J.R. Osborn (CCT) is developing a project called Diagrammatica, an Omeka site that archives significant diagrams from the history of humanities and social science scholarship. These diagrams are often buried in books, and not well documented. The project seeks to make visible these diagrams in order to facilitate scholarship on visual thinking.
“I’ve benefited very much from the ongoing support [through the DRI program] in our regular meetings. Not only in terms of the technical and digital support of the tools, but also as a platform, just for me to think through the project and receive feedback from people familiar with the project and how to conceptualize what is possible. And I very much also appreciate their willingness to go down some rabbit holes with me to see, you know. Is this possible? Will this be useful?”
After working with DRI team to initially develop the Omeka site, Osborn co-created with students in the Fall 2023 CCTP-5032 Diagrams and Visual Thinking course, with plans for it to continue to expand through repeated iterations of the course, Omeka facilitates multiple contributors and the ability for those contributors to curate their own exhibits using the artifacts that have been added. Special Collections and Manuscripts at the GU Library assessed with the scanning and archival process.
Reflecting on using the site in his course: “I was able to expand [the site] and work with the students to build a very robust digital platform, and that was both surprising and incredibly rewarding. Now we have a working platform that I will continue with my other students and classes to both expand and develop, but also will have a model of how we can add design and continue to build on top of that.”
Osborn noted that the support expanded beyond the digital realm into the material and physical artifacts of the library, allowing students to work with special collections and also learn library skills.
“[The] collaboration will hopefully continue now that the platform is up and operational. We’ll be able to use it with students, partnering with special collections to locate other unique collections of diagrams in the in the Georgetown collections and to highlight some of the things they have.”
Dr. Osborn is also planning to apply for an NEH grant to continue building out the site.
The Digital Research and Innovation (DRI) program is a partnership between CNDLS and Georgetown University Library.
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