Digital Exhibit Project

  • Due May 24, 2017 by 9:45am
  • Points 100
  • Submitting a website url
  • Available after Apr 26, 2017 at 12pm

Explanation & Reminder about all the Work You've Already Done

We began the semester by introducing the concept of " Download sociology of the text

" and discussing 19th-century print culture -- especially with these posts:

The " Download Theorizing the Digital Edition: Textual Theory to Consider Before Getting Started

" also aids in our movement from sociology of the text to the digital project by providing quotes, theories, and methodology for much of what we've been considering this semester.

We have ranged from sketching the historical events of England's 19th-century adventures to experimenting with 19th-century printing and reading practices for these assignments:

Our work has relied on primary sources and archival materials that aren't mediated by a 20th-century editor (i.e., not in a Norton Anthology) -- and we wrote about primary sources using the guides in the post, Interpreting the Material Text. In fact, we've worked with primarily with periodicals and newspapers as our primary sources. From reading those first Hard Times facsimiles to working with the real Bleak House parts in Special Collections, we have been engaging with studies in History of the Book, a research methodology that relies upon the material object as the foundation for scholarly analysis. All of our readings, in fact, have come primarily from the History of the Book methodology. We have been practicing this methodology from the outset of the semester, specifically with these posts:

Along the way, we demonstrated our comfort with literary analysis, something everyone is good at already, by assessing the plot development of out-of-order serials reading. This lead us to a conversation about the complexity of Dickens' writing (assessed using Voyant compared to the "Gettysburg Address ) in comparison to the supposed literacy rate.

We incorporated further complexities by assessing the ideology inherent to the analysis of material objects. We questioned that ideology by associating that physical object to the linguistic contents (the text itself) in these posts:

All of our readings provide a vocabulary in History of the Book to help us understand and analyze the representation of Dickens in the 19th century:

Robert Patten's Download article

brings us to the final adventure for the semester: using a combination of aesthetics in concert with ideology to provide a scholarly analysis of a particular material object. We've had a chance to discuss two examples of this type of writing:

With all of this in mind, the final project will engage in written analysis about the materiality (aesthetics) of Bleak House while also considering its ideology. Because this final project will rely so heavily on online references and links as well as visual images from Bleak House, the final project will be represented as a digital exhibit using Omeka.

Gathering your Primary Sources

  1. Spend time going through all parts of Bleak House available in SJSU Special Collections. Links to an external site.
  2. Use your cell phone to photograph any and all interesting pages from Bleak House during this time.
  3. After assessing these photographs, reading through all of your discussion posts, and annotating those images (similar to the Stanford Lab Report), decide which pages of Bleak House you would like high resolution images of for your digital project.
  4. Visit Special Collections during the below times to have Diane Malstrom help you scan those images: Monday, May 1 10-11am & 1:30-2:30pm; Tuesday, May 2, 10-11am & 1:30-2:30pm. You may schedule additional time with Diane for scanning, if necessary. (It will be best to coordinate times for scanning because they can accommodate only 2 students at a time.)
  5. You can deposit your scans into our shared class Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B74f-mJOOMjEWG5pTEE1NVdRQWM?usp=sharing Links to an external site.
  6. Be sure to name your scanned image files appropriately so everyone knows what the file is. I recommend something like: DickensBH Part1pg14.jpg

Constructing your Argument

Working with archival materials and primary sources means spending some time wandering around the materials to find your interests. Many of you have already expressed an interest in some aspects of the Bleak House parts. For this final project, your goal is to create an argument that explores aspects of the aesthetics, the literary text, and the resulting ideology. What you use as evidence (those photographs/images) is completely up to you. The idea is to ask questions about all of the material text and the literature and then explore those questions. This could include research into other historical aspects such as the slave trade or representations of medical salves or women's fashions or literacy rates among the working classes or representations of class struggle. Remember also early in the semester that we worked through questions of "imagined communities" as well as "what's missing" in these primary sources.

On May 9, we mapped your arguments on the whiteboards -- see if your exhibit will overlap with others: Post your Draft Maps

Contents of the Digital Exhibit

Each of the following components will contribute to your argument. Some components are simply providing context or scholarly research for your viewers before they dive into your argument.

  1. Provide a descriptive bibliography entry for all of the Bleak House parts that will be relevant to your argument. (You may want to coordinate with your colleagues and share descriptive bibliographies for the parts so everyone doesn't have to author individual descriptions.) We'll go over this in class on 5/2: see Catalog entry & Guide to Descriptive BibliographyView in a new window) Leave out the section on Collation; otherwise, include all other information. We've coordinated who is writing which descriptive bibliography for what part already; check here for notes: Sharing Bibliographic Descriptions
  2. Provide a historical context for your argument. Since the topic of each person's argument and focus of the research differs, this historical context will differ. Follow your queries from annotating the Bleak House pages. See our Databases & Online Resources. (As we get further along, you may want to link to the other digital exhibits.)
  3. Provide the text (and embedded images) of your argument. In this argument section, include a discussion of at least 3 of our secondary readings. (Do you need a word count to guide you here?) A draft of this section is due by Thursday, May 4 and then discussed again on May 9.
  4. Provide the text of the "About" page or theory behind your digital design. This will be the last component that you write. Also include what you didn't get to complete or where your research or knowledge failed. What remaining questions do you have that didn't make it into your exhibit? Added: Because it's important to note the digital interruptions, how did working in Omeka alter your ideas or arguments? What components of Omeka worked well? What components of Omeka were limiting? How did linking to other digital exhibits expand your idea?
  5. Add a Works Cited page as part of your top level navigation.

Constructing the Digital Exhibit

We will use Omeka to construct our digital exhibits. The last 4 class sessions will be used to construct this final component to your project (mostly on your own).

The digital design contributes significantly to your argument. Though we have the option to construct a single digital exhibit (where everyone collaborates on the design and general About page), we'll instead focus on individual Omeka exhibits. We'll discuss this more fully in class when we begin working with Omeka. Keep in mind Bibliographical Utopianism!

See the discussion area Omeka Questions, Brainstorming, or Sharing to share thoughts, tips, or tricks on using Omeka.

 

 

Presenting your Digital Exhibit

On our final exam date, May 24, 9:45am-12pm, everyone will present his/her digital exhibit by taking us on a guided tour of the exhibit.

Submitting your Digital Exhibit

By 9:45am on May 24, submit the URL for your digital exhibit here to these instructions.

Grading

The final grade for this project is based on a holistic view of the entire project, including your ability to demonstrate your understanding of the course's methodologies. With that being said, the writing is key to an effective project. The baseline requirements (see above and Writing Tips) need to be fulfilled first and foremost. After that, the writing will be graded based on English Department policy. The digital and visual component are part of constructing this argument. Omeka's digital representation of Dickens' serials and your ideas inevitably will influence your ideas. The About page will be important here.

 

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