Launching the project

At the end of Spring Semester 2019, I have finally finished my first website project “Multiculturalism in German Football World” with the full support from the Cultural Heritage Informatics (CHI) Fellowship. As a beginner in the field of digital humanities, I have very limited experience with using data visualization tools, reading and writing codes, etc. This project is simply a starting point for me to try out the tools out there and to gain experience with basic computer languages, such as HTML, CSS, and Javascript.

As a German Studies scholar, my research primarily focuses on the perception of multiculturalism in the German Football World and the relationship between football and national identity. I intended to use this website as a platform to present facts I have summarized, which will be used as evidence to support my dissertation arguments in the future. This project views the concept “Multiculturalism” from two levels: national and regional. On the national level, I traced and mapped out the heritage of each player who played for the German national team in the World Cups from 1990 to 2018. As the map shows, the national team has become more multicultural-orientated after reunification. On the regional level, I examined the existence of a certain cultural phenomenon that happens in the football world, hooliganism, and how certain fan groups borrow political ideologies to justify their behaviors that are anti-multiculturalism. In addition, I also added a single page that summaries and update the social media posts related to players that have multicultural backgrounds.

During the process of creating this website, not only did I gained the skill of using digital tools and building website, but also the ability for solving the issue through the internet, my colleagues, and other professionals. Trying to acquire a computer language or simply trying to understand how does website work from the other end is quite challenging for a beginner. After all the frustration I experienced and all the coffee I drunk along the way, I still would like to say “it has been a fun journey and I hope I could do it again soon.”