Week 2: June 2nd- June 6th

A photo from the cohort's trip to the McCain Archives on 6/04/25

This week I learned…

• During the lecture this week about A.I., Zain did a good job explaining the complexities of the field and how it can be a useful tool. However, the main thing I learned was how to express my dislike for A.I because prior to this lecture I was not a supporter of AI, but I could not describe why. Although this is a personal conclusion, it offered me the opportunity to think about the lack of regulations around the technology which is what creates the serious problems.

• One of the major things I learned this week what was digital humanities really is. To use Professors La Beaud’s definition its answering humanities questions and problems using the STEM. There is a large array of reasons that this important but mostly because the physical world of humanities does not learn to adapt to work with technology there is an increased likelihood of the fields becoming obsolete. Something that we cannot afford to happen in the educational world.

• This week we began to also talk about how to construct scientific reports and papers. Although I have done this in the STEM field, I have yet to do this within the historical context. A major difference is that of the methodology section because unlike the STEM world, the methodology utilizes different processes within historical research.

My accomplishments were…

• My main accomplishments this week came in the form of picking my topic for this summers research topic. Although I consider myself a good researcher/student, I have always struggled with picking a topic and formulating the topic I would be interested in. However, when sorting through letters something finally stuck out to me, the lack of success in the CSA conscription due to the institution of slavery, which is what I have decided to research.

• In addition to picking my topic, most of my work this week was spent searching through the countless letters on the website to find the topic. This itself was an accomplishment, in addition to sorting through them, I also was able to figure out my best methods for organizing and searching for them.

• My final major accomplishment for this week was realizing that I remember more GIS and specifically QGIS then I had priorly thought, so much so that I was able to help a peer do one thing. I am looking forward to being able to use the software more!

My Challenges were…

• The biggest challenge that I faced this week was simply picking a topic for my project. Due to the large amount of information that was given to us, I found myself often jumping between thoughts instead of actually picking one topic focusing and researching it even preliminary.

• In tandem with my last struggle, I was having trouble focusing on just picking a topic and not picking an entire project. I kept finding myself thinking about the GIS component and the capability for mapping of the topic before even doing research or thinking about it. Dr. Stan repeatedly stated that nearly anything can be mapped but I was a non-believer.

• During the GIS lesson on Friday, entered with a fair amount of confidence because I had used the software before. However, my program quickly decided to switch to Chinese, have a blank attribute table, and stretch my map out of reality.

Next Steps:

• When looking forward my steps are choosing and formalizing a list of the letters I would like to use for my research. I am the type of researcher that I like to gather sources to use on the front end and then fill in as I work. Due to this personal process, I am also beginning to look for secondary sources for my topic and begin to strengthen my research question and argument.

Working Research Questions:

• To what extent did the institution of slavery lead to the downfall of the Confederates of America’s military effort?

  • When thinking about this topic/question, I am planning on using the letters requesting exemption from the CSA draft due to the “need” of watching over their plantations/enslaved peoples. In addition to the many letters, I am also planning on using the twenty Slave Law Act to show the growth of internal divide of the CSA and how this leads low-income white families resentment against the wealthy white families.