Carol Harris

In the article “Against Cleaning” Katie Rawson and Trevor Munoz makes that point that what is seen as a substantial part of the process of acquiring knowledge through data i.e. the “cleaning” of the data has implications for how we present the data and what we are able to ascertain from it. This is particularly important when it comes to sensitive data that gives us insight into the psychological and mental states of individuals particularly individuals who are struggling with affirming their identity in a society that is often hostile at times. It is with from this backdrop that I decide to look into the mental health experiences and struggles for Transgender individuals. The data used in this analysis came from the Household Pulse Survey which was conducted by the Census Bureau during COVID. The survey is conducted online from a random sample of households and measures of anxiety, depression and a combination of both are tabulated for the individuals completing the survey. The results are weighted in accordance with the demographic breakdown of the US population. For my analysis I focus on depressive symptoms and I looked at three groups. Individuals who were identified as male or female at birth and transgender. The first graph is the overall with all three groups shown in accordance with the percent of depressive symptoms they experienced during the time period. Males and females have similar rates of depressive symptoms with females being slightly higher than males. The transgender group showed the highest depressive symptoms for the the ten month period in 2023. It is important to point out that the data was collected in one week waves and then the average was tabulated for the month. While the line graph looked identical for the male and female the transgender graph had more peaks and troughs. In other words it is less stable and more erratic during this period. It is also important to point out that when it comes to identity people sometimes occupy several different identities. So while this is a snapshot of sexual identity, other identities such as race and ethnicity may also be a contributing factor. This gets to why this type of data is so hard to separate and pull apart. The way the data is collected I had to basically strip away other identities and focus on a single identity which is not a realistic reflection on how people interact in their daily lives.

In an effort to chronicle, the distinction between slavery in the Antebellum South and slavery on the Caribbean Richard Dunn curated the biographies of slaves who lived at Mount Airy Plantation in Virginia and the Mesopotamia Plantation on the Island of Jamaica. The website showed the biographies of some 431 slaves across several generations coupled with vignettes of members of familial units on each of the plantations. The description of several of the slaves I thought was the best part of the website. Giving a description of some of the slaves along with their biographies and familial relations went far in establishing their identities and shedding much needed information on this historical period. The website began with an introduction of the two plantations using a series of pictures as you scroll through. The first picture is a plantation designed in colonial structure. It does not tell us whether this is a picture of Mount Airy Plantation. There are a series of historical pics as you move through the introduction including a picture of slaves working on a cotton plantation. The website was successful in creating the feel that you are exploring a digital historical archive.

Once you make it through the introduction, there are several other tabs to note. The Family Story tab with a handwritten inventory of the slaves listed in the format of a crude family tree. The next two tabs The Family Tree and Family List are a more formal representation of the family tree along with a brief biological description of the slaves derived from the handwritten inventory list. You can easily navigate between Mount Airy and Mesopotamia family information.  One of the interesting things about this website is you can read the biographies of slaves in two different regions of the world. Just noting the differences and patterns can be a fun endeavor.   However, a big part of Dunn’s analysis was a focus on the demographic difference between slaves on the two plantations.   

Dunn justified the comparison based on demographic differences that occurred within the context of similar institutions. On the Mesopotamia Plantation during the period of 1762 to 1833, there were over excess 300 slave deaths. This deficiency led to the slave owners choosing to import more slaves to labor in the sugar plantations.  In contrast the Mount Airy Plantation on Virginia there were nearly 300 births during the period of 1809 to 1865. These excess births allowed the Virginia slave owners to move slaves to other parts of the south and to sell some of their slaves.  Dunn never teased out why these different demographic differences occurred on these plantations, however he points out that these differences affect the slaves on both plantation. The Mount Airy slaves constantly had to deal with their families being broken up due to movement and sale while the Jamaican Plantation had to adjust to the permanence of death. In any event, Dunn made the choice to compare these two plantations on births and deaths without offering any explanation why these differences exist. Furthermore, while he does acknowledge an interest in comparing slavery in both regions he does not go into any depth as far as the historical, political and geographical differences regarding slavery in both regions. In addition, these two regions during slavery used labor to produce different type of crops sugar cane verses cotton and or tobacco did the different crops contribute in some ways to the different demographic outcome.

Another critique I have on the website is the use of certain language without acknowledging the political cultural and historical context in which it exist.  For example during the period of slavery did not exist as a separate institution. Yet use of the word family did not allude to this. Finally, the wording on the website suggest Mount Airy slaves were resilient when they lost their family because the family got bigger. Again, I think context matter. These families were not in control of their reproductive behavior. Drawing such a conclusion without other supporting factors is erroneous.

Carol Harris

Tableau is a user-friendly digital tool that allows you analyze and visualize data in multiple ways, using techniques such as graphs, charts, scatterplots and geospatial maps. This was my first time interacting with tableau as a creator. At my place of work there are a plethora of dashboards created using Tableau. As such I frequently interact with Tableau as an end user. Furthermore, being able to create interactive dashboards is one of the biggest advantages of Tableau, particularly as it relates to business intelligence.  

One of my favorite things to do on Saturdays is to visit the farmers market at Grand Army Plaza. Farmers market is a way to get fresh produce while interacting with and supporting local farmers. I grew up on a small island in the Caribbean. My dad was a fisherman, and my mom grew vegetables and flowers in our garden. On Saturday’s folks on the island would come together at a designated spot, the nexus of town. Folks would sell and buy the goods. It was also an opportunity for interaction with friends and family. When my family and I go to different parts of New York state we search for farmers market and if one was conveniently located, we would visit it. This got me thinking about where the farmers markets are located across New York. I was able to pull data on the farmers market in New York state from the Data.gov website. https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/farmers-markets-in-new-york-state . It’s an uncomplicated data file that list the address of farmers markets by counties, cities and zip codes for New York State. The file also includes their website address and whether they accept SNAP as payment. It turns out there are approximately 646 farmers markets across New York. Importing the data into Tableau was straightforward. This data was in a CSV file and Tableau can import a variety of different file formats. Once the data comes into Tableau it automatically decides what variable type to assign. Interestingly, Tableau is able to assign geospatial data as such from a string variable. So, you don’t need to have longitude and latitude if you are using state, city or zip code data. You do need to be careful though because if you just include the county without the state Tableau may give you some unknown or null field for that county. Once you have ascertained that the variables have been correctly labeled the next step is to create a worksheet where you can essentially drag and drop fields. Tableau will give you an instant preview. It’s interactive so you can play around until you are satisfied with the outcome.

Using a map to represent this data made it easier to see where the markets are located geographically. I could have made a table of counts to show which country had the most farmers’ markets. But that wouldn’t situate the location of the markets across the state like a map does.  That was the biggest advantage to me. Even using a bar chart wouldn’t have give the entire picture.

Digital humanities is the marrying of computer science and informational technology with the humanities. Digital humanist use digital tools such as mapping, spatial and text analysis, social medial mining to assist with the study of history, geography, literature, language, music and other disciplines that fall under the umbrella of the humanities. Digital humanities allows us to study the past, present and future. Digital Humanities can also assess the role that social media media platform as it relates to the current political climate. With regards to subjects such as history, digital humanist can use technology to study historical documents, certificates, maps and the like.

Digital Humanities has been criticized for elevating certain forms of knowledge and technology notably the that align with the global north. Furthermore, even within the global north Digital humanities have been criticized for both ignoring gendered forms of knowledge and the role that women played in the development of such areas as algorithms and coding. DH has also been criticized ignoring the digital contributions of Blacks. In fact the the common experiences of Blacks across the African diaspora that is so broad in its scope and yet similar in their experiences warrants a separate interdisciplinary branch that falls somewhere between the Digital and the Humanities referred to as The Digital Black Atlantic.

In sum Digital Humanities is a growing field that is dynamic, open and collaborative