Understanding how institutions actually use digital formats, so
how did they organize the documents?
And then also lastly, understanding this idea as we get more technical, but
it's important.
It's the issue of when you do a search for
something online, and let's say you do a Google search for your family name.
Maybe, let's say that's Ramirez or it's Baker, and you do a search.
Well, it comes up with everything, right?
Everything, Baker can come up with bakers that are actually baking things or
it could be the name or it could be variations, who knows?
So in that respect, we have to understand how this information
is stored in different places, and then how it relates to each other.
So, part of it is actually kind of finding the right place.
So we find the archive that has maybe something about the Baker family.
Then after that, we start to look down different little pathways to understand,
the Baker's might be referred over here in this document.
But you can't find them over here because they're not interconnected,
there's no relationship between this piece and this piece,
because that's not the way the data's organized.
So it's amazing you can find incredible documents, electronically and
online, As well as onsite by changing just the way that you study things.
So we'll look at that.
And what will be quite fun is we'll have you take a look at two collections.
We'll look at one online collection known as Pothys, and
not just pointing the direction giving a little bit of details about it.
Pothys is the main portal for archival collections in Spain.
And I have a particular interest in this area,
but they are equivalents for each of the different national archives.
And in England, and in France, where you can kind of look through their documents,
do searches.
And then the other one we'll look at in addition in Spain is one called set as.
And it's actually involve the museum kind of collections that have been digitized.
So those are kind of exciting to take a look at because
as our course is moving towards conclusion, if you're like me,
I think you're probably just naturally a curious person.
And so I want you to go to good sites.
I want you to, it's fine to start with Wikipedia,
it's fine to start looking there, and you can find good information many times.
But if you want really accurate information, the best of it,
the best artifacts, the best collections, you go to the sources.
And so this will kind of give you a sense of, well how do I, if you see that Spain
has museum collections, and you see that it has library collections online.
Well, now actually then you think, I bet the city of Florence has these things.
And sure enough, you type in Florence, or Firenze, and
you type in museum, and then next thing you know, you're in a museum website and
you're experiencing a digital collection.
So you can be a good steward of your own learning, and
your own kind of discovery along the way.
And I want you to do that.
The last piece this week, which I've been seeing along the way is,
one last look at digital humanities in terms of broader world.
So, like many other historians or literature professors or
artists, I actually work in collaboration with other folks.
The study of history, the study of the humanities,
has changed really rapidly since the advent of the computer and networking.
And so now I work with a collection of colleagues across the world,
with a group called the Global Middle Ages Project, or GMAP.
It's basically University of Texas, at Austin, where I received my doctorate.
And where I work with Dr Geraldine Heng, in the English department,
who writes about the Middle Ages.
interestingly, she writes about the Middle Ages.
In terms of it's development of ideas of race.
When were the first elements of what we started to have a sense of who was who but
based on ethnic and racial lines.
But in this context, Gerald Dean was a really big thinker and brought together
Geographers, philosophers, all types of folks to say, well you know what?
Do we really want to be so European specific for the Middle Ages?
Shouldn't we be thinking about a global period?
Because yes, the Middle Ages is a time period,
roughly 500 to 1500 in Europe, but what else is happening across the world,
in the Americas, or happening in Africa or in China?
Do they have comparable periods?
Or do they label them in some way, or no?
And more specifically, what are the connections?
So you will be able to explore a number of other digital humanities projects.
You already experienced one, which was my virtual presencia.
But I just going to let somebody otherwise very quickly that you will get to visit.
Part of your assignment this week is to go visit at least two of the eight projects
in GMAP, so you can see what this broader world looks like.
So one project is called Discoveries of the America.
A digital portal for visitors to explore pre-modern cultures and
their technologies and the myths that led to enthusiasm for exploration.
So quite interesting, this connection to the Americas.