Throughout last week, I was able to have a better understanding of the importance of revolutionary technology throughout the early 20th century. Radios, televisions, and computers were starting to become more advanced which sparked a rapidly growing communication of ideas and knowledge. I learned that even though the technology that we have today seems very different from that of the early 20th century, technology was all built for the same purpose and the only difference is that in the modern era, it’s more advanced. Something else I learned that particularly piqued my interest was the advancement of AI. I was not aware that the advancements of Artificial Intelligence stemmed back all the way to the mid-twentieth century! Today, we have common AI’s such as “Siri” and “Alexa,” but back then Artificial Intelligence was not yet out for commercial use. The technology we have today has been tested and improved for decades and it’s inspiring to see how far AI’s have come.
I hope to learn more about how much technology has improved throughout the decades and I’d love to learn why some changes to technology have been made. I’d like to learn about why certain kinds of technology become obsolete and how people have learned to improve technology.
For this project, I was assigned “Performing Archive” by Jacqueline Wernimont, Kim et al. This digital humanities project takes pride in the fact that it is the “first to use an experimental new interface for Scalar” (Wernimont). In using this platform, viewers will be able to explore the website as a gallery, thus enriching the experience of the information. “Performing Archive” is an online exhibit that aims to display and analyze the photographs in the set the “Vanishing Race” shot by Edward S. Curtis. The photographs were taken by Mr. Curtis whereas the analytical excerpts of his work, most notably from newspapers and journals, have been collected from various scholarly libraries.
This exhibit was processed by categorizing one to three photos of similar nature along with the critiques about the photos and Curtis’s work as a whole, which included morality and authenticity. Along with this, the chronological life of Edward S. Curtis is explained throughout the entirety of the exhibit starting with his birth in the first section of the exhibit, and ending with his death in the last section.
“Performing Archive” is presented as an exhibit with a very straightforward pathway as it numbers off the links to go through in the Introduction. It allows for a very museum-like feel because of how you can only look at 1-3 pictures and the background story of those pictures on each page. Each page of the gallery has its own name in order to emphasize the subject of that page. The website is relatively interactive which allows for the brain to be more stimulated compared to if one were just merely scrolling through the pictures and articles.
Works Cited:
Wernimont, Jacqueline, et al. “Visualizing the ‘Vanishing Race’: the Photogravures of Edward S. Curtis.” Performing Archive, scalar.usc.edu/works/performingarchive/visualizingvanishingraceexhibit?path=intro.
Posner, Miriam. “How did they make that?” UCLA Digital Humanities. http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/exhibits/show/fall-2019/dh
I like that it not only has digitalized the photo gallery but that it also leaves a little history about the artist’s life. I firmly believe than an artist is tied to their work and their background informs what they created and how others can visualize it.
I like the idea of a “performing archive” where you are scrolling through the information that has been provided in an image format. Reminds me of a museum but online in a way. I too, am also interested in the way seein how technology has changed. I really like Ms. Dauterive’s example of the folder to digital folder. Maybe the project you were assigned was like that in a sense: museum to digital museum!
This is very interesting. Rather than just giving someone a photo to analyze themselves or just giving that critic of it, it creates a new way of learning. Websites can be complicated sometimes but having it as a gallery and learning about the life of Edward S. Curtis through photos and an online exhibit is really cool.