Digital Dunhuang, an interactive digital index of historic cave shrines at a Buddhist site in northwestern China, tracks new excavations, renovations, and iconographic motifs throughout different historical periods.
Michelle C. Wang, driven by her extensive work on the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, applied for support from the DRI program to digitize a print index tracking activity at the heritage site. Using tools like Tableau, Domains, and WordPress, the project includes a fully functional visualization of the cave site accessible in English, simplified Chinese, and traditional Chinese characters.
By digitizing the print index, Professor Wang has created a valuable resource that not only aids her research but also supports the work of other scholars in the field. This digital index allows researchers to search for multiple motifs within the caves and explore trends across space and time.
Michelle noted that the collaboration with the DRI team was crucial in overcoming technical challenges and making the tool functional.
“It was a real learning process for me, as it underscored the complexity of this type of collaborative digital humanities project and how many different types of expertise were needed to realize it. It also helped me think about collaboration in a new way.”
The project also provided valuable research experience to an undergraduate research assistant who significantly contributed by transcribing the dataset from a physical book. Reflecting on the value of collaborating with students, Michelle said, “I was fortunate, through the Georgetown Humanities Initiative, to be able to hire an undergraduate student to work with me on compiling the data.”
Overall, the successful digitization of the cave site index represents a significant advancement in both research and digital humanities. This project exemplifies how interdisciplinary collaboration and innovative technology can transform traditional research methods and foster greater accessibility and understanding for scholars who study and visit World Heritage sites.
The Digital Research and Innovation (DRI) program is a partnership between CNDLS and Georgetown University Library.
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