How Did They Make
That 

For Undergraduate Projects

by Tiffany Chan

?

This post is based on Miriam Posner's original "How Did They Make That?" and the video.  Like its inspiration, this post introduces Digital Humanities newcomers to a range of projects and what tools or technical knowledge they might need to know to make them. This list is not exhaustive.


This post is also intended for undergraduates, using example projects done by undergraduates or involved undergraduate work and/or collaboration.

What it is

What you'd need

Get started

Alternatives

A 3D reconstruction of an 1813 portraiture exhibit attended by Jane Austen.

SketchUp to model the space so you can "hang" paintings in their spots (see video on "About" page).

Janine Barchas (faculty), Michelle Lawrence-Carlin, Megha Vaidya, Nick Kinnaird, Katie Tiller et al. (students)

University of Texas at Austin

Undergrad collaboration through Undergrad Research Apprenticeship and LAITS Student Technology Assistants programs

What it is

What you'd need

Get started

Alternatives

Exhibit-archive of oral history interviews, images, newspaper articles and other primary sources about the Great Migration.

I've used WordPress.org for a virtual exhibit before but I'd still recommend Omeka.

Jannecken Smucker and Charles Hardy (faculty), Robert Bennett, Kristine Geiger, William Hostmann, et al. (students)

West Chester University

Collaborative effort between two classes of undergraduate and graduate students.

What it is

What you'd need

Get started

Get fancy

A project that maps each character's walking route in Mrs. Dalloway, along with brief descriptions and analyses of significant events during those walks.

Google My Maps is free and easy.

 

Adam Erwood, London Lamb, Jasmine Perrett, Anjaly Poruthoor, and Manoj Vangala

Georgia Institute of Technology

Collaborative project by students in Dr. Kathryn Crowther's "Literary London" course

What it is

What you'd need

Get started

Get fancy

A timeline chronicling the history of Edmonton's Great Western Garment Company (later a plant).

  • Timeglider for more control over how the timeline's points display
  • Combine the timeline with a map using Timemap.js

Dylan Blake

University of Alberta

Assignment done for Nicholas Van Orden's 1st Year English course

What it is

What you'd need

Get started

A digital archive of The Yellow Book, related 19th-century periodicals, and a wealth of contextual material (biographies, reviews, etc.)

Dennis Denisoff & Lorraine Janzen Kooistra (principal editors), plus a great deal more collaborators and research assistants

Ryerson University, Toronto

Alternatives

Not the proper way to do it, but Scalar can do in a pinch depending on what you want.

What it is

What you'd need

Get started

A multi-linear, multimodal history (1970-2000) of LGBT experiences at Bryn Mawr College that includes interviews, photographs, and documents.

Brenna Levitin

Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania

What it is

What you'd need

Get started

An analysis of different voices in The Waste Land using a custom algorithm, among other techniques.

A custom algorithm adapted from existing plagiarism detection and text segmentation techniques.

There are many kinds of textual analysis. It's easy to start with Voyant Tools (no coding required): see documentation and tutorials.

Brook, Hammond, Hirst, and the class of ENG287 "The Digital Text"

University of Toronto

Get fancy

What it is

What you'd need

Get started

An analysis of (Canadian) Google search trends  for "residential schools"—who is searching and why?

Ryan Pickering

Carleton University, Ottawa

Assignment for "Crafting Digital History" (#hist3907b), taught by Shawn Graham

More Resources

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