long time and so have the critiques of their work, my own favorites being the work of Charles and Mary Beard, Gerda Lerner, Estelle B. Freedman and the courage of Stacy Shift to tackle ‘familiar’ public histories with new approaches.  My own question of Grele would be, ‘Have “members of the public” had the time to reflect deeply on their own circumstances in context?’  Analysis of recent voting history demonstrates that in interpretation of one’s own place in society is skewed by many factors. (NYT, Vance)  I agree with Grele that a participatory engagement with history will promote “understanding their role in shaping and interpreting events” but I also believe that time for a historian to focus on analysis is equally important as the skills of presentation and engagement.  In a perfect world, the expansion of both areas would be an economic engine providing jobs and an informed, active democracy (though, if that isn’t progressive, I don’t know what is).

In the meantime, new digital tools, like Omeka, provide assistance to the historian or public institution enabling them to:

  • access collections previously restricted by distance and preservation requirements
  • illustrate ideas with popular and archival resources
  • create global audiences
  • encourage response and interplay with artifacts and ideas
  • provide resources to both examine and perhaps challenge traditional beliefs
  • generate global conversations
  • stimulate new ideas and public action

It is therefore crucial that we utilize the digital resources and platforms to encourage public interest, memory and reflection utilizing familiar and intriguing mechanisms (images, questions, puzzles, games, instant information).  When the attention has been captured, it becomes the historian’s job to expand the perspective, depth of awareness and suggest consideration of the varied meanings of these histories.

Understanding the history of Cleveland Women can benefit by incorporating the tools, resources, platforms and utilizing the theories of Digital Public History.  Three projects, among the multitudinous, excellent projects that have been created; have particularly captured me as guides for addressing the history of women in Cleveland: Citizen Archivist Dashboard, Digital Harlem and the Western Reserve Historical Society.  These sites are obviously very professional and were created through large budgets which can cover the costs of time, teams, multi-partner collaboration, and expertise of all types including: historians, archivists, designers, artists, IT systems architects, developers, programmers, etc. But, each of these sites contains elements and draws attention to aspects which the Cleveland Women needs to incorporate to target its audience and enable historical thinking about the role and significance of women in Cleveland’s past.

  1. I am beginning with Citizen Archivist Dashboard because the particular aspect of this site is a bit further down the road for Cleveland Women – Community Engagement through Crowdsourcing. Citizen Archivist Dashboard has the same ability that I experienced in one other site New York Public Library’s Building Inspector, you get on that site and do not leave for at least an hour.  (Well, I really only spend 10-15 min at a time on Building Inspector but I went there whenever I was bored on the phone or waiting for an appointment, until I quit cold turkey). However, Citizen Archivist Dashboard not only provided the capture and engagement of Building Inspector it actually stimulated investigation and historical reflection and analysis.  Bright colors and design, positive and powerful messaging “You Can Transcribe It”, “You Can Tag It”, “You Can Make it Happen” invite the audience to participate.  Clear directions on the crowdsourcing page and direct links to the archive home page; which again uses color and easy click navigation buttons, while providing both attractive and engaging feature elements and connections to the various types of activities a user would need to access within the site.  This site has the innocent surfer embedded in exploring history before they know what happened!
  2. WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY    …The newly redesigned Western Reserve Historical Society site is another site geared toward inviting the visitor with clear design and easy navigation. While Citizen Archivist Dashboard invites the user to help with the work of the National Archive and/or utilize the collection, the Western Reserve Historical Society primarily invites the user to visit the various sites of the society and/or utilize the collection. Both sites use “motion” headlines, block areas, clear type and color, reinforcing the concept that these digital resource sites need to keep the audience and its needs and desires first and ease the passage into the depth of content.  The resource trove now made more accessible from the Western Reserve Historical Society is extremely valuable for the source material and work of Cleveland Women.  A caveat to the accessibility of the archival collection on this particular page is that the featured “Research & Collections” tab is targeted to a general audience and provides links and access to the museum & site public collections, whereas the access to the research collections is on the small navigation bar at the very top of the page under the title “Online Catalog”, easily overlooked.
  3. Digital Harlem is closest to the form of analysis and community history that is being explored in Cleveland Women. History is explored primarily through the lens of community, focusing on physical setting and the connections between relationships as they play out in that physical setting.  Digital Harlem has provided a model pathway for digital historical analysis. Specifically it allows for the compilation of the various aspects of a large amount of information in manageable chunks through categorized accessible databases. It provides the context of place through mapping tools.  It enables exploration of the ‘impact of time’ through user interface with the timeline.  It provides a ‘historical analysis’ (context) page where on-going interpretation and research can be engaged.  Content, tools and resources that both general and research audiences can access are easily found.  It encourages engagement and contribution to the project in various ways.  Digital Harlem provides both immediate access to historical information, drawing in both general and specialized audiences, to grapple with the full scope of historical themes, relationships and complex webs that exploring a community encounters.

Omeka provides a platform to begin collecting the individual items and structuring the elements of a history similar to Digital Harlem, but clear and uniquely focused on Cleveland Women.

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Reflections: DPHF17 WHCC Mapping 1.0

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I. Aim of the Project

The aim of the DPHF17 WHCC Mapping 1.0 project is to apply what I am learning in the George Mason University Digital Public Humanities Certificate program to the larger historical project “Women and Health Care in Cleveland” (WHCC).  WHCC has examined many types of ‘connections’ between Cleveland’s institutions and individuals using traditional historical methods and disseminating this information through academic and public avenues.  As the WHCC project evolved, it has expanded including many variables: Public and private institutions, corporate, proprietary and government entities, relationships that span the gamut of intimate families and friends, through organizational and philanthropic to distant resource and approval figureheads.  The increasing size of the corpus data has made digital humanities methods attractive to the WHCC.

For this specific project, I am applying two forms of mapping and network analysis software to a small sample WHCC data set to ascertain our ability to adapt WHCC materials to DH methods. I am anxious to see what these visualizations reveal about the WHCC network of medical care in Cleveland, OH during the period 1850-1870, when the city and public institutions are just organizing.  This project is also being conducted as part of a learning community created within the Digital Humanities Certificate Program.  Collaboration is an intrinsic part of projects created within the field of digital humanities. Close engagement with persons involved in all aspects of the resourcing, researching, production and those who will be engaging with the completed research is part of this methodology. (Ramsay, Stephen, “DH Types”) The production of this project and its partners is an exercise in collaboration.  Also this effort will inform WHCC current and future research and project activities.

II. Sources

WHCC records are comprised of traditional research notes, tabulated and compiled over years of assorted projects and presentations.  These records needed to be transformed into complete, structured and clean databases to form a Subset of data for digital analysis.  The technical process of converting WHCC information from its original Excel Spreadsheet to a .cvs database ready to be utilized for DH analysis is described on the WHCC Project Page.

For this particular reflection, it needs to be recognized how “incomplete” the corpus was from a digital standpoint.  This is part of the “art” of traditional historical analysis – interpreting relationships from ‘limited’ sources.  Various specific details are missing for a majority our people, but the ‘missing’ data is not always the same aspect.  The lack of quantifiable and definitive data results in the critiques, such as “Most historians still trade in text mediated by uncertainty and theory; while historical geographers, strive to tie data to a knowable and certain fragment of the world’s surface”, by social scientists that have more measureable data on which to rest their authority. (Hitchcock, Historyonics)  The time consuming task of transforming the minutia of notes (fortunately frequently recorded in digital formats – Word, Excel, Google etc.) was tedious and required several passes to add  missing elements,  correct items, and standardize references. The purpose as Hitchcock asserts

“makes possible a situation in which historians cease to be mere text merchants, obsessed with the perfect quote, and compelling (if largely un-evidenced) argument; and where geographers {AND HISTORIANS} have a new access to the subtle mappings of the marks of ‘culture’ in its broadest sense – a new way of thinking about the geographical distribution of behaviors and ideas, that bring within a geographical fold questions traditionally preserved for others…..We quite suddenly share a new culture of data – and data can be translated.”  (Hitchcock, Historyonics)

But, recorded in these records were extensive descriptions of relationships, references and speculations about connections that cannot be translated into spreadsheet columns.  This difficulty has been noted:

“Humanistic data are almost by definition uncertain, open to interpretation, flexible, and not easily definable. Node types are concrete; your object either is or is not a book. Every book-type thing shares certain unchanging characteristics.  … This reduction of data comes at a price, one that some argue traditionally divided the humanities and social sciences. If humanists care more about the differences than the regularities, more about what makes an object unique rather than what makes it similar, that is, the very information they are likely to lose by defining their objects as nodes.”…..

“Unfortunately, given that humanistic data are often uncertain and biased to begin with, every arbitrary act of data-cutting has the potential to add further uncertainty and bias to a point where the network no longer provides meaningful results. The ability to cut away just enough data to make the network manageable, but not enough to lose information, is as much an art as it is a science.” (Weingart, “Demystifying Networks”).

An objective of this project is to create a physical picture, while maintaining our awareness that this “picture” is a created artifact.  The primary criteria of removal from our corpus was incomplete addresses, this reduced the initial data set from 772 to 194.  Identifiable geolocations reduced it to 135.  In statistical terms, the test data is comprised of 17% of the full corpus.  The analysis has also been governed more by ‘quantifiable’ units (nodes) and is therefore more broad and superficial than the depth of WHCC records indicate.  For example, Oliver Hazard Payne, the grandson of Oliver Hazard Perry, served in the Civil War and then became a board member of Standard Oil.  He donated to Cornell Medical College, Cleveland’s Lakeside Hospital, the Jewish Orphan Asylum, St. Vincent Charity hospital among others, but died a bachelor.  He left his money to family members including Elizabeth Bingham Blossom, who married Dudley Blossom, who would become the City Welfare Director and gained national prominence transforming “City” into Metropolitan Hospital.  — How does that get put in a spreadsheet?

“There are many networks that can connect the same group of nodes, and many questions that can be asked of any given network, but before trying to use networks to study history, you should be careful to make sure the questions match the network.” (Weingart, Networks Demystified).  In order to accomplish this test within the limited time-frame, specific decisions were made to include rows that had complete data and columns that could be straightforwardly quantified or compared digitally.  These choices dramatically limited the size of the Trial Data Set and the number of visualizations that could be performed.  It is evident that experience in database design would enhance the structure of the database and the end-product.

III. Software that You Worked With:

The tools used for analysis in the DPHF17 WHCC Mapping Project were CARTO and PALLADIO.  A description of the tool and examples of the visualizations produced with them is available on the WHCC Project Page .

There are aspects of “working” in the field of Digital Humanities that completely change your conception of it.  I recognize “plural” in “Digital Humanities” in a much different way than when I began the semester.  At that point, I believed it was interdisciplinary and combined the digital (discrete bits & computers) with humanistic topics.  The primary purpose being to create products and exhibits that contributed to the understanding and snazz of the Humanities. The Digital Humanities are plural in a much deeper and comprehensive way.  In the creation of the DPHF17 WHCC Mapping Project, I have used multiple softwares.  I think a more appropriate way of discussing them is in terms of categories of tools used, as well as specific applications.

Throughout the project process, communication of ideas and transmission of data has been necessary and on-going.  However a straight forward email is only one form.  Daily I was using several platforms based on where I was working and the type of collaboration I was seeking: Microsoft Outlook at work; Gmail for private and college business communications; Blackboard messages for student interaction within my class, as well as blackboard collaboration for class meetings, Slack – was the primary collaboration tool used for course questions and help within our group.  Each one of these platforms is directed to accomplishing similar goals but in targeted and specific ways.  Blackboard (An education management system) is a suite of tools to address the needs of educators and students.  Microsoft Outlook is particularly targeted to business processes and Gmail tries to straddle both business and private communication spheres.  Choice of usage is not always in the hands of the user, but may be dictated by the environment.

Collection and organization of data was also accomplished through many systems.  The course itself had its own course platform “dhcert” which was customized software hosted on Reclaim.  This enabled the dispersal of information and submission of coursework in a paced process that was much more fluid and individually accessible than Blackboard.  I utilized document tools –  Google Docs and Microsoft Word; spreadsheet tools – Excel and Google sheets.  The primary advantage of Google tools being the ability to synchronously edit and collaborate.

Tools for the dissemination of results include: WordPress – This is publishing software which is hosting my blog and also provides a course record.  The capacity in which it was used this semester was more an educational and professional platform than personal journal.  Also discussed and encouraged are further social media tools utilized to “get the word out”, now that newspapers and print media are not as commonly utilized.  These tools included Facebook, Twitter, other people’s blogs, institutional websites and professional networking resources like Linked In and HNet (field specific network) or sites like www.digitalhumanities.cam.ac.uk

The WHCC Project is a ‘location specific’ project.  At various times, I have hand created maps or adapted existing maps to “show” the relationships with which we are working; and how space impacts those relationships.  So I was drawn to the mapping and visualization tools of CARTO and Palladio.  Multiple tools were selected, because I am interested in testing both the visual map interface and the network constellation visual representations.  Texas A&M GeoServices was an essential tool as it was used to transform street addresses into latitude/longitude coordinates as Geo locations. This opensource program was particularly friendly to work with, utilized my Excel sheet with expanded columns formulated the Geo locations for my limited data set quickly.  The Excel sheet was saved as a .cvs file, which once created could be utilized by both platforms, which was a pleasant surprise.  CARTO maps.  It is possible to upload the GIS data, have it appear on a constructed map.  CARTO then allows the user to make various forms of analysis (Histograms, Graphs, Time Series, Density and Grouping) that help show connections and changes over time on the map itself.  CARTO is easy in the sense that its widgets and analysis software will do magic in transforming data into maps.  But it is a time-consuming process to learn CARTO’s idiosyncrasies and getting the various widgets to operate the way you think they should intuitively. CARTO I can utilize 19th century maps digitized in the Cleveland Map collection. I am choosing this software because, we will be looking at this network again in the 1930’s and 1990’s and utilizing the GIS aspects of CARTO will be particularly helpful.

The Palladio platform is easier to work with than CARTO.  However, the ability to customize visualizations is more limited.   Palladio is structured more as a “tool set”.  The tool is selected, the data is plugged in and “poof” the network image appears.  This makes it much more fun for the non-techie to do techie magic.  In projecting a new form of visualization which focuses on the connection and its strength; Palladio helps the user focus on the relationship between objects.  This non-traditional spatial view of relationships helps the user to consider the meaning of the patterns and stimulates new questions.   Using Palladio and CARTO together

 IV.  Problems Completing the Project:

Overall the major challenge of the project was time.  The time-frame of this sub-project and many design elements have been dictated by DPHCert course requirements.  A substantial portion of time for this project has been spent reorganizing, cleaning and supplementing the information that had been gathered in order to create a clean data set that could be loaded into visualization software.  The scope of the current project has been narrowed from a full scale analysis of the WHCC data to testing a portion of the data. Even then, the scope was reduced further as each activity in the project required learning the methodology of a new tool, or expanding on a fragmentary knowledge of it.  While time available to the project was intended to focus on utilization of the digital tools, the preservation of the larger project’s resources became a time critical issue. While this aspect seems extraneous to the DPHF17 project, it is a valuable reminder of human, machine and societal issues that will impact any public project.  Another ‘human’ issue in the completion of this project is isolation from an active DH facility/community.  As I read fellow “ground” students posts, which included references to conversations and evidently lab type resources and assistance, that resulted in professional products; I recognized the depth of my struggle to learn unfamiliar tools and change embedded practices on my own.

V.  Discoveries About Sources:

Preparation of the full corpus data was beyond my ability to complete in the time available in the semester. The Test corpus was determined by a representative sample and having a substantial number of records to process. Limiting the number of columns in the network relationships (determined as necessary during the data cleaning process) was the most disappointing feature of creating the test data. Also after having compiled the test corpus and run the visualizations, I believe I will need to rethink strategy of formulation. Names are important to understanding the relationships in the larger project, but the ‘significance of the names’ is invisible to the computer. The addresses are also significant, but do not tell the full story of the geographic locations.

WHCC spreadsheets were created to compile resources for the purposes of other  sub-projects. This format was not sufficient for effective digital processing. The lack of a fundamental design structure meant that creating a “usable” database was more complex and time consuming than expected. Gaps in the data needed to be filled, extra punctuation and side notes needed to be removed. Addresses has to be placed into standard formats and geolocations calculated. Computer tools can be used for some of these processes, but the interpretation of meaning (even in deciphering aspects within the data structure) requires human analysis.

Choices were made to limit the scope of the project because data was missing or incomplete, but I also discovered that some of the organizational structure even in the newly constructed database was unhelpful.  The original construction of the numbered Charity columns was based on the evidence of commitment or office tenure of the individual.  For the purposes of digital analysis, I believe the columns should be titled by Charity Name.  This would allow a better display of the charities as well as the individual relationships.  Additional dates, (hiring, membership, terms of office etc.) if available would make time sequence analysis possible.

Opening the project up to the public during its ‘working phase’ is not a strategy I would have anticipated or probably considered. The inclusion of public awareness is part of the evolution of my understanding of ‘Digital Humanities’ and exposure to more DH work in a thoughtful way. At our first glance of Digital Harlem, I realized the power and usefulness of its blog. Since this project is somewhat similar to WHCC, in exploring the impact of an aspect of an urban community; I examined this project closely and have been reflecting on its strategy and methodology. WHCC does have a ‘crowdsourcing’ element in its origin and full implementation. Laying the groundwork for that engagement now, seems appropriate,

“[DH] projects allow improved searching and analysis of primary sources, facilitating a researcher in their task and allowing new ways to synthesize, juxtapose, and create knowledge. Although many digitization projects in the Digital Humanities are developed with a core constituency in mind, the resulting resources can be used by a wider audience, and the ramification of opening up access to humanities, arts, and cultural content is just starting to be understood.” (Terras, Digitization and Digital Resources in the Humanities)

 VI.  Highlights of Presentation

WHCC has been collaborative from the beginning in the research, generating community interest and support.  This project has benefitted from and reinforced the significance of that aspect of WHCC practice.  WHCC is an effort to uncover the networks and contributions of previously unrecognized actors in the development of our current health care system.  This project has demonstrated the ability of Digital Humanities methodology and tools to uncover new relationships and generate import research questions. Production of Digital Humanities analysis is time-consuming (expensive) on the front end, but replicable on the back end.

“It is not just that mapped data is seen in its geographical context…large quantities of data, can be combined on a single map, providing an image of the complexity of the past.  You can examine maps of sources at different scales, and discover relationships…by visually detecting spatial patterns that remain hidden in texts and tables.” (Robertson, “Digital Harlem”)

The introduction of this methodology into WHCC proposes a broader understanding of the ‘unrecognized actors’ and a deeper understanding of the embedded nature of the networks within the city.  “Trevor Harris, Jesse Rouse and Susan Bergeron argue, ‘The visual display of information creates a visceral connection to the content that goes beyond what is possible through traditional text documents.’”(In Robertson, “Digital Harlem”)  This project is a step in developing a ‘visceral connection’ within the WHCC.

Notes:

Edelstein, Dan, Findlen, Paula, Ceserani, Giovanna, Winterer, Caroline, and Nicole Coleman. “Historical Research in “A Digital Age: Reflections from the Mapping the Republic of Letters Project.” American History Review, 122, no. 2 (2017): 400-424.

Robertson, Stephen “Putting Harlem on the Map.” In Writing History for the Digital Age.  Jack Dougherty and Kristen Nawrotzki, ed.  University of Michigan Press, 2012.

Hitchcock, Tim. “Place and the Politics of the Past.” Historyonics (blog), July 11, 2012.

Ramsay, Stephen. “DH Types One and Two”. Stephen Ramsay (Blog), 2013.

Terras, Melissa.  “Digitization and Digital Resources in the Humanities.” In Digital Humanities in Practice, ed. Claire Warwick, Melissa Terras, and Julianne Nyhan.  Facet Publishing, 2012.

Weingart, Scott. “Demystifying Networks” Scott Weingart (blog), December 14, 2011.

Weingart, Scott. “Networks Demystified 8: When Networks are Inappropriate.” Scott Weingart (blog), December 5, 2013.