Launching: Weaving Heritage

I am thrilled to launch my CHI project: Weaving Heritage!

I hope you’ll take the time to look through the site and check out the models that are available. Visitors can examine and compare the design difference between Yvonne and Arnolds’ work as well as learn a bit about quill boxes. Yvonne’s pieces are especially satisfying to view and examine. All the work she put into the elaborate decoration on the sides of her quill boxes can now be enjoyed in 3D space! Moving forward, you can expect to see additional models and lineages to explores.

When users enter the website you will see a brief description and tabs to explore different aspects of quill boxes. For now, “Maker’s Genealogy” is the only functional tab, but the “Mapping Heritage” and “Process” will be further developed this summer. Through “Maker’s Genealogy” users will see the Walker line, with 3D, 2D images and accompanying text. User can click on select artifacts to views them in 3D space and explore the box’s design.

This project was a satisfying challenge to complete. Learning how to build a website, as well as create 3D models through photogrammetry required so much help from my CHI colleagues and perseverance as I struggled through each and every step. Those in our cohort understand the joy of finally watching your header load properly or finding the right carousel template for their site.

Working with the other CHI fellows this semester has proved that historians are not restricted to archives and books. Although I don’t see photogrammetry fitting into my dissertation (it’s still very interesting) I have discovered many other tools which will most definitely play a part in my research. Perhaps most importantly, I’ve been given the opportunity to explore how the digital and the humanities intersect, helping to me develop many ideas about incorporating digital components into my dissertation.

I am particularly grateful that other fellows had worked with photogrammetry and could share their wisdom with me. While the website posed its own challenged each week, creating images in Agisoft and displaying them on the site required at least as much learning as all the other components of the site combined. Without their assistance, I would not have been able to complete this work in a meaningful way. 

However, this project is not finished. There is still plenty to add and improve upon. I plan to continue working on it through the summer, adding models and developing the site as an exhibit, so feel free to check back in the fall!