Five qualities of a good DH project include:

1) Having a clear and understandable focus and goal.

2) Academically written which includes proper language and correct citations.

3) Relevant to a certain group of people, must be desirable to read.

4) User interactiveness, including a functioning search feature.

5) Aesthetically pleasing, including a well-constructed layout and neat organization.

A good DH project will leave the viewer/reader much more knowledgeable about a specific topic than they were before they visited it. A good project should offer information and insight on certain subjects using digital tools to enhance one’s education. It can either answer a question, exploit an opportunity, and simply inform an audience, among other things. While it should contain plenty of facts and analysis, it shouldn’t be difficult to understand or follow. Just because the creators of the project are familiar with Digital Humanities, that doesn’t mean the readers are. It should be easy to navigate and find answers to any certain questions the reader may have. It should absolutely have proper grammar and punctuation and should have an academic feel to it. That may be more of my opinion, as a Digital Project could definitely be done in a more leisurely and relaxed way. But a good one to me, has a scholarly sense to it, making it both reputable and reliable. That of course, means it must contain proper citations and references where needed.

DH lets scholars ask new questions simply because DH is still a relatively new concept. It’s still growing in both participation and familiarity. New digital tools are being created as time goes on, opening the door to endless possibilities. As new tools and resources become available, scholars must ask themselves what can be done with the tool, as well as where it can be taken. Also, since DH has a heavy focus on the internet and social media, it’s very easy for scholars to ask questions and give answers to their DH peers as everyone in the field is connected via technology one way or another.

As we approach our final project, it is important to take time to understand what constitutes a good digital humanities (DH) project.

In order to find the most accurate descriptions of a quality DH project, the website digitalhumanities.org seemed like it would be a pretty credible source.

From this website:

1. Since Humanists study human artifacts, they are studying basically what it means to be human, as artifacts are produced by us, the humans. With this in mind, one must understand the difference between an artifact created intentionally, and an artifact created as a result of human activity. For example, any artistic work (novels, paintings, scores of music) are all results of human activity, as emotions of humans/events in human history create/influence these arts. Documents, court records, birth certificates, memoranda, sales receipts, deeds: these are all intentional man made artifacts.

A good DH project will differentiate these two, especially within an archive. This is important because when dealing with digital humanities it is important to preserve these attributes of which made it a humanity work in the first place.

When digitizing anything for the sake organizing many works into one source (example: archive), in my opinion it should be the author’s first priority to preserve the authenticity and human value of these works.

These next points are simply based upon my experiences with archives and other DH projects we have encountered this semester:

2. There should always be an explanation of the DH project. A bio about the author, an explanation of the purpose of the article, perhaps a short word about why the project was made should be included. This makes it easier for other DH scholars to understand the reason for the creation of such a project, and allows for more communication between the author and the reader. Communication is another benefit of all things DH, we are able to ask each other questions at the click of a send button as we never could in the past.

3. Search tools easily accessible. There’s nothing more frustrating then trying to find information on a DH project that you know is there, but the search option is just giving you the right results. Search tools should be able to identify key words typed into it, and where those words or phrases appear in the entire project itself.

4. Because DH is a lot about visual learning, aesthetics play a big part in the quality of a DH project, almost as much as the information quality. Aesthetics should be eye-catching, but not overwhelming, staying neat.

5. Descriptions for each work in an archive (using archive for example). Each work should have an explanation, description, relevance to the rest of the archive, and data cited (where its from, etc.). It is important to have all information concise and credible, or else the archive is obsolete.

DH Scholars can ask questions easily through the presence of all of these attributes mentioned. When information is given thoroughly, there is no need for questions that ask “But where is this information…” “How is this relevant?”

The absence of questions that are mundane and that shouldn’t have to be asked in the first place, can make room for questions that will progressively add to the constant DH conversation.

“Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham Court Road.”

And thus, we have the Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle: a case starting off with a bang (or rather, a lost Christmas goose and hat) along Tottenham Court Road. Going into Victorian Google maps, the street seemed fairly civil in structure, though this idea changed after moving around the street a bit. At the end of the street to the north, a tramway line stops. And along the southern stretch of the road, there is in fact a labyrinth of small streets.

And this being just a bit down from Goodge Street, where Peterson had seen the man with the Goose being attacked. Then looking to the Charles Booth Online Archive, it appears that the area in which Tottenham Court Road situates itself had been fairly well to do during this time. The neighboring streets, by contrast, were more poverty stricken than not, with the map from the Charles Booth archive showing numerous bouts of light and dark blue (no black however — which would indicate the worst crime rate possible). That it was a well off neighborhood, it must have been increasingly shocking that the man with the goose (who we later find out is James Ryder) had broken a window exactly there, with Peterson — in official uniform — rushing towards him further perpetuating this sentiment.

Looking at the proceedings containing the street name as the key words, 2756 results turn up. Listed among the first ten there were four cases of theft, a case of murder, and a case of sexual assault. Bringing the time period searched down to the years between 1880 and 1899, the number of results dropped down to 354. Narrowing it down, the majority of offenses appear to be cases of fraud, coining, deception, property damage, burglary, robbery and theft.

Using the street view function built into Locating London’s Past, it appears that nowadays the area were Goodge Street meets Tottenham Court Road is highly commercial and bustling with people.

This commercialization isn’t necessarily surprising. From British History Online, a search result from a 1878 publication details Tottenham Court Road as being located in one of the fashionable districts in London. However, he aesthetic makeup of this meeting between Goodge Street and Tottenham Court Road has changed. Again from British History Online, a result from a 1949 text mentions that there had been some destruction to the area as a result of air raids.

For this assignment I chose to research about Kensington High Street. This street was in The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, and it was very important for the plot of the history because it was the location of Harding Brothers, who were responsible for selling several of the Napoleonic busts.

I decided to start my research by using Old Bailey on the website Locating London, at first I tried a more accurate search but I got nothing, then I did a wide search with no data on the form except for the location I wanted and -surprisingly- 11403 hits appeared. They were most related to burglary and shoplifting, which makes sense because Kensington High Street is the main and most popular shopping street in Kensington.

According to Charles Booth Online Archive, the main social status in Kensington High Street around 1898 was pretty mixed as you can see in the picture below, and and if you look around the map you can see that the majority is classified as middle class.

I tried using the website Historical Eye but I found it very confusing and didn’t help me with my Kensington High Street’s search. The websites that gave me more information about the street were Charles Booth Online Archive and Locating London, they provided all the information I needed to write this blog post.

Works Cited: 

“Home | LOCATING LONDON’S PAST.” Home | LOCATING LONDON’S PAST.
N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

“Kensington High Street.” Charles Booth Online Archive: Booth Poverty Map.
London School of Economics and Political Science. Web. 10 November 2014.

I chose the Waterloo Train Station which appears in “The Adventure of the Speckled Band.”

Using the Charles Booth Online Archive, I found the poverty map for the area surrounding the Waterloo Station. The levels of poverty are shown by color. The color red is what’s seen mostly around the immediate area, which according to the archive, means “Middle-class, well to do” (Booth Poverty). The more pinkish color, according to the archive, represents “Fairly comfortable. Good ordinary earnings” (Booth Poverty). Finally, there is some blue seen in the outer area, which represents more poorer people (Booth Poverty). However, these are not in the immediate vicinity of the station. Obviously, the only people who would use trains at the time would be the ones who had the funds to do so, making it natural that those kinds of people would live next door.

Using Old Bailey Online, I came across many hits on the Waterloo Train Station.  The most interesting example I found was a case in which a counterfeit shilling was involved. The person who tried to use it as payment claimed he received it at the Waterloo Train Station (Old Bailey). This is a perfect example that since there are in fact poorer people nearby, crime did exist at the station, even if only people with money used the trains.

In “Speckled Band,” Helen Stoner said she used the Waterloo Train Station and Holmes and Watson did so during the story. Those three characters are certainly “well to do.” All of this information I found helps paint a clearer picture of the surrounding neighborhood by the station.  Even though it is mostly middle class in the area, there are still instances of crime at the station.

Works Cited

“Booth Poverty Map.” Booth Poverty Map (Charles Booth Online Archive). London School of Economics & Political Science, n.d. Web. 09 Nov. 2014.

Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 7.0, 10 November 2014), December 1852, trial of MICHAEL CARROLL (t18521213-150).