Here I Go Again

As I recently said on Twitter, web scraping with Python has replaced QGIS as my latest digital problem. At least the maps showed me that I was making progress.

Little has changed in 2 weeks.

I spent about an hour and a half in the latest DH Anonymous group with Justin and Sarah trying to figure out how to go about this whole Python gig. My first disconnect occurred from the tutorials. They allow you to work online in a simulated Command Line that definitely doesn't seem to replicate what I regularly see on my computer and how the Python program works on my machine. I've realized that many things will be different from the tutorial when working with the program directly, but I already needed help in figuring out the basics. Thankfully, Justin got me through most of that.

I installed all the necessities: BeautifulSoup, pip, Python itself. After some searching, video watching, and tutorial reading, I found some code that seemed to accomplish the beginning steps of the process.  The website I'm planning to scrape is relatively simple (www.sacred-texts.com/neu/ascp), and I was able to get the links for each item on the landing page to scrape along with the text of that list. However, I couldn't seem to find a way to manipulate my code to get Python to access the links and scrape the contents of those links. I had spent several hours on Tuesday night just trying to work with the code, add things to it (that probably didn't make much sense), and continue to research the use of Python with web scraping. It just wasn't working. Well, lo and behold, Wednesday's class (and Dr. Gibbs) revealed to me that I wasn't using the proper area to work with Python (Command prompt rather than Command line) and I was making all of this far too complicated.

After about an hour's worth of Q&A with Gibbs after class, I had a grasp on what I was doing and where I needed to go. I haven't gone back to it just yet (mostly because it's Thanksgiving), but I'm determined to figure this out. It's the last things I've got left to check off my list for my digital portfolio, so it's going to get done. Lesson of the fail: quit over-thinking!

Difficulties of Critiquing

Throughout the class, we have been discussing how Digital Humanities projects can and have been critiqued by scholars throughout the last few years. There are myriad projects out there and even more in development, but when it comes to critiquing, evaluating, and judging these projects, it seems that the opinions vary as widely as the projects. This brings me to our most recent class in which we premiered the homemade videos we each were tasked with creating.

It seems I should have worn something fancier.

The process of making the research video was arduous and tedious, but the results (at least in my case) were something that I can be proud of.  I had figured that showing my video in class was going to be the most nerve-racking part of the entire experience--and it was, for the most part. As the video began, I was seriously nervous, but when the audience (our class) actually laughed at the comedic parts of the video, my tension began to dissipate. All in all, the premiering experience was frightening but rather fun.  I think it was especially eased because it seemed that the class actually enjoyed the video and had very few critiques.

Although I had predicted that the toughest part of the whole project would actually be putting the movie together in Movie Maker, critiquing other people's work was definitely much more difficult. This is definitely where I had my failure of the week, and I had the realization that evaluating other people's work is much harder than it sounded.

I'm an English instructor, so I'm more than accustomed to giving constructive criticism but that is primarily on freshmen composition papers. While watching my classmates' research videos, I wasn't able to come up with criticisms other than the most basic or obvious such as those that the director him/herself already described or what others had said. Additionally, the only person's video I actually felt comfortable critiquing as far as content was concerned was Justin's since he and are both Anglo-Saxonists and close friends.  Since I already knew the material he was covering in the presentation, it seemed more appropriate to evaluate his video rather than the others since I know little about their research interests. That brings up the question in my mind of whether or not those who could be evaluating potential projects on my horizon will feel the same way I do about judging my colleagues' work.

Movie Making Mishaps

The last week has been dedicated to creating my research video, and I, once again, I'm using a type of software that I've never been exposed to previously. A friend showed me how to use Movie Maker very quickly--not nearly long enough for me to actually make a full video--but certainly a start.

 Definitely never thought that this sight would not scare me.

As I worked through my video creation process, my first failure came in actually trying to save the thing. One of the presumably easiest things to do (at least it is in other programs) was apparently not as user-friendly or intuitive by any stretch of the imagination. There are multiple ways of saving in Movie Maker, and you must be careful to choose the correct one depending on the stage of your movie. If you are completely done with your video, you can save as a movie and it will be done. However, if you are not complete with the editing process, you have to save it as a project. The big difference is that a video saved as a movie will not play through Movie Maker nor will you be able to edit it again. I was unaware of this fact, so I saved it as a movie. Coming back to it the next day, I realized I couldn't edit or even play it through Movie Maker. Fail. Similar to other projects I've done this semester, I had to start over.

Take 2 has been much more successful; however, I have been encountering issues related to pieces of my video changing from what I had initially put in. Part of the video encompasses slides from a PowerPoint converted into .png files. Some of these slides change their order or disappear without my knowing or asking it to do this. Sometimes I really think my digital journey would not be complete without little gremlins messing with my work!

Gizmo represents my digital projects. That gremlin is clearly up to no good.

I feel that my video is currently at the stage where I think it's fully developed and ready for saving it as a movie (that's not a big step, in my mind) except for the narration/voice-over work. I have the script written out and timed to link up with the visuals, so the narration is the final step. Just a point to note, I will definitely be saving the video in both methods just so I can edit it later--I've learned my lesson this semester!

DH Anonymous

Throughout the course of this semester, I have struggled with each and every new piece of software to which we have been introduced. Thankfully, I have a fellow Medieval Studies colleague in the class who has more experience with some of the programs than I do, and he has been generous enough with his time to help me through my struggles and give me confidence to complete many of the projects on my own. Lately, I have been turning much more quickly to Google and Twitter to help me solve my problems rather than frantically texting my colleague (that now only happens in dire straits), but I'm noticing a severe lack of communication within our classroom environment, especially on the digital front. However, a few of us have been working steadily to help each other.

Yep.

Today, Sarah, Justin, and I decided to reserve a library study room for two hours and discuss the issues we were having with any of the software and try to help each other in any way possible. As a group, we were able to get Sarah more comfortable with HTML and CSS, and we started to unpack the mystery of MALLET. I also helped Sarah (and Justin, by extension) figure out how to get the base map on her QGIS map. Overall, this experience was extremely useful and something that I believe all three of us will repeat as often as possible. We sent the word out on Twitter for our fellow classmates to join us, but no one else seemed interested or, at least, replied. I really think that this is probably one of the most useful things I have done all semester, and if we had more people in the group working together, we would be able to have a much better understanding of the programs we're trying to use and incorporate into our portfolios.

Whatever your skill level, we don't judge. Join us!

In a seminar setting such as this, the group members truly need to work together for the common good of everyone involved. I truly wish the class itself was more like our two hour meeting this morning because it was the most productive I've been in a group setting. Justin, Sarah, and I will definitely be holding regular Digital Humanities Anonymous meetings for the rest of the semester, and I really think this will help us actually finish our portfolio requirements to the best of our abilities.

Jessica Troy's A Series of Fortunate Failures

On Wednesday of this week, I decided to buckle down and figure out how to make a map with information pertinent to my own research no matter what. From the tutorial with Google Maps Lite, I actually understood most of the methods for that particular type of map. Following the directions was fairly straightforward, and I was able to cut out the parts that were least necessary/useful for me (making a road, creating a polygon, etc.). I had only slight trouble when it came to finding locations to put on my map, but those were easily overcome using my preexisting research skills. The map developed rather quickly when I was manually putting together the points. However, I knew that I needed to have a CSV file which listed a greater number of locations.

I wasn't entirely sure how to create a CSV file (or what it truly is), so after a bit of Googling, I began to write out a basic text document full of names and places. At the end, I tried to save it in an appropriate file form, and it wasn't listed! Ah! Back to Google. Apparently, I missed someone telling me that Word docs can't (or at least I couldn't figure out how) be saved as CSV files. I took some advice from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and didn't panic. I realized instead that I could transfer all of the information to an Excel format. After doing that, adjusting the columns, and saving, I was ready to import. Google Maps took the CSV file with no issues, and my map expanded. Now, on to QGIS--or so I thought.

 I need my towel.

So...my nemesis: QGIS. I went back through tutorials that attempted to guide me through the QGIS process, but they ended up being a bit of a dead end. I figured out how to save my Google map as a KML file, but when I attempted to transfer it to QGIS, there was no background map (which I sort of expected based on our classroom discussions) and only one set of my dots actually showed up. This fortunately became a help to me since I realized that more needed to be done than I originally thought. After playing around with it and getting mucho frustrated, I started Googling...again. I figured that there had to be a reason why the two sets of data didn't show up. I finally decided that I would go back to the Google Earth step I skipped and give it a shot. 

After downloading Google Earth, transferring my map to it, and saving, a miraculous occurrence came to my attention. The icons on my desktop where I had originally saved my map changed into Google Earth KML files. I was certainly hoping that this was step in the right direction--I kind of felt like it was. Now, back to QGIS.

Ok, after much Googling, scanning, reading, tutorialing, and more Googling, I finally figured out how to get my shiny new KML files into the program. And just like magic, both sets of data appeared! Woot! However, the base map problem still loomed. I've found some step-by-steps online but there seemed to be a disconnect either because it was an old version or it was for a Mac. All of the steps lined up until I hit the major roadblock. There was supposed to be a specific plug-in to install (which I did), but in the Plug-ins pull down menu, it wouldn't appear. I tried installing, reinstalling, uninstalling, and repeating, but nothing seemed to work. It just wouldn't appear. So, fed up with Googling, I went to Twitter. 

How I felt about that damn plug-in!

I posted several tweets with calls for help and including screen shots along with our class' hashtag as well as a more general #qgis. For a while, the tweets were silent. This was really disheartening because a few months ago this would have been a very clear stopping point for me, and I was determined to get this project done. Finally, someone following the QGIS hashtag saw my cry for help and came to my rescue. The simplest of suggestions, "check the web tab," and my mapping life changed. A few simple clicks later and the map was done, complete with base map. The finished products are now up on http://jessicatroy.net/digimeth/index.html. 

Even one month ago, I would have given up a long time ago, so the fact that I actually finished all three versions of this map is amazing to me. I had a series of failures, but none of them stopped me.

Procrastinator's Dilemma

This week I've done a lot of thinking about particular aspects of the digital portfolio, especially the QGIS requirement. I had a pretty solid conversation with Dr. Gibbs about what I can use as a basis for the map and the basics of how to accomplish it, but it never actually went past the thinking/talking phase. I think my failure this week is in my lack of trying.

As the semester rolls ever closer to finals week, I get more and more concerned about finishing the project but also fearful that my efforts will end in total failure. I think I'm giving myself a complex.  Talking about what needs done and actually attempting the activity are clearly very different things, and the "I can't do this" idea continually jumps into my head. To me, this is more than simple procrastination. Yes, I'm procrastinating, but not in the same way that I tend to procrastinate on writing a paper or finishing research. It's a procrastination that stems from a disconnect between me and the software that I still don't understand how to use.

"Must work on QGIS..."

I've never been a "Read this and understand it" kind of learner. In math and science classes, especially, I can read a chapter and look at the examples, but it really doesn't sink in until the instructor walked me through one example. After that, it all seems to kick in. It's just the way I learn. This class is all about changing the way we think, and that can be very beneficial. I can already see that I have begun to change the way I think about accomplishing a task on my computer. However, I don't believe that the class has been able to alter the way I learn. I'm not sure this is a failure, but it's definitely an observation of what I think is standing in the way of my progress.

Endless Wheel Spinning

For the most part, this week was fairly successful for me as I worked my way through the seemingly endless Python tutorials on Code Academy. I guess my failure in completing 43% of the tutorial in the span of 8 hours in one day was that I simply could not wrap my mind around the practical application of the commands I was learning.  In my productiveness, I only failed on the theoretical level. I suppose if I ever needed to calculate a tip or keep track of grocery supplies in the most complicated way possible, I would have the tools and knowledge to do so. However, I'm definitely not comprehending how in the world I will be able to use "defining variables" and finding 6^12 equals on my website directly and for any research-based application.

Can I learn about real pythons instead?

As I was told, the tutorials for any new program (or language, really) always start with the most basic of terms in order to build a foundation that can be used in other settings. This makes sense to me, but I can more readily see the usefulness of asking someone their name in a newly learned spoken language than making strings of zoo animal names in a program designed to ensure your inventory is intact. As a medievalist, the theory about learning and interpreting languages makes sense to me, but the practice is, thus far, lost on me and I truly feel as if I am spinning my wheels while I complete lesson after lesson.

Additionally, I am still on a quest to figure out QGIS  (again, tutorials become horribly mind-numbing after a while) and how I might be able to use it practically. I have a concept that I think might be solid enough to not completely hate what I eventually create, but I still have to get there. Spatial relationships have never been my strong suit, so seeing this part of the project as useful or worthwhile is a tough sell.