Digital humanities projects, such as the ones on the Digital Humanities Sample Book website use methods such as 3D mapping and literary analysis to display many different archives regarding numerous fields of research. These projects exhibit new types of information regarding humanities research that would not be easily accessible through other means of media. These DH projects make the information easy to share with users and promote new research findings. On the website there are seven different categories the archives fall under; Archive, Visualization, Mapping, Digital edition, Network Analysis, Textual analysis and Audio analysis.
These categories make it easy for the user to find their desired field of research. Each archive category then has subcategories that title and give a link to that specific project. In each subcategory one can find tags and metadata to aid in finding and categorizing specific information. Both metadata and tags are important, as they further group together related information, while also making it easier for the user to search for information.
The projects categorized under the tab Archive contain both digital artifacts as well as archival documents. The project titled “Old Weather” displays a photograph of a “logbook” from a ship that became trapped in ice. This photo shows a digital artifact that was created from an archival document.
This artifact is useful because it allows the user to view the exact image and conveys a stronger message when looking at the actual artifact. However, because it is a digital artifact, it can be difficult to fully understand and even to read. Both digital artifacts and archival documents, together display a great deal of information that allow us to travel back in time and delve into our history, viewing it exactly how it was. These artifacts along with the history behind them help us to hold a better understanding of the past, but it is important to realize that in order to fully understand and appreciate these archives, one must study the history surrounding them.
I have a few concerns regarding my DH website. I am concerned with overlapping archives and categorization of each archive. It will also be hard to incorporate each type of archive and then further categorize each one.