My blog

This has truly been an amazing journey!  Coming from someone with no background or knowledge in creating websites, HTML, plugins, add-ons, etc.. I have learned so much in this class.  From creating a domain, to setting up the WordPress platform, and creating a number of other collaborative tools that support research. I can’t believe I actually accomplished all this in one semester!  It was challenging and frustrating at times, due to technology constraints, and of course, trial and error.  Nonetheless,  I pulled it off.  I must say, in the beginning I never thought I could do any of this.  Other times, I felt like quitting, and pulling out my hair, in that order.  However, I did not give up. I kept putting in the effort, and asking questions to accomplish the assigned tasks. In the end, hard work and dedication are the key.

I would be remiss if I didn’t give a “shout out” to an amazing Professor.  I have to take a moment to recognize, and thank my Professor, Dr. Gretchen Beasley, who tirelessly supported me along the way, and gave me the confidence to do my best. Her knowledge and skills, in the field, and her ability to train students, in Digital History, are truly awesome!  Without her support, guidance, and dedication, it would not have been possible for me to accomplish the goals and expectations of this class.  Thank you, Dr. B., for all your assistance. I really appreciate you.  

https://voyant-tools.org/?corpus=16f4cc9d6593fb5dccc5f90e1a956669&panels=cirrus,reader,trends,documents,contexts

What information did you choose to delete and keep? Why? For example, did you choose to delete or keep the table of contents?

I decided to remove dates, page numbers, titles, and subheading to get a clear reading of relevant topic information.

What stopwords did you choose and why? What was your thinking in terms of how they would impact your work in Voyant and your reading of the text?

I did not remove any of the stopwords because they were not pertinent to the topic of the document. Also, I wanted to get a full analysis of the document for my interpretation.

What Voyant tools did you find most helpful and relevant? Why? (Discuss at least three tools.)

I liked the Corpus tool because it created a visual of relevant key word use in the document.  This can be helpful when searching a document for topic terms and topic information.

The context section is also helpful in searching a document for key elements or phrases for research purposes. 

Summary tool is helpful in creating key words for your project or additional research.

What struck you most about what Voyant did or didn’t reveal? (Where you expecting to see something and didn’t? Was it what you expected? Etc.)

This is my first time using the voyant tool. However, it will be useful in creating project graphs and other visuals to explain project data.

What impact did your experience with Voyant have on your past reading and understanding of the text?

I think just knowing there is a tool of this caliber out there to assist in creating materials, visuals, and extracting data to assist with research is important as you move forward with other projects.  With its capacity to review multiple documents at once, it will change how researchers review materials and connect information relevancy across different documents.

Based on what you see in Voyant, how might you read the text differently in the future, e.g., what else might you read or look for?

In the future, it may be useful to upload several documents to find connections in relevant information quicker, instead of reading each document individually.

Be critical of the tool. What are some of Voyant’s potential flaws and pitfalls? How might it be “misused”?

The stopwords feature could eliminate a word that is necessary to clarify the point of a particular key word that is relevant to your topic.   For example, pronoun use may seem unimportant but may be needed to clarify who the article is referring to.

How does your experience working in Voyant related to or differ from the readings by Ryan Cordell and Brandon Walsh about “close reading” and “distant reading”? What did you learn from this distant reading of texts?

Close reading allows you to see all the information necessary to form an opinion.  When you minimize the text, you may miss the entire meaning of the related text and misinterpret what it really important to the research.  The use of distant research, applying computational methods to text, gives you limited text to interpret.

What does this approach reveal that other methods do not? Are there limitations to text mining?

While the voyant tool provides additional method for reviewing and analyzing text, it can skew the interpretive outcome if there is missing data that is needed to make informed decisions.

I had difficulty populating data because the required information is different from the source information I created for the timeline.  I need to gather more information to complete properly.  It was unclear on how to upload timeline data into Omeka.  I did add the URL to my blog.  The timeline is a useful tool to provide visual information related to the proposal narrative.  This information serves to show the audience the social climate during certain points in time.

The process of transcription sounds easy and simple enough. However, trying to read other people’s hand writing can be very difficult.  Developing the correct words used in the text can be somewhat challenging, as well.  I had a hard time deciphering some of the old script lettering. Although, I was able to read most of the document, and understand its’ purpose, there were some letters I could not make out. The draft transcription document took me about 12 minutes to complete.  I would image some documents could take days to figure out.

Your research question: What are you studying? Why? What do you hope to understand?

I am studying the connection between socially constructed policies in housing,  and mortgage lending practices that contribute to homelessness and inequalities in generational wealth potential for African American communities.  I am studying this topic because I am interested in knowing why so many African Americans are experiencing homelessness in the United States.  According to an ABC news report, Dec. 23, 2020, by Karma Allen, 40% of all Americans experiencing homelessness are African Americans. I hope to understand how these policies in housing influence mortgage lending decisions for African Americans, minimizing their opportunities for generational wealth potential for their families, and contributing to their chances of homelessness.

The main primary sources you plan to use to complete your project.

Badger, Emily. 2017. “How Redlining’s Racist Effects Lasted for Decades.” The New York Times, August 24, 2017, sec. The Upshot. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/24/upshot/how-redlinings-racist-effects-lasted-for-decades.html.

“Homelessness and Racial Disparities.” n.d. National Alliance to End Homelessness. Accessed March 4, 2021. https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/what-causes-homelessness/inequality/.

Khadduri, Jill, and Marybeth Shinn. 2020. “What Causes Homelessness?” Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119104780.ch2.

“Mapping Inequality: How Redlining Is Still Affecting Inner Cities.” n.d. WUNC. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://www.wunc.org/show/the-state-of-things/2014-06-26/mapping-inequality-how-redlining-is-still-affecting-inner-cities.

News, A. B. C. n.d. “More than 50% of Homeless Families Are Black, Government Report Finds.” ABC News. Accessed March 7, 2021. https://abcnews.go.com/US/50-homeless-families-black-government-report-finds/story?id=68433643.

“Recent Fair Lending Cases.” The United States Department of Justice, August 6, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/crt/recent-fair-lending-cases.

The best secondary sources available on your project topic.

Hawkins, Casey. “Realizing Housing Justice through Comprehensive Housing Policy Reform.” Taylor & Francis, May 29, 2020. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/12265934.2020.1772099?casa_token=P4EDSAcTVlMAAAAA%3As2FUAHv7bDOf08WMaj_rovAkbJA-vc3jQ_zbiOcAaNEKwWPpMbnmiGxPn6Lm-dPc-Yx_YMD1o0_q_Q.

Johnson, Roberta Ann. 2010. “African Americans and Homelessness: Moving Through History.” Journal of Black Studies 40 (4): 583–605. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40648529.

Image

“25up-Redliningbk-SuperJumbo.Jpg (1747×2048).” n.d. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/08/25/upshot/25up-redliningbk/25up-redliningbk-superJumbo.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Badger, Emily. 2017. “How Redlining’s Racist Effects Lasted for Decades.” The New York Times, August 24, 2017, sec. The Upshot. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/24/upshot/how-redlinings-racist-effects-lasted-for-decades.html.

“Homelessness and Racial Disparities.” n.d. National Alliance to End Homelessness. Accessed March 4, 2021. https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/what-causes-homelessness/inequality/.

Khadduri, Jill, and Marybeth Shinn. 2020. “What Causes Homelessness?” Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119104780.ch2.

“Mapping Inequality: How Redlining Is Still Affecting Inner Cities.” n.d. WUNC. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://www.wunc.org/show/the-state-of-things/2014-06-26/mapping-inequality-how-redlining-is-still-affecting-inner-cities.

News, A. B. C. n.d. “More than 50% of Homeless Families Are Black, Government Report Finds.” ABC News. Accessed March 7, 2021. https://abcnews.go.com/US/50-homeless-families-black-government-report-finds/story?id=68433643.

“Recent Fair Lending Cases.” The United States Department of Justice, August 6, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/crt/recent-fair-lending-cases.

Secondary Sources

Hawkins, Casey. “Realizing Housing Justice through Comprehensive Housing Policy Reform.” Taylor & Francis, May 29, 2020. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/12265934.2020.1772099?casa_token=P4EDSAcTVlMAAAAA%3As2FUAHv7bDOf08WMaj_rovAkbJA-vc3jQ_zbiOcAaNEKwWPpMbnmiGxPn6Lm-dPc-Yx_YMD1o0_q_Q.

Johnson, Roberta Ann. 2010. “African Americans and Homelessness: Moving Through History.” Journal of Black Studies 40 (4): 583–605. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40648529.

Image

“25up-Redliningbk-SuperJumbo.Jpg (1747×2048).” n.d. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/08/25/upshot/25up-redliningbk/25up-redliningbk-superJumbo.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp.

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