In preparation for my survey of technology blog post, I began with a simple search of SUNY Geneseo’s website. Unlike some larger schools, Geneseo does not have a computer science or technology department, so I was expecting the website to be lacking in this area; however, I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of useful tools on the CIT web page.
Old friends
When I was browsing the CIT staff page, I came across a familiar face. Last summer, I took an online computer programming course with a technology expert, Dr. Kirk Anne. Dr. Anne’s official title is the Assistant Director and Manager for Systems and Networking: Research Technologist, which is quite a mouthful. He would probably be willing to answer my questions, or refer me to someone who can. It would be great to work with this professor again!
Tools @ Geneseo
While Geneseo does not have a digital humanities lab, there are a couple of computer labs, as well as supplemental devices that can be acquired through CIT. These will be useful when it comes time to record and edit interviews. Right now, Jacob and I are unsure of the format of our interviews since we are waiting on replies.
There are a lot of links on the CIT website, but only a couple apply to this project. I had heard of Lynda.com before, but was unsure of its function. With one search for “WordPress” it provided me with numerous tutorials. Thanks Geneseo for giving students this resource!
Tools, tools, and more tools
In our project contract draft, Jacob and I have a list of the digital tools we are panning on using for both the actual website and for organizing data. By no means is this list comprehensive; if one of us stumbles upon a neat addition to the project we will definitely utilize it. I recently had the idea to have music on the opening page. I am going to start looking for a plugin that can do this.
Google drive is the primary location where we are storing our preliminary research. We have various documents shared with each other: a list of contacts, links to articles, planning pages, etc. Additionally, we are using Coggle to create flow charts. If the need arises, I will take a deeper look at some of the additional digital tools on the COPLAC website.
Jacob and I will be prepared to work with which ever technological medium our interviewees prefer. Jacob is experienced with Audacity, while I have worked with iMovie before. I am confident we will have good, clean interviews to publish on our website.
Two big components of the website are the timeline and the map. I am planning on using TimelineJS to show how the case unfolded. While both StorymapJS and Google Maps are appropriate choices, I am leaning towards Google Maps for formatting reasons. StorymapJS requires a block of text with every point. Additionally, I prefer the 3D visual Google Maps provides. These elements are necessary to provide content and allow viewers to interact with the website.
WordPress is up and running
The SUNY Geneseo project website is officially operational. While there is minimal content, I have selected a theme, imported a cover photo, and divided the website into pages. Since I am inexperienced with WordPress, this took a bit longer than I thought, but I am pleased with the result.