Blog Post 2: Data and Digitization

 

    Chapters 2 and 3 of the Digital Humanities Coursebook further the definition of Digital Humanities by explaining how data is created, structured, and preserved in digital form. Chapter 2, “Data Modeling” expands on the definition of digital humanities by discussing how digital data is not just collected but created and organized using various models and categorizations. The chapter also acknowledges that subjective choices about which data to include and how to represent it are a part of data modeling and these decisions may lead to bias. In the context of digital humanities, this means understanding that digital projects such as Histography.io, the project I chose for analysis are built on complex data structures that shape how historical information is presented and interpreted. This shows how decisions made throughout the design process can cause digital tools to not be neutral. 
    Chapter 3, “Digitization” furthers the definition of digital humanities by focusing on the practical aspects of converting physical materials into digital formats. It discusses important considerations such as choosing between open-source or proprietary formats, and lossless or lossy compression. This displays that digitization involves decisions that influence the accessibility, quality, and preservation of digital materials and is not only about creating digital copies. These digitizing decisions are very important for Histography.io, which is a digital platform that presents historical events using data from Wikipedia data. For example, choosing the appropriate formats makes sure that data will continue to be available and usable over time. Since open-source formats are known for having better accessibility and longevity compared to proprietary formats. Additionally, lossless compression is preferred over lossy compression since lossless is known for preserving the quality of data. Ultimately, these considerations make sure that the digital representation of historical events remains accurate, comprehensive, reliable, useful, and engaging for future exploration, research, and education.  
 
Project I Chose For Analysis: https://histography.io/ 




Vijay Basraa
Professor White 
ENGL 510.01 



Comments

  1. Dr. MSeptember 9, 2024 at 12:34 PM

    A nice breakdown of some of our new terms, and in application to the data in your analysis project!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Julia DanielsonSeptember 10, 2024 at 11:19 AM

    I like how you noted how digital data is not just collected, but also organized. Also, I like how you noted that the process of digital dativization can lead to some bias due to the ambiguity than can come from how data can be processed and interpreted.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Colin MoriartySeptember 10, 2024 at 11:27 AM

    I like how you related data modeling to DH's core. Emphasizes the importance of data and digitization which is good. lists the multiple purposes and uses of data and digitization.

    ReplyDelete

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