Digital Humanities Student Intern (2024 Seed Funding DH Project)
CHAN Ching, Crystal
Student Reflection
Crystal is one of our student interns who actively participated in our 2024 Digital Humanities Seed Funding Project (Prof. David Chang’s project) from September 2024 to January 2025.
See below the words from Crystal regarding her experience on this project!
Hi everyone, Crystal here. I am a final year computer engineering student, minoring in humanities. I would like to share with you all for the project that we have work on for the last semester.
The project aims to analyze and record the data and information provided in the diaries of Mr. Yonggang Lee, an intellectual who lived during the Resistance War against Japan and later moved to Taiwan after surviving the conflict. With the remaining documentation, we can dive into the wartime situation, including the escape routes he took through 57 mentioned locations, the prices of goods, and most importantly, the everyday lives of the general public during the war. The above information is important for the researchers to further understand the stories of different individuals.
To begin our project, we processed the diary data using Python scripts to classify and organize the information. With the help of my teammate, we extracted valuable details from the diary content to create a dataset.
After consideration, we chose to use React.js as our framework and TypeScript as our programming language to develop a website that visualizes the pathways and data.
We applied the widely used library “Leaflet” to display a map with markers indicating the locations mentioned in the diaries.
The website features an map with historical context, modals to showcase diary content, heatmaps showing relevant data, a price list, and more information.
One belief I hold is that all knowledge is linked together. When attempting to understand history, one must understand with literature, which often leads to exploring the linguistics of the texts. Then it draws one into the area of philosophy when they begins to see the logic behind words, so that you will also start to use technical tools to help you with the research……
Digital humanities is an interesting yet underdeveloped field of study. This project has provided me with a rare chance to engage with related topics, allowing a lively result of historical research instead of traditional papers and essays. The most rewarding part is being deeply involved in this field, where I have learned new ideas and ongoing projects presented by other scholars.
This experience is great practice for my programming skills, particularly in website development and data visualization. Additionally, I have explored lesser-known aspects of Chinese history that I am willing to understand and know more. I encourage everyone to consider exploring different types of projects like this project to broaden the horizon.
CHAN Ching, Crystal
Year 4, BEng in Computer Engineering