http://aroibashist4170.webs.com/
This is the final draft of my cumulative project. With the extra time assigned I was able to add in a few new musician profiles and make all the necessary changes. It has been a great semester and this course has been really interesting. I appreciate all the feed back that was provided during the presentations and I wish everyone luck with the rest of their exams.
-Alex Roibas
Courtney and Bintou’s project was a website based around Coastal British Columbia Aboriginal Groups. It focused on 10 groups and various topics relating to Aboriginal life on the West coast. Using ArcGis: ESRIA software, the group created an interactive map showing the locations of these different aboriginal groups in British Columbia. The website also contained a collection of profiles with videos and additional information on each aboriginal group. The project functions as an educational tool meant to inform people on the issues faced by aboriginals living in western Canada.
Overall, the project was very well developed and well presented. The mapping portion was organized and gave a great visual on the region and where these aboriginal groups are living. Additionally, the explanations of the different road blocks the group ran into during the programming phase helped give the class an idea on the amount of trial and error that went into creating a presentable finished project. They did a great job establishing the theme of the website and gave clear explanations of each page’s function.
The videos that account for the oral traditions of aboriginal groups are particularly interesting because they help give exposure to the history of these groups from first hand sources. This, in addition to the page regarding current events, could be extremely effective tools in educating people about Western aboriginal groups. Bintou and Courtney did a great job in developing a website that is educational and helped draw attention to relevant issues in modern Canadian society. Their presentation effectively explained the goals of the project and the different features of the website.
Recently, Vice Magazine did a short, 25 minute documentary on the impact of 3D printing guns, specifically in relation to the gun control debate. Cody Wilson, a resident of Austin Texas has become an advocate for the free sharing of cad files that are used to create key components of assault weapons. He represents a rising form of activism in the United States that advocates the protection of gun rights. It is a very controversial issue within American society currently, and goes against many of the restrictions put in place to lower the number of assault rifles and their destructive capabilities. More specifically, this technology is able to fabricate 30+ round capacity magazines that have been banned in many states. This documentary is very interesting and helps provide a unique perspective on a technological innovation and its impact on a social issue of great relevance.
I dont own the rights to this video, I am only posting it to share, not for financial gain.
Despite the conclusions drawn in my last post, I found Omeka to be less then user friendly. At first when I downloaded the program, I thought I would be able to simply learn the basics and create a website with ease. As it turns out, Omeka is extremely difficult to actually use without any real understanding of it. Although the video clip posted on the Omeka’s homepage made the program seem aesthetically pleasing and easy to use, it was anything but that.
Luckily, I mentioned my struggles to Professor Ross and he recommended a website called webs.com. This site proved to be what I wanted in a website publishing program. It functions much like Tumblr or WordPress, where you simply input your email address and select a theme for your website. It allows for easy customization and organization, which is exactly what I wanted from Omeka. Despite the fact that Omeka definitely appears to have a professional look to it and would definitely be my choice for a project that was much bigger in scale, the templates available from webs.com were just what I needed for this course.
Simple layouts and a high degree of user friendliness make webs.com significantly more practical then the programs I had looked at before, such as Omeka. As a history student I have not really been engaged with any sort of complex programming. In fact, what little computer experience I have is mostly from databases, social media sites and word processing programs. Although we are reaching the end of our semester, and most of you are completed or at least on your way to completing your final projects, I highly recommend webs.com. It requires almost no prior experience with computers and I have found it to be useful and practical in the development of my project.
After looking at the online tutorial, I have chosen Omeka as the web publisher for my project. It seems easy and practical, and it comes with a variety of templates to create your own webpage. The interpretive exhibit style webpage will be perfect for organizing both visual and written components of the project. It is the perfect layout for creating a timeline of famous instruments from the 20th century. I will be able to talk about the evolution of music while also addressing the historical significance of the instruments themselves. Essentially, I want to recreate a digitized version of what I saw on my trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As a musician, I focused on the exhibits that had the instruments of famous recording artists. Things like John Lennon’s Rickenbacker guitar from when the Beatles played on Ed Sullivan were what fascinated me the most, and I want to create something that completely focuses on that aspect of the museum.
Using Omeka, I will create a multimedia webpage that is a chronologically ordered exhibit of instruments from the 20th century. Each page will have a text box with some historical information about the instrument, a picture with the musician that made it famous and, where possible, a video clip of an important event in which the instrument was used. Now that I have a general understanding of what I have to complete for this assignment I just need to familiarize myself with the Omeka program and see what options and preferences I will have for the interface of my web page. Over the next few days I plan to collect as many good examples of culturally relevant instruments and start up a rough version of what will eventually turn into my final project.
In Tuesday’s class, the Chapbooks group presented their project. Essentially they plan to digitize the chapbooks that have proven to be a valuable and crucial resource in the university’s Scottish studies. Within the project, Nick plans to focus, in a broad spectrum, on Scottish emigration and immigration. Nick’s goal is to examine the perception of Scots in the rest of the world and to expose how people living in Scotland view immigrants within their own country as well. This bleeds over into the portrayal of Scots in entertainment, and how their stories connect to other areas of study. Overall, Nick’s portion of the chapbooks presentation was solid.He was able to effectively outline exactly what he wants to do with his part of the groups’s project. He was able to speak clearly and deliver a great explanation of what he hopes to accomplish in his research. The idea of looking at how the Scottish are portrayed, both internally and externally, is fascinating. It will be a new perspective on Scottish culture and its place within the world community, while also noting what their impact as been on world culture outside of Scotland. Although the other topics within the chapbooks project were interesting, I definitely found Nick’s idea has the most potential. Due to the fact that he is looking at the perception of Scottish people and their portrayals in a more global context, his project addresses a wider topic of interest. It was clear that Nick knows exactly where he wants to go with his topic, but one suggestion I would make would be to address some of the cultural issues within Scotland, and how these issues have been attached to their identity over time. Regardless, I am excited to see what Nick has to present as his final product.
I have taken some time over the last couple of weeks to think of what I wanted to do for my project. Originally, I looked at it as a simple collection of profiles that looked at the specifications of the instruments musicians used and talked briefly about their history. But, I have re-imagined the concept of my project. Now I want to address the significance of these instruments to history, and their place within music history. The one example I thought of specifically was Woody Guthries acoustic guitar that had the words “This Machine Kills Fascists” painted on the side of it. This example was really important in my shift in thinking towards this project. I had thought about the specifics of the instruments and how advancements in technology were relevant as a topic, but then I realized that these instruments had a more important place within history. Having such a strong political statement written on the side of his instrument, especially in this time period, is extremely significant. I want to address this kind of angle when I create the profiles in my project.
The instruments will make note of key moments in history and what they represented to cultural movements in their respective periods. Another example I thought of was George Harrison’s custom painted guitar from his Concert at Bangladesh performance. Although it was a Fender Stratocaster, with no specific modifications made to it other then paint, it represented a moment in which the music community was starting to take on political issues in a different way then they had in the past. So rather then simply listing off different musicians I like and their instruments, I will create a database with specific examples that are significant. Musicians have the ability to make an instrument iconic, and my goal with this project to list as many examples as I can that have done just that.
For the final project, I have considered two potential ideas that I would like to use. The first is more complicated and harder to execute then the second, but none the less I wanted to explain my ideas.
My first idea was to create something I would want to call “a digital bystander network”. Essentially, it would function as a CraigsList-esque website that would allow for people who have witnessed something, be it a crime or something else negative, to inform the authorities or the appropriate administrative bodies of what they had seen. After university I hope to find a career within the legal field and in the past I have seen situations in which people felt uncomfortable telling their parents/teachers/professors/police etc about something unacceptable they have witnessed. Whether its something like cyber bullying or witnessing someone get beaten up, I would want to create a place on the web where people can feel comfortable telling someone in charge about what they had seen. For example, if someone knew about one of their peers being bullied, but felt uncomfortable telling someone, they could use the digital bystander network to present information on what they witnessed. Those running the website (assuming the project took on a greater identity) could then handle this information from a neutral perspective and present it to the right people, while also providing advice through an instant messenger. This would also allow for the witness to determine how the information they are presenting is brought forward. The idea would essentially combine Kids Help Phone and Crime Stoppers, and present them in a digital format that the Internet generation could relate to and as a result, actually want to use it. The main drawback of this idea is that it is a very time consuming and technologically sophisticated idea. People would have to constantly be scanning through and organizing these eye witness accounts, and the website would have to be connected to the proper venues to present such information legally. This was only the preliminary concept I had come up with.
My second idea, which was much more positive in nature, would be to create a database that focused on the instruments used by my favourite musicians. Essentially, the site would go through many different bands and each of their band members, creating a detailed profile of their gear. Each musician would most likely have several different musical set ups from the different tours they had been on. Each page would include pictures, dates, places and performances that the instruments were used. It could help educate people on the type of instruments their favourite musicians use and also help those wishing to purchase similar instruments find exactly what they are looking for. There would be notations on different modifications made to their instruments or interesting stories/events in which the instrument was made famous (i.e. the Fender Stratocaster that Jimi Hendrix burned on stage in 1967). This idea would incorporate my love of history and music into one database.
Although these ideas are both very different, they adhere to my interests very closely. Despite the fact that my “digital bystander” website would be difficult to execute, I could see it being a very useful tool in the prevention/solving of crimes/social issues that people face everyday. On the other hand, my idea based around the instruments of famous musicians would be useful when studying the history of music or attempting to purchase a model of instrument played by acclaimed musicians. Whichever project I end up deciding on, I am excited to start developing my ideas further.
(Image of the ECAI digital map)
After looking through a few different GIS projects I found the UC Berkeley ECAI project to be the most compelling. Essentially the idea of the project was to create a completely accessible world map that contained different cultural maps and details about the region selected. It is a cooperative project that incorporated the maps created by various institutions across the world. Each year meetings are held to update old maps or to add in historically significant snapshots of different geographical landscapes. The project works as a database containing an extensive collection of other scholars cultural maps, creating a network of accessible data from reliable sources. It serves as a place where scholars can utilize different maps from throughout history.
This can be regarded as an extremely useful digital tool because of its attachment to the academic community. By having a constantly updating system in which scholars provide maps with tremendous academic significance, the ECAI can function as a research tool. When looking at historical events and studying the climate or landscape, the ECAI would help provide a better visualization of these places. Researchers can use the maps provided in ECAI to get a better understanding of the details of certain historical events. To read about the significance of Russia’s landscape on battles fought against the Germans in World War 2 is one thing, but to get a lay out of the landscape, coupled with historical information is something different entirely. It says on the website that the ECAI “uses place and time as a common element” when researching history, a statement that very accurately explains the practicality and usefulness of the ECAI. I would definitely recommend this GIS project to anyone doing assignments based on battle strategies, migratory patterns, or any instance in which geography is a component of their research.
The Orlando website can definitely be considered a useful digital resource when looking at the topic of English literature and the role women played in it. The format of the website is really what makes it seem accessible to people who want to learn about the subject matter being presented. It functions almost like Wikipedia, in that you can use a search engine and it provides a list of examples relating to the topic you searched. The fact that it the information being provided comes from academically reputable sources makes the site reliable and easy to use.
That being said, Orlando is only focused on one topic in world history and it leaves out information on other authors outside of Britain that could be of importance when doing research. Despite the narrow view in terms of subject matter, there is more then enough content in the database. The concept of the Orlando Project is what make it a useful digital resource, but if the same idea was applied to a more general topic in history it would be a more practical website. For a student at Guelph, Orlando would be useful but most likely would only be used for a few classes. That is Orlando’s only limitation, otherwise it seems like a practical and academically respectable source for research information.
aroibas 