In this week’s class, the primary focus was on practical, hands-on engagement with the tasks typically undertaken by digital humanists. The assignment involved photographing scrapbook items from individuals who had attended West Chester many years ago, followed by uploading these images into Omeka’s database and filling in various metadata fields for each item. Through this exercise, we were not only exposed to the technical aspects of managing digital collections but also gained a deeper understanding of the importance of meticulous cataloging and metadata creation. One of the key insights from this week’s activities was the significance of writing metadata with a forward-thinking perspective. Instead of simply labeling items with generic terms like “pledge card,” the emphasis was on providing specific and descriptive titles and descriptions. This approach ensures that the metadata remains useful for researchers and scholars who may access the collection in the distant future. By doing this, we learned to consider the longevity and accessibility of the information they input into digital databases. A particularly surprising thing for me was the significance of the “date” field in metadata. Rather than stating the date the scrapbook item was created or collected, we were instructed to record the date we uploaded the item into the database. This realization made me feel like a real historian because I didn’t know that for a random student like me that it would matter. This week really focused on the importance of filling out metadata correctly because there’s a specific method to all of it. A lot of the information given this week gave me a totally different perspective on the digital humanities and what it really is. Right now, to me it means taking data from the past and creating organizable collections of metadata that ensure the ability to be understood for generations to come.
