Hello, hello to the wonderful, wild world of the Internet. My name is Anna and I am currently serving as one of the “Silk Worms” for our Digital Silk Road project this semester. I am supervising the “Tongue” group, composed of Billie, Christopher, Zachary, and Delaney. For their project, the Tongue group will be tracing the elements of a contemporary meal from Kashgar back as far as they can in hopes to discover where the parts of this meal originated and what significance those parts hold. Each team member will be taking a certain collection of items or topics within the meal (bread, meat, tea, cooking utensils, folklore surrounding food, etc) and together, create an interactive narrative in the form of a Story Map.
I am extremely happy with how this topic has formed so far and am excited to see how it develops in the future. I think all of the groups had a bit of trouble nailing down their topic before the proposal and we were no exception. Our original interests, while related, were not an approachable topic on their own; interests ranged from language diffusion to Middle Eastern culture, from the rise and fall of empires to the spread of food with culture. Most had something to do with culture and something to do with movement, but that was where the concrete similarities ended. This being said, the first two days of brainstorming were stressful for me. As a group advisor, I did not want to influence their decisions more than I had to. Since I am supervising research rather than actually conducting it, I wanted to make sure that they all got what they wanted out of the topic, but could easily see that the agreements that we were coming to were too broad. There was a miscommunication about an interest in spices, which was never really a consideration for our group. I definitely felt a bit frazzled leaving for that weekend because I knew what the problem was, but I was not sure of my role in fixing it. I knew that it needed to be more focused, but I knew that they were the ones that needed to drive that revision. I was glad to see that by Tuesday, it seemed that the problem had been resolved, a topic was agreed upon, and all was smooth sailing from there.
My biggest anxiety at the current moment is how my role in this process will play out. I do know that I will have a heightened responsibility as we get closer to going live with our website, but at the moment, I do not feel very needed by my group. Perhaps that is simply a good sign. I’m thrilled to be working with a team wherein each team member seems equally engaged, enthusiastic, and committed to both the process and the final project. All four are very competent students. I wonder how I can actually be of help to them, though I am trying to not show my anxieties so I can maintain my place as a role model for this group. It is hard to gauge my performance since I think that I haven’t been of much service thus far. I think that my group has done a great job and that my role will come into play more as we move forward in the process.
One of my biggest struggles in both my personal and my academic/work lives has been the ability to go with the flow. I like to have plans and execute things according to their plan. Throughout my college career, I have taken larger and larger steps in learning to revise, rethink, and learn as I go and I think that this project is by far the biggest. As an Orientation Team Leader, I had a lot of moments when I was revising plans while leading a team of students and I learned to thrive in that environment, despite some discomfort. This project relies so heavily on a “learn-as-you-go” mentality, which is part of what makes this project so cool, but also what makes it challenging for me. It is difficult for me to not have an exact model or rubric to be trying to match. The goal right now is very vague, which makes this an incredible research opportunity, but in some ways a nerve-wracking time to be leading others. The way that I am coping with that is through the wonderful team I have supporting me in this process as well. I think my favorite thing about this entire process is how team-oriented it is. Yes, I am supervising a team of four researchers, but I am also part of a team of four “Silk Worms” (teaching assistants). Beyond that, we work with a team of two professors and even beyond that we work with a team of technology specialists and professionals from other areas of Guilford College. I revel in the opportunity to be a member of such an amazing, intricate team and I think that as we go, we will all learn together and find a way to pull this off.
Beyond the anxieties I have about supervising a team, I know that there are areas where I can be of great help if they need it. My writing skills are well established and I am a thoughtful proofreader. I am comfortable working in a research environment. I am good at managing many sources and citations. I can help with time management skills and planning. As a supervisor of this project, my goal is to let my team members thrive in whatever areas are most compelling to them. I want them to find their passions and execute them to the best of their abilities. Where I believe I want to step in is where they struggle so that this project remains centered on them. They’re the stars and the center of this project and I want their interest and abilities to be the main focus. I see myself as a facilitator for this project and want to help them create the best project they can.
I am really excited to be contributing to this academic revolution that is coming to be Digital Humanities. I have sympathized with Eric’s explanation of the need for a “non-disciplinary” academic system, rather than a categorized list of subjects. I also have seen the damaging effects of the divide between subject, teacher, and student. Digital humanities provides a new way for all these areas to interact—the subject is now the teacher, the student is now the teacher, and the product creates a space where anyone online can now become the student. It is an incredible way of changing education and of breaking down walls. I am proud to be a part of this process and maybe in 50 years, I’ll be looking at a totally different system and I’ll be saying, “I remember back in my day when a History class wasn’t the same as a Religious Studies class and all we did was read one textbook and listen to one person teach and we never looked beyond that. We were so silly to think that way.”