The most recent rapid development challenge (mapping memory) was full of unexpecting road blocks and exciting successes. Being still very new to the world of coding, every small victory feels like a very big win. I learned a lot of new tricks (thanks Erica for introducing me to Atom), and I am slowing becoming more confident in my ability to contribute in a group setting.

Despite having applied to the fellowship with a project in mind, Ethan and I decided to completely change direction and instead focus on a side project that I have admittedly been spending far too much of my free time on. I will be incorporating information I have already learned from my time in the University Archives to create a visual representation of the movement of the Bronzes from Benin that are currently housed in the Broad Art Museum’s storage. I became curious about the bronzes after one was displayed during the History Told Slant exhibit, and after realizing we have essentially no provenance for the objects, I began looking into when the objects left Nigeria and why we have them. With this in mind, I strategically worked on the time slider for the mapping memory challenge, as it seems likely that a time slider will be incorporated into my final project.

Despite switching up what project I will be doing, I would still like to tackle the exhibit digitization I initially thought I would be doing. After all, I have the 800 odd photographs already taken, and it seems a waste not to at least try. However, I anticipate that will be a long and difficult endeavor, and one which I can not yet dedicate much time to. But I certainly hope to try!