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Kamna Talwar

Here’s the timeline I used in my final project, just in case a better way to access the timeline is necessary. Hopefully it will load onto this page. If not, here’s a link:

Timeline!

Here’s an attachment to my final project. Note: the narrative contextualization of the project is included in the “notes” section at the bottom of my PowerPoint.

As for preservation, I think LOCKSS is sufficient enough.

HIST390 Final

I’ve had a few ideas floating around about the final that I’ve been meaning to post. So, without further ado, here’s my proposal: I want to do my final on the first space walk. I think that’d be an interesting topic because it is fairly recent and I’d like to see what I can discover about it.

The blockly maze was a lot of fun. I solved it in two different ways. First, I found the most simple and direct way to get to the end of the maze using only commands. This proved to be easy because I found a way to navigate the maze from my view and then guided Pegman to follow that path. This was not only too boring for my taste, but it was also not logical if I was Pegman. If I was in the maze, I wouldn’t be able to go through the path directly like that because I wouldn’t already know the path. So I decided to throw some logic into the mix. However, I still made Pegman turn in the correct directions because I didn’t want an incredibly long journey for the little guy.

This got me thinking about programming a lot more, though. Programmers may not always know the correct path and have to write a script that will guide them through a “maze” without bugging out. The logic did add some extra steps, but it still got Pegman to the correct final destination. I enjoyed playing around with the maze.

Here is what the direct path looked like:

And this is with a few logic scripts added in:

I would’ve liked to include a few more logic steps in there so that the script would be standardized and work no matter what path Pegman took, but that would’ve taken too long and I was just trying to play around with the tools. Maybe if I have some more free time I’ll create it.

My first impression of Scratch was that it looked childish and elementary. The animations are really simple and the video made it seem easy to put together a small skit. This was good because I don’t want to delve into nitty-gritty programming. However, I do still want a little challenge. Luckily, Scratch offers a good amount of each and I enjoyed working with it.

After playing around with Scratch, I realized it was more than I had expected. I thought the effects were a little confusing initially. However, after a few minutes of testing random effects and messing around with the tools, I got the hang of it. The different types of effects are organized nicely and clearly. It actually is rather simplistic, but it is still engaging nonetheless. I think it’s the perfect balance of skill for this specific class.

For my animation I made the cat dance to a beat. I used the text effect to say “Hello” and “Let’s dance!” Then I played two different drum beats and made the character change its costume to give the appearance of a dance motion. I then layered a mosaic effect on it. This repeated 10 times. It was surprisingly fun to create and actually entertaining. Then I reversed the mosaic effect by doing the opposite 10 more times. This all happened while playing the same drum beats and dance step. In the end, the character is as it begun.

I really like the way Scratch is set up because it is straightforward and easy to understand. It’s not the most advanced or professional program, but as I said it’s a good balance for this class. I really wish there was a way to upload my skit to this blog, but I didn’t see an extension capability. I think it would be fun to create another mini-project with Scratch.

The aspect of digitalization is becoming more and more important in today’s technologically advanced world. One of the greatest uses of this new technology is in the realm of education and wealth of information now available on the web. Preservation of the past is an especially significant topic. As Rosenzweig stated, “Preservation of the past [is] a public responsibility.”

As stated in the article, information online is available to a very wide audience. Furthermore, the information online is abundant in itself. I think that this abundance is, for the most part, a good thing. There is room for more feedback on content posted online because a larger audience has access to it. This means that there is room for more progress. The abundance of information, however, is more complex. Of course, the more information you have, the better; more sources, more content to choose from, more scholarly pieces to learn from. What’s not to love? But how much is too much? When a simple search on Google leaves you with 300,000 results, how can you choose which ones to even bother looking at? The copious amount of information that is now available online can sometimes be overwhelming. Nonetheless, I believe that an abundance of information is better than a scarcity of it.

The issue of loss is one of the largest problems facing digital historians. In fact, this is an issue that is cross-disciplinary and affects anyone who is active in the digital age. However, this problems exists in both the digital and analog spheres. Digital files can become corrupted and viruses can spread to a site. But a similar problem occurs with physical books and papers, as they can get lost and damaged. Regardless of the medium, backing up content is key to eliminating such an issue. Like mentioned in class, LOCKSS (Lots Of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) is vital to digital preservation once the content is published.

For this week’s practicum, I decided to use the Google Ngram Viewer to look up the word Diwali. I decided to use this word because today is Diwali, the Hindu celebration of lights. I also wanted to see if there were any trends, seeing as there are higher Indian populations in America and other western countries now than there have been in the past. Here’s the Ngram:

As you can see, there is a sharp increase after the 1940’s and especially after 1950. This is  really interesting to me and by far the best part about the Ngram Viewer. It’s so easy to see changes over time and so many historical events can be correlated or contributed to these trends.

Data mining is a complex process. So much has to be taken into consideration in order to create the perfect, or even mediocre, search engine program. Careful attention must be given to specific words, phrases, and even number series so as to reach useful results.

I’m surprised to see how many different ways documents and other digital files can be organized. Indexing and searching are both such interesting processes. APIs are extremely important to the process of data mining. When combined with some other program, an engine can find almost anything. I feel like we’re at a place where we have nearly perfected the tools for searching. However, in light of the scavenger hunt earlier this semester, it seems that there is still room for improvement.

Nonetheless, it’s amazing to see how much we can do with searches today. Not only can we get significant results from keyword or key phrase searches, but we can even get direct answers with question searches. I remember going on “Ask Jeeves” when I was younger and being able to get an answer for almost any question I typed in. I think this site was geared towards younger people and it’s now the more “grown-up” Ask.com, but this format is incredibly useful and efficient.

Another interesting search that I’ve used is for math problems. I know that if you Google search a specific math problem, Google will supply the answer.

As for quantity versus quality, I agree with the article. Quality is important, of course, because you want something reliable. However, I think quantity is the most important factor of the two at the end of the day because the bare facts are what truly matter. Having a wealth of information is crucial to collecting data. There are more options to look through, more information to absorb and work with, and a greater consensus as to what the facts are.

Here’s a short and sweet (literally) presentation about cotton candy.

Cotton Candy!