Month: September 2018

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A Little Bit About Me (Lynsay)

Hello! My name is Lynsay O’Hara and I am currently in my fourth year at Carleton University, and I am majoring in History with a minor in Archaeology. I am from the Ottawa area, however I lived in Rome, Italy for three years due to my parents being in the Canadian Armed Forces. It was living in Rome where my love of history began; first with ancient history and then I began to discover Medieval history, which I can now safely say is my favourite (though any history will pique my interest). Though Medieval history has stolen my heart, ancient Egypt will always hold a special place as it is what first grabbed my attention into the wonderful world of history. The beautiful images on tombs and towering statues of Rameses II are originally what grabbed my attention, and then books (fiction and non-fiction) continued my interest in ancient Egypt, which led to Cleopatra and then to ancient Rome, which inveterately led to the Renaissance. Once I started researching the Renaissance, I wanted to know how these people lived before their ‘rebirth’, and so began my thirst for knowledge on all things Medieval.

My interests (other than studying history) include mostly reading about, you guessed it, history. I mostly enjoy historical fiction, however I dabble in fiction and YA (Young Adult). My favourite novels are the Outlander novels by Diana Gabaldon- I highly recommend these books, however if you do not enjoy reading books that contain 900+ pages then they are not for you. My absolute favourite novel however, is Nefertiti by Michelle Moran. I also like to write in my spare time- mostly fiction at this point, however it is a dream of mine to publish a book one day, whether it be a fiction one or an academic novel discussing the lives of Medieval women (Merovingian queens, to be more exact). On this note, I am also hoping to begin my Masters’ next year, which ideally will focus on Medieval Studies.

I absolutely cannot wait to begin diving into the digital history world! This will be my first class in digital history, so it definitely will be interesting. The manuscript I have chosen is stunning and I am very much looking forward to studying it further and revealing its Medieval secrets! My progress on this can be found/followed on my twitter account (or if you just want to enjoy some Medieval memes that’s cool too).

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Blogobiography, or ‘Why you should never try to coin terms’ (Nick’s bio)

Hi, my name is Nicholas Leckey (LeH-Kee), but I do prefer ‘Nick’.

Fourth-year History student, with double minor in GRS & Archaeology, and I’m a big fan of maps & people in landscapes.  Born and bred here in Ottawa, I’ve taken a more recent shine to local heritage and for solving unexplained historical anecdotes (however mundane they might turn out to be at times).  I have a loving wife ( I can say that now!) that inspires and challenges me (along with putting up with my incessant historical ramblings), and a furry baby named Leelou that knows full well when it’s time to eat, cuddle, or play.

My interests are broad, with a healthy dose of geekery thrown in: video games, guitar, outdoors camping/hiking, tabletop games with friends, gardening (although difficult in an apartment), and a host of pop culture in various forms.  As a random sidenote, I also have an affinity for Japanese history & culture, along with a spotted grasp of their spoken language.  While French is my first language, it’s been less practical at Carleton beyond the odd opportunity.

The manuscripts look amazing as always, and I can’t wait to figure out what some of them sound like!  Musical sheets!  Admittedly, I decided to take this class because 1) Marc was teaching it, and 2) I would like to go beyond my hereto self-taught grasp of the Digital Humanities.  I honestly believe the historical field (and much of Arts &Soc.Sc. as a whole) could benefit from some of these technological aids & tools, however difficult the learning curve may be… even for me.

My insofar conceptual graduate work will revolve around designing some kind of mobile-friendly historical database (or maybe open-sourced architecture, if I’m adventurous enough) that will help bridge (some of) the gap between Historical/Humanities research & the general public (likewise engaging both groups, in cooperation with one another).  I’m still working on it…but the key is somewhere literally in the hands of the curious public.

 

See you in class!

 

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About Elliott

Hi everybody! My name is Elliott and I’m part of the Digitizing Medieval Manuscripts course at Carleton. I’m a fourth-year student working on a Bachelor’s Degree in Ancient Greek and Roman Studies, with special interest in digital and public history and museum studies. Some specific research interests include queer history (especially in smaller, less recorded areas), the Minoan culture on Bronze Age Crete, and the history of European folklore.

My interest in open-source, accessible scholarship and public history is what led me to take this course; I’m hoping to learn more about the physical process of digitization and its advantages and drawbacks. Through my work as a librarian, I’ve run into some of the practical issues around rights and copyright concerning digitization and copying, but with ancient manuscripts, the issues are very different, and I look forward to cataloguing folio pages along with my fellow students.

My hobbies outside of class include semi-professional creative writing (including updating a webnovel over WordPress), organizing and cataloguing the library at the Carleton Gender and Sexuality Resource, and reviewing novels.

My twitter can be found at @elliottdunstan, and all class-related work will be tagged #HIST4006 and #CUDigitalia (to filter it out from non-class related tweets).

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About Liv

Hi, I’m Liv, short for Olivia, either is fine 🙂

I’m in my fourth year at Carleton in history. This year, I am (slowly) learning digital history skills by working with my classmates on digitizing Late Medieval folio pages and learning the mystical and incomprehensible(!!) arts involved in digital codicology. We will be digitizing and cataloguing medieval folio pages, and finding out as much as we can. You can follow our progress on our Twitter Page. My other academic interests usually include medieval women (monastic! aristocratic! noble! regular!), medieval Christianity and monasticism, disability studies, and sexuality and gender. This year I am working on an Honours research project, which will be a year long endeavour into late medieval convents, considering what images they were exposed to and how the cloister impacted the lives of the nuns living there.

I like really like living in Ottawa and the History Department at Carleton. I moved from Kitchener three years ago and sometimes miss my family + pet, but I love my new frie-amily, roommates,  and my step-cat, Kip. I watch a lot of tv shows, but like to watch the same 50 movies over and over again (my favourite is the Princess Bride).


Kip is our house cat and protector against mice and spiders (the bIG kind)

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Emily From HIST 4006

Hello fellow manuscript enthusiasts!

I am Emily and I will be helping to unlock the mysteries of one of our manuscripts over the next several months. I am in my fourth year of an undergraduate combined major of history and classics with a minor in philosophy.  My research interests cover a large array of topics. If I were to try to narrow it down to a handful of key points of interest, I would have to say the conscription debates in Canada during World War One, ancient Greek pottery, and stoicism are three areas of research I thoroughly enjoy. As you can tell, these subjects are all vastly different from one another.  In an ideal world, I wish to pursue a masters degree in public history or library and archival studies.

You may be wondering why I am taking a course on medieval manuscripts when it differs quite substantially from each of my research interests. I enjoy learning new things while challenging myself, and saw this course as the perfect opportunity to do so. I look forward to developing an understanding of part of the medieval world through my manuscript as well as opening it up to a larger public that otherwise would not have access to it. I have extremely limited knowledge on anything to do with computers and the internet. This concerns me, but I hope to develop my tech skills as we progress through this class. I have made my first social media account for this class and you can follow my twitter @emilyguigue if you wish to see me struggle to make sense of ‘tweeting’.

As for course material, I look forward to deciphering and decoding my manuscript while broadening my understanding of useful online tools and programs that can greatly aid historians.

All the best,

EJG