For this week, I’ve decided to explore Exploring the Vilnius Ghetto: A Digital Monument, which is a digital humanities mapping project dedicated to telling the story of Vilna Ghetto, from the beginning to the end. According to the site’s description, the project’s purpose is not only to describe the basic history in the Ghetto but to use mapping technology to help illustrate the community’s experience throughout the timeline.
When you click into the site, it tells you to choose one of the eight stories to explore, where each of the stories is to reflect one aspect of the community (i.e. Formation of Ghetto, Judenrat, Health & Education, Life in the Ghetto, End of Ghetto). Using “Formation of Ghetto” story as an example, we can better understand the kind of data that are presented and the format that the project has chosen to present the data. There is an overview of the story via a short text summary as well as an image gallery. Going through the front page, users can begin exploring the map either through clicking on the dots located on the map geographically, or click on the dots on the timeline (in other stories, they use categories instead of a timeline). Each dot usually contains a description of a historical event or the background of certain artifacts accompanied with related photos.
The map is indeed, perspectival and subjective as many assumptions are made via the creator’s perspective. For instance, one of the more obvious examples, “The Life of the Ghetto”, where the categories are divided into merely six general categories. By dividing the community’s life into these categories, the creator has injected his personal biases into deciding how the community’s life should be presented. Also, a lot of the daily events are missed out from the data as the creator also has the power to select events that he thinks has significant and eliminate the “mundane” ones. In general, the map tends to reveal a lot more about the historical facts and events happened, but the data in “Arts and Culture” and “Life” are lacking, especially in first-person descriptions that illustrate the true experience living in the community at that period of time.
As a map that reveals the point of view as an outsider, a lot of details regarding the non-historical aspect of the community are being left out, such that it is hard for us to imagine and relive the experience in the Ghetto. For an alternative map, I believe adding in personal stories from those who have been or are closely related to the community would be important information that gives provides the community a voice. I would also add more cultural symbols and pictorial representations on the map such that the community can be reflected in a more complex way instead of applying a western standard in constructing a map.
Hi Spencer! I looked at the same project and I definitely agree with the things you said could be included in the map. I also thought it was true that the division of community life into various categories would inevitably cause certain daily events to be missed out. It would be interesting to view a map that is accompanied by more personal stories and information.
Hi Spencer! I appreciate how you walked us through the project. I do agree that the map is distant from the community in the Ghetto. I think it could improve by providing a virtual representation of the facilities in the Ghetto. People could gain a deeper understanding of how members of the community interact through the virtual representation.
I really like your analysis on the creator’s point of view based on the project’s categories. I agree that the project can become more successful if it adds more personal stories to not only give the community a voice, but also share their narratives with the world.