When I initially thought about what I wanted my project to be I was interested in using text analysis tools to make a point about the way twin myths are perpetuated through literature. Once I started working on the project I realized this wasn’t really asking a question or adding anything to the field of digital humanities. I was aggrieved by twin portrayals in media and I wanted everyone to know it! Then, through a twin friend, I was connected to a couple of actresses who had been cast as twins in an upcoming play and they wanted to make sure they did the characters justice. This then got me thinking about the posts I usually scroll past on Reddit in r/Twins by writers asking for advice from twins on how to accurately portray their characters. As it turns out there is actually an interest in showing twins as they are! Two people who can (but not always) share a unique relationship and experience of the world. It was through this that TWINSIGHTS materialized.

There is a decent amount of content about twins online ranging from twin research studies, to blog posts, to social media accounts. When I first became interested in the psychology of twins in the late 2000s the content I was able to find was about behavioral psychology and what twins were able to tell us about nature vs nurture and humans in general. I soon found other books that were more focused on exploring the relationship between twins and their experiences of the world from twins themselves. Now with social media there are a lot of twinfluencers providing an inside look into twinship and capitalizing off of it in the meantime.

With all of this content circulating online and in books I thought it would be useful to create a resource/research hub for twin content. I would like to take some well known literature – Shakespeares Twelfth Night and Comedy of Errors, J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter series, William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Francine Pascal’s Sweet Valley High series, and Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass and pull out the sections that portray the twins in the stories. I will contextualize these excerpts in the larger story, and then use content already available online that critiques the passage or create original content should commentary on the excerpt not already exist.

I think ultimately this project will be two phases. Phase 1 will consist of gathering and cleaning the data for the selected works, writing summaries for the works, obtaining permission from content creators, and creating original content where appropriate. Phase 2 will be the creation of the website/database itself. I would like to create a site with minimal computing principals in mind, but ultimately will defer to the designer/programmer based on their skills. At the end of the project I hope to have a website featuring 3-5 exhibits. Ideally the site could continue to grow with more works of literature being added, as well as adding in categories for movies and TV shows.

In early November, on election week, New York Times Tech Guild (NYTTG) members called the largest tech worker strike in US history. Nearly 700-unit members — about half of whom are remote workers located across the country — logged out of their work laptops and walked out to the 8th Avenue and virtual picket lines. Eight days later, the strike ended abruptly with no additional bargaining time with management, no contract agreement, and — to put it politely — a strongly re-engaged and opinionated membership. 

This project will have two main aspects. Firstly, it will serve to chronicle the NYTTG strike — featuring a timeline, interviews, and details of both the in-person and remote strikes. Because the unit’s contract negotiation is still underway, this part of the project is the most sensitive to updates in the ongoing negotiations. Since I am also a member of the NYTTG unit, I’m uniquely positioned to both adapt to changes in the state of the contract fight and to access members of the unit for interviews and internal documents to help illustrate more of the internal mechanics of the strike for those outside of the unit. Consulting with the CUNY Human Research Protection Program has been helpful in determining the structures and supports (like interviewee consent forms) that will help me to distinguish between my roles as unit member and researcher.

Additionally, the project will involve the development of at least one reusable open-source organizing tool to help aid future remote strikers. During the first few days of the work stoppage, unit members made apps that made some of the logistics of the strike easier — a chant sharing application to sync up leaders on the picket line, and a text messaging application to quickly message contacts reminders of upcoming actions. That innovation happened in the midst of a lot of chaos and moving parts of the strike; much more could have been streamlined by tech worker intervention with a little bit of organization and focus. The semester-long timeline of this project will provide a time-bound incubator to talk to other union shops about innovation that would benefit them and to develop an MVP version of a tool that could be used by future workers.

In thinking about organizing the work plan, I envision four key deliverables that will come together into the final project: background research about the current state of remote and tech unions in the US and a survey of a diverse set of units’ needs; interviews with members of the NYTTG; development of an MVP organizing tool that responds to identified need; and development of a website that brings it all together. I’ve tried to organize the scopes of work so that there are consistent and diverse learning opportunities for each member of the team, and no single “crunch” point or bottleneck for the work to come together. I’m optimistic that the project could provide opportunities for all participating colleagues to practice their archival, research, interview, and web development skills, and am excited about the possibilities it holds for future organizing.

Over the last decade nonmotorized vehicles around New York City have grown substantially. Nonmotorized vehicles are modes of transportation that do not have a motor. These include bicycles, scooters, e-bikes, roller skates, roller blades, horse drawn carts etc. Nonmotorized vehicles are environmentally friendly, inexpensive and relatively easy to operate. These types of vehicles have been utilized for work including both commuting to jobs and food delivery services, school and recreational purposes.  In dealing with the growth of these types of vehicles, the infrastructure around New York City has changed to accommodate these new modes of transport. But while increased mobility has allowed New Yorkers to move around the city with ease there are costs associated with this new found freedom. For my digital project I would like to create an interactive and informative website that addresses the risks and rewards associated with nonmotorized vehicles operating around the New York City area. This website will include a combination of interactive data on the growth of nonmotorized vehicles over the past decade as well as Injuries and death resulting from thereof. This data is available from the website of NYC Mayor’s office. However, I would also like to collect my data which would include formats such as short surveys and video interviews.  There will also be an informational portion to this website. This will include such things as blogs from around the city that provide information on regulations, city ordinances, best practices and ideas on safety and rules of the road for navigating through New York City neighborhoods.  I would also like to establish a public space for New Yorkers to discuss ideas and concerns about Nonmotorized vehicles in a safe forum.

This goal is to have this project off the ground in approximately fourteen weeks. Working towards this goal I have established the following timelines as guides to keep the project focused and on track. During the first couple of weeks, I intend to do comprehensive research on websites that provide similar services and detail how my project will go beyond the services offered. Since IRB approval for conducting research on human subjects takes several weeks to complete, I intend to begin that process in the first two weeks to keep the project within the timeline. For weeks three and four I will work on trying to gather the data. I will not only focus on NYC.gov but also engage local libraries across the New York City region. Libraries can be useful in assisting with historical and cultural information since they are an integral part of New York City neighborhoods. I would also like to reach out to community leaders since they are likely to have perhaps even an anecdotal pulse on neighborhood culture. During the fifth and six weeks I will meet with stakeholders and human talent such as website designers to assess the needed resources to make this project a reality

 In six to seven weeks, I will do a more detailed assessment of assessing the risk and rewards of nonmotorized modes of transportation. I would like to do a comparative analysis looking at other states and metropolitan areas where these modes have expanded in recent years. I would also like to explore the environmental benefits that come from these types of transportation. I would like to focus more on evidence base research studies.

Weeks eight and nine I would like to focus on creating a blueprint or schema for the website. This includes text design and format, platform engagement, human resources and the like. 

Weeks ten and eleven will be designated for gathering and organizing content for the website. This includes video clips, photographs, blogs and so forth. During week twelve I will start building the project using WordPress which allows you to build a website without a lot of technical coding. WordPress is also free. The last two weeks will be focused on revising launching and promoting the digital website. This timeline is not built in stone and there will likely be revisions if challenges arise at other stages in the process.