This semester I am taking a special topics course, LIS 2970: Digital Humanities, taught by Professor Langmead. This class is focused on discovering, exploring, and utilizing different digital tools to reexamine humanities questions, with the emphasis on asking and developing questions. We are submitting three deliverables, focusing on examining the data set in two separate ways, providing insight to the question at hand.

One of the best parts of this class is that it was made clear very early on that our projects do not have to prove our questions or assumptions correct. Part of  this process is developing a question, and finding or creating a data set that would allow you to explore the facets of that question. This is a critical skill considering once you enter the real world, you cannot expect nor would I really want to be given a prompt for every work task. It is critical to initiate a line of questioning, to look outside of the box and take a chance on examining an issue from another perspective.

Another great aspect of the class is that you get lots of time and reason to explore different digital tools! Below are some of the tools I have investigated. Most were found through Bamboo Dirt or sharing with classmates.

• Crowdmap – Initially Crowdmap seemed promising, however, it became clear that it is a digital tool more suited for creating pins on a map for one action or event by an individual or organization, rather than comparing separate events hosted by different organizations or institutions. Crowdmap would be useful for documenting tweets or instagram posts, and it is free!
• Visual.ly – Visual.ly lists many great interactive digital projects, however, it is more suited to posting/sharing finished digital humanities rather than creating projects. You can request the Visual.ly team to create a digital project, and they do a great job, but that would be kind of boring.
• Infogr.am – Infogr.am is a digital tool for creating infographics. It provides templates, and multiple diagrams and charts. I was hopeful that I would be able to utilize the map addition, however, it focuses on a global view, and only visualizes data by country. This is very structured.
• Polymap – Polymap seemed promising, however, it required Xcode, since I use an Apple device, to manipulate the code. I was able to read the instructions that accompanied the Polymap zipfile, and locate additional installation instructions online, however, it would definitely take more time than I would like to create what I would want. Very intriguing but this would be better suited for a long term project. Maybe I will investigate further in my free time.
• Tableau – Tableau provides a dashboard to manipulate a data set. A free trial is available, however afterwards, it is much too expensive on a graduate student budget.
• Google Fusion Tables – Google Fusion Tables was formatted in a familiar, easy to use manner, and it is free to use. I was able to add my data set and utilize charts and a map. The map is able to pin all of the locations with different colors to correspond with a different type of activity or event that is taking place. The tool uses a function called Geocode, which required me to verify that each address entered corresponds with the point on the map. Additionally, Google Fusion Tables allows for upload and download of data (CSV), as well as embed each map, chart, diagram into another webpage.