<h1 id="week-nine--oct-27-2025"><a aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1" href="#week-nine--oct-27-2025"></a>Week Nine: Oct. 27, 2025</h1>
<h3 id="seeing-the-past-interpretive-visualization-and-digital-objects"><a aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1" href="#seeing-the-past-interpretive-visualization-and-digital-objects"></a>Seeing the Past? Interpretive Visualization and Digital Objects</h3>
Welcome back. This week, we will use our readings as a critical lens to engage with digital objects. This module is demanding, pairing dense theoretical readings with a hands-on research task. It is important not to stress about the workload; the following week is a consolidation period designed to give you time to catch up and synthesize your work. Focus on the learning process this week, knowing that a buffer is built in. Your main task will be to "excavate" a 3D model from the web, research the provenance of the physical object it represents, and capture this research in a structured data record in your vault.
Key Learning Goals: By the end of this module, students will be able to:
<ul>
<li>Critically analyze academic approaches to interpretive visualization.</li>
<li>Find and embed a 3D model into their Obsidian vault.</li>
<li>Conduct basic provenance research on a physical object based on its digital representation.</li>
<li>Create a detailed metadata record for a digital object that includes information about both its digital source and physical context.</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h3 id="checklist-for-week-9"><a aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1" href="#checklist-for-week-9"></a>Checklist for Week 9:</h3>
<ol>
<li>
[ ] The Conceptual Framework (Readings):
<ul>
<li>Reading 1: Gortana, F., et al. (2018). "Off the Grid: Visualizing a Numismatic Collection as Dynamic Piles and Streams." Open Library of Humanities, 4(2). <a href="https://doi.org/10.16995/olh.280">https://doi.org/10.16995/olh.280</a></li>
<li>Reading 2: Watterson, A. (2015). "Beyond Digital Dwelling: Re-thinking Interpretive Visualisation in Archaeology." Open Archaeology, 1(1).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
[ ] The Core Workflow (Practice):
<ul>
<li>For each of the two readings, create one (1) literature note and three (3) atomic notes. Weave them into your vault (3 <code>[[wikilinks]]</code> and 2 <code>#tags</code> per atomic note).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
[ ] Background Concept: Visualization is Subjective:
<ul>
<li>As we explore visual sources, remember that our own tools are not neutral. The Obsidian Graph View, for example, is a subjective tool that offers one of many possible interpretations of your data.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
[ ] The Main Activity: Creating a Digital Object Record with Provenance Research:
<ul>
<li>Key Concept: Provenance Research. Provenance is the chronological history of an object's ownership, custody, or location. For archaeological artifacts, it is the precise location where it was found. Researching an object's provenance is crucial because it provides the context that turns an object from a simple "thing" into a piece of historical evidence.</li>
<li>Step A: Excavate the Digital Object.
<ul>
<li>Go to Sketchfab.com and find a 3D model of an artifact, building, or sculpture related to your historical topic.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Step B: Create the Object Note.
<ul>
<li>Create a new note in your <code>02 Notes</code> folder. Title it "Digital Object: [Name of Object]."</li>
<li>Embed the <code>&#x3C;iframe></code> code for the 3D model into the note.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Step C: Conduct Provenance Research and Create Metadata.
<ul>
<li>This is the core task. Research the physical object represented by the model.</li>
<li>At the top of the note, create a YAML/Properties block.</li>
<li>You must research and complete the following properties:
<ul>
<li>--- Physical Object Data ---</li>
<li><code>object-name:</code>, <code>culture-period:</code>, <code>date:</code>, <code>provenance:</code>, <code>current-location:</code>, <code>context-summary:</code></li>
<li>--- Digital Source Data ---</li>
<li><code>type: 3D-Object</code>, <code>source-creator:</code>, <code>source-url:</code>, <code>reliability:</code>, <code>related-to:</code></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
[ ] Weekly Reflection (Ungraded):
<ul>
<li>In a new journal entry, reflect on this research process. How difficult was it to find the provenance and contextual information for your physical object? How did the digital model's presentation (or lack of information) help or hinder your research? What does this tell you about the challenges of digital archaeology? Finally, how might you use either the 3D model itself or the story of its provenance in your final Twine game?</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>

Welcome

1. Course Description

2. Learning Outcomes

3. Course Schedule

4. Evaluation

5. Course Communications

6. Common Regulations

6. Contact the Professor

how the course tech is built; how the course came to be

7. Colophon

8. Reuse

Orientation and Digital Setup

Week 1

Personal Knowledge Management and Linked Thinking

Week 2

Thinking about the “Craft” of Digital History

Week 3

Crusading into the Digital Age of LLMs

Week 4

Consolidation & Check-In Week

Week 5

Digital Excavation

Week 6

Defining Data, 'Dark' Data, & Identifiers

Week 7

Fall Break

Week 8

Seeing the Past?

Week 9

Week 10

Authority and Positionality in Your Digital Research

Week 11

Publicly Crafting a Historical Argument

Week 12

Open-Access Notebook Workshop

Week 13

Exit Ticket

Week 14

1 Setting up your vault

2 Create your first note

3 Templater Plugiin

4 What Goes into a Note?

5 Properties

Hypothesis

The Simplest Online Memex Worfklow

How To Read An Academic Article

FAQ for Common Tech Issues

Where to Find help

Text Formatting

Introduction to your vault

index note

Atomic Note

Literature Note

Process Note

Weekly Journal

Topic Proposal

Weekly Work & Tasks

Consolidation Reflection

Open Access Notebook/Memex

Benchmarking Your Memex

Exit Ticket/Final Project

1 Welcome to Crafting Digital History Transcript

2 Obsidian User Interface (UI) Guide

3 Templater and Hotkeys Setup

4 How to use PDF++

5 Canvas Core Plugin Introductory Tutorial

6 Hypothes.is and Annotating the Web

7 Omnisearch Plugin for Obsidian

8 How to Use Process Notes for Digital Research Projects in Obsidian

9 Properties, Identifiers and Data Management with Obsidian Core Plugin Bases

1 Welcome to Crafting Digital History

2 Some Logistical Updates

3 Welcome to Week Two

4 What is Digital History?

5 Crusading into the Digital Age of LLMs

6 Week Four Exercise Example

7 Using Obsidian for Digital History Research and Note-Making

8 Reflection Feedback Update and Hypothes.is

9 Week Five Update

10 Consolidation Reflection Submission

11 Module Two Wrangling and Critiquing

12 Week 7 Update

13 Week 9 Welcome Back

14 Consolidation Week Number 2

1. Course Overview

Module 1 Contextualizing

Module 2 Wrangling & Critiquing

Module 3 Arguing & Communicating

2. Schedule

01  memex help

8. Course Files

3. Tutorials

4. Assessment

5. VideoTutorials

Crafting Digital History

News