Blog Post 2- Data and Digitalization

When discussing digital humanities, the topic of data modeling is used to discuss the process in which data is made and produced through abstraction. By the fact that data is existent in the world, the question raising the concern of ethical issues relating to privacy and ownership stands out when discussing data concerns. When talking about data from a humanities point of view, we can categorize this research by being quantitative or qualitative. We use these two terms when discussing data that is in the forms of images, text, dance, music, and monuments. Data modeling can be used to further the definition of digital humanities by helping us to understand what format things will have and identify what those formats may be. Digitalization can help us to better understand digital humanities by understanding the nin-networked purposes of digital humanities. As said in the book, “Many analog and digital forms of data in the humanities are used for non-networked purposes” (Pg.34). The project I chose for my analysis is the National Museum of the American Latino, Healing Uvalde. This project focuses on the remembrance of both the Uvalde school shooting that occurred May 24, 2022 and the children who lost their lives to this tragic event. I can use data and data modeling when researching and constructing my project when looking at the monuments and art created in honor of the children. After the school shooting, different artists volunteered to make life size artwork of the children who lost their lives with their favorite things incorporated in downtown Uvalde so no one forgets these children and who they were. Digitization can also help us to better understand this project because this project is most impactful when you see it in person, rather than on the web. The purpose of this project was for the people of Uvalde to see and remember these faces when they drove through downtown Uvalde, not for the internet. When better understanding the purpose and message of the Uvalde murals, we can then better understand how both digitization and data play into the project.