Digital Humanities Commons^™

Idiris, Idiris, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Idiris is an 18-year-old Somalian refugee now living inUtah. He describes his life, mentioning that he only lived in Somalia for six years then moved to Ethiopia, where he stayed for seven and a half years.His life inEthiopia was peaceful and happy in comparison to Somalia, where Idiris and his family witnessed continuous violence. Idiris’s father eventually learned of the opportunities and education available in America and decided to move his family there for a better life, leaving behind family and friends. Coming to America, Idiris and his family did not know what their new home would be like. They …

Mobile People, Mobile God: Mobile Societies, Monotheism, And The Effects Of Ecological Landscapes On The Development Of Ancient Religions, Edward Surman

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Despite the wealth of scholarship concerning the origins of religious beliefs, practices, and cultures, there has been little consideration of the impact of ecological landscapes on the development of ancient religions. Although the influence of the natural environment is considered among the variables in explaining the development of various economic, political, and other social systems throughout history, there is a specific gap concerning its impact on the origins of religious systems. The argument which is taken up in this writing is the correlation between agriculturally marginal landscape and the development of monotheism. Specifically that the religions of the ancient Iranians …

Disconnect To Connect: Emotional Responses To Loss Of Technology During Hurricane Sandy, Joni Schwartz

Publications and Research

This chapter examines loss of technology by community college students during Hurricane Sandy and their resulting communication and behaviors without technology. It is a qualitative research study.

Salman, Salman, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Salman and his family are from Afghanistan, where he worked as a doctor. He worked for fifteen years for a mining institute, and before that he worked in various hospitals with Americans and Germans for another combined 15 years. The family ran into problems with the Taliban, who threatened violence if he didn’t close his drugstore. During that same time, his son witnessed a suicide bombing at his school. Their daughter was forced to abandon her education when the Taliban poisoned the water at her school. They fled in attempts to live a normal life again and escape the threats …

Emal, Emal, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Emal was a gate security guard in the Afghan army and a supplier for American forces at the airport. Before leaving Afghanistan, Emal was kidnapped by Daesh, beaten, thrown into a pile of bodies, and left for dead. He woke up weeks later in hospital with adent in his skull, brain damage, and mental/emotional problems. When he was able, Emal fled with his wife and six kids, but they travelled with smugglers in separate cars and got separated. Iran police deported his wife and children back to Afghanistan. Emal continued on and eventually made his way to Oinofyta refugee camp …

Faroosh And Elina, Faroosh, Elina, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Faroosh was a cameraman for a private television program in Afghanistan working on a documentary about the Taliban. When he and his crew were discovered, the Taliban attacked them and he and his wife fled to Turkey, walking 12 hours to get there. Upon arrival the police arrested and harassed them. Turkey was not a safe place. After several suicide bombings in the area, they decided to move on to Greece, where they are in a refugee camp without any progress in their situation. They have no money to move forward and no ability to work and the economic situation …

3d Tool Evaluation And Workflow For An Ecological Approach To Visualizing Ancient Socio-Environmental Landscapes: A Case Study From Copan, Honduras, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Shona Sanford-Long, Jack Kerby-Miller

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Architectural reconstructions are the centerpieces of ancient landscape visualization. When present, vegetation is relegated to the background, resulting in underutilized plant data—an integral data source for archaeological interpretation—thus limiting the capacity to take advantage of 3D visualization for studying ancient socio-environmental dynamics. Our long-term objective is to develop methods of 3D landscape visualization that have value for examining changes in land use and settlement patterns. To begin to work toward this objective, we have (1) identified 3D tools and techniques for vegetation modeling and landscape visualization, (2) evaluated the pros and cons of these tools, (3) investigated biological and ecological …

Animal Welfare And Animal Rights, M.E. Rolle

Animal Sentience

This overview of Broom’s book, Sentience and Animal Welfare (2014), considers the role the book could play in the animal rights debate. In a thoroughly researched and objectively presented text, Broom lays out information that could place doubt in the minds of decision-makers. By highlighting not just the ways animals resemble humans, but also the ways humans resemble animals, Broom shines a light on a solidly grey area in the animal rights debate.

E-Book Reading Practices In Different Subject Areas: An Exploratory Log Analysis, Robert S. Freeman, E. Stewart Saunders

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Print books pose inherent difficulties for researchers who want to observe users’ natural in-book reading patterns. With e-books and logs of their use it is now possible to track several aspects of users’ interactions inside e-books, including the number and duration of their sessions with an e-book and the order in which pages are viewed. This chapter reports on a study of one-year of EBL user log data from Purdue University to identify different reading patterns or ways in which users navigate within different types of e-books—authored monographs vs. edited collections--and in e-books in different subject areas. The analysis of …

Slam Poetry: An Online Intervention For Treating Depression, Spencer J. Ruchti, Mercedes Becker, Cara Mckee, Austin Herron, Alex Swalling

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Given that depression is the “leading cause of disability worldwide,” and that less than 50% of people suffering from depression receive treatment, this study aims to provide support for a globally accessible depression treatment (WHO, 2012). The study conducted implemented an internet-based treatment for depression in which users were provided an opportunity to watch slam poetry videos related to mental health issues and write free responses regarding the content of the videos and their subjective experience of depression. Numerous studies provide support for the effectiveness of expressive writing, online mental health interventions, and slam poetry in particular for reducing symptoms …

Digitization And The Changing Roles Of Libraries In Support Of Humanities Research: The Case Of The Harrison Forman Collection, Krystyna K. Matusiak

Library and Information Science: Faculty Scholarship

Objective – this article examines the role of libraries in expanding access to primary sources through digitization and in providing support for humanities research. Research method – the author analyzes the literature on information behavior of humanist scholars in light of the increased use of digitized primary sources. Next, using the example of the digitized photographs and diaries from the Harrison Forman Collection, the author explores the emerging role of libraries in creating a new source of scholarly materials and supporting research in humanities. Results and conclusion – digitization increasingly matters not only for practical reasons of ease of use …

The New Gatekeepers: How Blogs Subverted Mainstream Book Reviews, Rebecca E. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Book reviewing has a fraught history in the United States. Reviewers have long been accused of not being analytical enough. It should be no wonder then with the emergence of social media that online book reviewing has become increasingly popular. Online reviewers, especially book bloggers, are no literary gatekeepers in their own right, shaping the tastes of readers across the world. Book blogs in particular pay special attention to titles which have long been derided by institutions such as libraries, academia, publishers, and bookstores. These literary gatekeepers typically ignore romance, fantasy, mystery, science fiction, young adult fiction, comic books, and …

Wreading, Performing, And Reflecting: The Application Of Narrative Hypertext And Virtual World Experiences To Social Work Education, Linda Ayscue Gupta Phd

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I propose the use of a new media composition of narrative hypertext, performances in a virtual world, and a dialogic process of writing to provide a continuum of learning opportunities in social work education. I suggest that the structure of the hypertext narrative, embedded with hypermedia, mirrors the dissociative aspects of traumatic memory. I argue that work with the multivocality and multisequentiality of narrative hypertext emulates the process of discovery in the clinical interview. The immersive component of work in a virtual world deepens the realism and affective impact of simulations and creates opportunities to practice and …

December 30, 2015: Mckittrick Keynote Opens Ellis Series Spring Season, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The Department of English Anthony Ellis Scholarly Speakers Series WMU Faculty Keynote Lecture Casey McKittrick

December 17, 2015: 2016 Green Rose Prize From New Issues, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The 2016 Green Rose Prize Chrysanthemum, Chrysanthemum by Nadine Sabra Meyer

December 16, 2015: The Gwen Frostic Reading Series Spring 2016, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The Gwen Frostic Reading Series Schedule for Spring 2016 Semester

Travel Tales: The Role Of Storytelling In Abroad Experience And Healing, Colleen N. Mcmurray

Capstone Collection

This capstone paper examines the perceived effectiveness of storytelling in the healing process. It aims to answer the question: What role does storytelling play in the healing of returning travelers? The study was conducted by analyzing forty digital videos, categorizing themes, and analyzing the themes in relation to themes found within several articles about the power and effects of storytelling. Five principal themes were used from the data collected. The themes were then used to gain a deeper understanding of how storytelling makes the storyteller feel and how storytelling can be used for healing. The author of this paper has …

December 12, 2015: Spring 2016 Anthony Ellis Scholarly Speakers Events, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

Word-Length Correlations And Memory In Large Texts: A Visibility Network Analysis, Lev Guzmán-Vargas, Bibiana Obregón-Quintana, Daniel Aguilar-Velázquez, Ricardo Hernández-Pérez, Larry S. Liebovitch

Publications and Research

We study the correlation properties of word lengths in large texts from 30 ebooks in the English language from the Gutenberg Project (www.gutenberg.org) using the natural visibility graph method (NVG). NVG converts a time series into a graph and then analyzes its graph properties. First, the original sequence of words is transformed into a sequence of values containing the length of each word, and then, it is integrated. Next, we apply the NVG to the integrated word-length series and construct the network. We show that the degree distribution of that network follows a power law, P(k)∼k−γP(k)∼k-γ, with two regimes, which …

The Half-Life & After-Life Of New Media, Nancy Austin

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

It is fitting to think of the half-life of new media using the time-based metaphor of radioactive decay. As a metaphor, an object’s half-life can be a useful way to talk about the potent technological modernity of new media and, like Walter Benjamin’s well-known notion of the aura, call attention to an object’s performativity. However, Benjamin’s aura remains a constant reminder of irrevocable originality whereas remarking on half-life references a quality that changes over time. But what happens after the rhetorical impact of being new has run its course? What is the life expectancy of once-new media and what of …

November 6, 2015: Carol Symes Lecture, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The Department of English Anthony Ellis Scholarly Speakers Series featuring Carol Symes

October 5, 2015: David Bleich Lecture, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The Department of English Anthony Ellis Scholarly Speakers Series featuring David Bleich

October 1, 2015: Safe On Campus Training, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

Learn to be a better advocate and ally to lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender people. Participants receive information on practical strategies for addressing homophobia, learn ways to support students who are coming out, and gain an understanding of respectful language use.

September 24, 2015: Cfp: 2016 Multidisciplinary Graduate Student Conference, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

Call for Papers: 2016 Multidisciplinary Graduate Student Conference

September 13, 2015: Ellis Series Kick-Off Event: New Discussion Forum, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The Department of English Anthony Ellis Scholarly Speakers Series featuring The New Discussion Forum

Heirloom: A Piper's Orchard Abecadarian, Shin Yu Pai

The Goose

Poetry by Shin Yu Pai

Forging Connections And Building Collections: The Mass. Memories Road Show At Umass Boston, Jessica R. Holden

Joseph P. Healey Library Publications

In this presentation, I explored three aspects of the Mass. Memories Road Show: the public event, the digital collection, and the archival record of Massachusetts communities. I discussed bringing archival resources out into communities (rather than vice versa), and thus reaching new audiences, as well as building new partnerships within those communities.

The Mass. Memories Road Show is a state-wide digital history project that documents people, places, and events in Massachusetts history through family photographs and stories. In partnership with teams of local volunteers, we organize public events to scan family and community photographs and record “the stories behind the …

July 16, 2015: New Issues 20th Anniversary, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

A special gathering of the Kalamazoo community, writers, and Creative Writing and English alumni to celebrate 20 years of New Issues Poetry & Prose. Featuring music, readings, and an art sale.

Occupy Judaism: Religion, Digital Media, And The Public Sphere, Ayala Fader, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

This article provides an analysis of Occupy Judaism, an explicitly religious expression of Jewish protest, which occurred simultaneously with Occupy Wall Street, the direct-democracy movement of 2011. Occupy Judaism, like Occupy Wall Street, took place both in physical spaces of protest in New York City and digitally, through mobilizing and circulating debate. The article focuses on the words and actions of Daniel Sieradski, the public face and one of the key founders of Occupy Judaism, supplemented by the experiences of others in Occupy Judaism, Occupy Wall Street, and Occupy Faith (a Protestant clergy-led initiative). We investigate what qualified as religion …

Les Rues Des Tableaux. Géographie Du Marché De L'Art Parisien (1815-1955), Léa Saint-Raymond, Félicie De Maupeou, Julien Cavero

Artl@s Bulletin

Continuation of a first socioeconomic analysis of the "art dealers" in Paris between 1815 and 1955 (Artl@s Bulletin 2, no. 2), this paper presents the results of a spatial study of the Parisian art market at that time. Departing from serial geographical data given by a homogeneous source, the Bottin du commerce, we mapped a 140 years spatial evolution of the "art dealers", using a geocoding system with composite locators. The article exposes the spatial dynamics of this market and studies them in a multi-scalar way, making the connection between the global evolution of the Parisian economy and …