Our final project will engage you in putting together a digital remediation for an existing, already-digitized collection or a rare/interesting book of your choice. This project can take the shape of a digital edition or a digital exhibit, but it must work with primary sources and present a clear point of view. You may work individually or collaboratively in producing this project.

As a class, we will design our project using the editing and publishing tool, Scalar. Each student will contribute to design and production of the exhibit, generating a total of 10-15 pages of critical writing and a significant amount of digital work. We will work on
storyboarding, drafting, and revising these projects together through brief in-class workshops and homework.

Primary Sources

The first thing you should decide on is your primary source. If you have the time and resources, I would encourage you to explore one of the many used and rare book shops in the city or talk to our own librarians to see if there is anything interesting but overlooked in the York Library. If you’re not able or so inclined, you might instead peruse the many digitized collections of the NYPL, or the Library of Congress’s digital books or the McGill collection.

Once you have chosen your primary source, consider how you want to curate it. At the very least, you should want an introduction with some contexts (historical, cultural, bibliographical), but you could also think about whether you want each page to have its own dedicated space, whether you want readers to move linearly, thematically, or historically through your pages. Depending on the materials, you may also consider whether you need editorial commentary, explanation of difficult words, or a transcription (we will talk about these decisions as a class as well).

However you want to frame it, here are the pages requirements every project should include:

• Introduction
• Table of Contents
• Documentation (discussing the process and curatorial choices)
• Bibliography with references to at least 6 related academic sources
• At least 8-10 pages of curated content (this may be individual pages of a book or materials from a collection)
• An oral presentation showcasing the work of the project

Due Dates

• By April 19th, you will identify your primary sources and storyboard ideas for Scalar
• In-Class Workshop on May 3rd (bring a computer if you can)
• Final Project presentations May 10
• Final project links due May 16

Examples

• https://scalar.lehigh.edu/harlemwomen/index
• https://scalar.usc.edu/works/unpinning-history-japanese-posters-in-the-age-of-commercialism-imperialism-and-modernism/index
• https://digitalbookhistory.com/littlegidding/
• https://pulterproject.northwestern.edu/#poems