Digital Humanities 510

  After reaching the final chapters of the textbook I feel that I am almost ready to make my own website confidently. I know way more now about things like how important usability is, presentation, and even a couple of things on htmls that I never thought I'd need to know, specifically how it connects your content to the specific site/spot. Databases and data mining also helped me now know what to/what I am looking for within a digital project/and or site. There was a part in chapter eleven that is relevant to my project because it helped me finalize a decision on what platform I am using for making my website. Drucker wrote in regards to choosing a platform these four helpful tips: "Always follow the tutorial, read the documentation, and look at the demos, examples, and export options. [See Exercise #4: Export Functions.] Check to see what degree of customization is possible. Are you limited to the themes and templates provided or can you re-style and re...

I think Chapter 11 really speaks to what we have learned throughout this semester, and reminds the reader of how intricate the digital humanities are once and for all. It can be easy to attribute digital projects to an online sphere, especially considering all the online works we have studied, but it's a helpful reminder that many digital works transcend this format, such as certain collections, publications, and exhibits. I found examples of metadata, HTML pages, and various avenues of coding to influence overall presentation to be exceptionally relevant to my final web presentation, and I believe that my platform choice will be heavily influenced by these topics. While I'm not skilled in coding whatsoever, I do plan to make my website unique and customized to portray my ideas to the best of my ability. On page 196 of the textbook, the concept of a digital exhibit is explored, and the text states that "t he content might simply need to be organized, designed, and presente...

 After reading chapters 11 and 12, I thought it brought the course book back to the beginning. The web presentation "are repositories, exhibits, theme and topic specific sites, or digital publications"(Johanna Drucker 192). The chapter made it clear how important web presentation was in digital humanities. The chapters have lead up to this to show how much goes into websites and sources. From breaking down data analysis, mapping, interface, databases, ect, it all connects on making a website or source. I know the importance of putting important text with meaningful images. I now know the difference between a good website and a bad one. I think it is very important to have a well organized website. It should not be filled with text because it can be overwhelming and hard to sift through. I want my final web presentation to be to the point, easy to assess, and digestible. Presentation is key. There should be a section for help and support with a tutorial on everything to know a...

As we conclude the Digital Humanities Coursebook by Johanna Drucker, our previously-tackled digital humanities components of materials and processing are put into their final formatting by incorporating the presentational component to finalize the project. Presentation modes are incredibly important in digital projects, with Drucker describing their importance as, "...online publication formats and presentation modes are also a crucial part of the work in digital humanities. Presentation formats take various forms, as was already evident in the discussion of interface. The most common are repositories, exhibits, theme and topic-specific sites, or digital publications" (Drucker 192). Our previous topics of data mining and text analysis will be utilized as we enter the presentational component on our MEdiation websites. While our websites will be published online, it is important understand that presentations do not have to be online, but rather in assorted digital formats. I n...

In the last chapters of the digital humanities textbook, I learned more about web presentation and design. Web presentation is essential in digital humanities, for creating a base format that suits the person. Tools within digital humanities that are used include data mining and text analysis. There is also not one specific type of web presentation format, for example; there are collections, exhibits, and publications that are all different formats of web presentations. Since our whole presentation is based on our web presentation it is important to know which format will work best for us and the work that goes into these formats. Luckily, this course has set me up to properly understand the different functions this project has to offer and I can use my past knowledge to create my own. In chapter 12, the book focuses on management and design. I will apply what I have learned, for example creating an outline and asking intellectual questions to help me get started on this project. I wil...

  After finishing The Digital Humanities Coursebook by Johanna Drucker I have a better understanding of what our presentation-focused stages in Digital Humanities should look like. All the materials that we have learned about this semester are going to be crucial building blocks in developing our final project. Chapter eleven focused on what our final web presentation and format should look like which can be applied to the MEdiation project. For the web presentation I learned that we will be using materials from previous chapters such as processing materials, text analysis, and data mining to create the final web presentation. I learned that there are a couple of steps to follow when selecting a platform, “Picking a platform requires making a list of the design specifications and function your project requires and then finding the tool that will support this” (Drucker, 199). Having a main goal will be a relevant piece in the presentation- focused stages of the project. While creat...

     The last two chapters focused on ways digital humanities can be utilized. According to the book, "not all digital scholarship ends up online" (Drucker, 193). Rather, many tools in digital humanities can be used, such as data mining or text analysis, even if the contents are not published online. This idea is relevant to my final web presentation, as I will likely be taking many research methods based in the digital humanities and applying them to my project.       Further, the book also discussed the importance of planning a project. Some factors I will need to consider include intellectual property and the afterlife of my website. I will need to consider what purpose my site will exist for, and how I intend to continue, if I desire to. Choosing a platform that reflects my intention is important, since I need something that is simple to navigate and visually appealing. My platform will designed to attract viewers to key content, and have a hands o...

 After reading chapter 10, "My Body, a Wunderkammer", "Depression Quest", and "Electronic Literature:what is it?", I really started to understand interface. The chapter defines it as" an embodiment of the contents of the project, a guide to how a visitor can move through it, and a support for actions that can be taken for use." This means it structures a site in a way to categorize text or data in a visually pleasing way. Having different windows allows for more images to keep the audience engaged. In "My Body, a Wunderkammer" by Shelley Jackson, there is an interactive main page that has the audience pick with body part they want to read more about. After clicking on it, the viewers are brought to a different page where there is a story that corresponds with the body part. Organizing the page that way allows for the audience to not be overwhelmed with one long page of text. It keeps people interested and motivated to keep reading more....

My body, a WunderKammer by Shelly Jackson and Depression Quest by Zoe Quinn are both genres of digital literature that also let the audience interact with their design. The Interface on a computer is in charge of the genre it provides due to the layout, information, and words used.  According to Johanna Trucker " interface is often to communicate with a viewer what the contents of a project site might be"(Drucker, 172). Both of the sites given do a good job with specific layouts to set the stage for the type of impression they want to give off. My Body, for example   immediately shows a more emotionally intimate side to Jacksons' artistic license and what she is trying to portray through this.    For the upcoming project, I would like to incorporate an interactive type of website that is both enticing to the audience but also clear and to the point. I enjoyed the use of hypertexts from the sites above and will incorporate them into my own web presentation. 

 In terms of e-lit, I found both "Depression Quest" and "my body" to be really interesting experiences. I found myself most enthralled with "Depression Quest," and enjoyed the navigation style, with hyperlinks guiding the choose-your-own-adventure feel, noting the options crossed out and un-clickable. This interface was very impactful, and brought me back to the reading from Chapter 10 of the DH textbook. I found "my body" to be engaging and interesting as well in a similar way, and enjoyed that it doesn't read like a normal book, rather is entirely visual and lead by the site visitor. I also liked how within each "chapter," there were hyperlinks that provided context/backstory by leading the site visitor to other "chapters." These elements are something that typical hard-copy literature just simply cannot offer, and emphasize the importance and intricacies of e-lit. Based on these things, in exploring these sources and re...

Interface is essential to any web-based element. Whether a website, blog, or e-lit, an interface helps viewers respond and navigate through different material. Finding a clear and appealing front for it is important to enforce a purpose. Described as "a zone of exchange" (Drucker, 172), interface can vary based on the intentions and design of a project. In the case of the two e-lit readings, both fall under the genre of 'electronic literature', where it is "normally created and performed within a context of networked and programmable media" (Hayles, UCLA). Both relied on a strong interface to help readers browse through the project. In Shelley's story, the work was artistic and extremely simplified. It was limited to a single page with links to click on, as part of an interactive drawing. For Quinn's, navigation was a bit more complex, as it automatically generated a potential lists of outcomes, and provided the reader with options to choose from. Ho...

The two following hypertexts fit into this "genre" of literature because the two are considered to be a setting where there is a space that you can interact with.  Our course book defines t he "genre" of literature we are viewing as interface, "Interface is the  embodiment of the contents  of the project, a guide to how a visitor can move through it, and a support for actions that can be taken for use" (Drucker 172).  Each of the hypertexts allowed the viewer to interact with the projects making them both good examples of interface.  In  The Digital Humanities Coursebook , Drucker discusses that a good interface and interactive design will provide many links to move the viewer (Drucker 180). Both of these interactive designs contained links to different areas of the site that allowed you to go back and forth whenever you wanted. Containing these links in an interactive design led to an accessible page. These two hypertexts were especially goo...

My Body, a Wunderkammer by Shelley Jackson and  Depression Quest  by Zoe Quinn are both pinnacle examples of electronic and digital-born literature. The primary components of electronic literature are the written pieces of literature, as well as the interface that the author or publisher chooses to embed their stories with. These interfaces are curated to be viewed from a digital device, as opposed to being utilized in a typical, bound version of a paper book. As described by Johanna Drucker in the Digital Humanities Coursebook,  "An interface is a zone of exchange. An interface can connect a person with a computer (as with the screens on our devices), a computer with a computer (as in an API), or a network of multiple systems and agents with each other... Interface design organizes our experience and, very simply, if something is not “on the menu” it cannot be found or acted on" (Drucker 172). A reason why each of these stories are not truly able to be fully utilize...

  My Body, a Wunderkammer by Shelley Jackson is first born digital literature. It is meant to be read from an electronic device because of the interactiveness of the story. You can go in and click the hyperlinks on the page and it will take you to a specific section regarding that body part. This is a free flowing story, as in you can click/start at any point in the story. In the textbook, an interface is defined as "connecting a person with a computer"(Drucker 172). This story does a very good job with that based on its face designed. Because it is an imagine of the body, where you can interact with it, it makes it makes a more powerful affect for readers. Depression Quest by Zoe Quinn is another good example of born digital literature because it is highly interactive. Almost like a game, the story takes its reader through asking them questions. This quality keeps readers engaged in the story while allowing simple access to it. The designer of these interfaces clearly strate...