{"id":275,"date":"2016-09-12T21:33:23","date_gmt":"2016-09-13T01:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev-the-digital-silk-road.pantheonsite.io\/?p=275"},"modified":"2016-09-12T21:33:23","modified_gmt":"2016-09-13T01:33:23","slug":"inside-the-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ds.guilford.edu\/projects\/silkroad\/silkworms\/inside-the-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><strong>The Heart&#8230;<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>I am [the head of] the Heart. Puns aside, this simply means that I am the Project Manager of the Heart Team.\u00a0 Thus far, my role has led me to take a bit of a backseat in developing our research topic. My work instead is mainly advisory. I\u2019ve facilitated the team as they\u2019ve delegated their own roles, developed a timeline for their work and a topic proposal. I sit back and try to visualize their ideas as a digital project\u2014that is, I try to determine if there is enough information on the subject matter, if the topic needs to be narrowed down, if there is a narrative, if it\u2019s in our technical means, etc. If I can\u2019t see it, then something needs to be modified.\u00a0\u00a0 Funny as it may sound, this vantage point isn\u2019t easy for me\u2014if anything, I\u2019m a bit of a backseat driver.<br \/>\nPerhaps this wouldn\u2019t be the case if our project weren\u2019t so darn cool! The Heart Team has proposed to observe the ways in which religion, ritual, and music interact in the Mongolian Steppe. Our hope is that we can trace how the diffusion of musical traditions relate to these practices. If we are able to find that there is a relationship, we are going to follow an instrument that has played a significant role in a tradition across time and space\u2014such as the horsehead fiddle.<br \/>\nBelow is a video that explains a little bit about the horsehead fiddle:<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/raBDszLaLjs\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nAn instrument such as the horsehead fiddle, provides insight and narrative about tradition and culture. It not only provides a narrative, but it raises questions about how the Steppe culture has been influenced by music and how music has been influenced by the Steppe culture. For instance, the Steppe are deeply tied to horses\u2014and the horsehead fiddle not only emulates a horse, but is made up of horse parts.\u00a0 Is there any relevance to this notion? We seek to tell a story that approaches this question.<br \/>\nWhat I am most concerned with is narrowing our topic down. Our tactic in choosing a topic was for every person in the group to state where their interests lie. We then took this cumulative list and worked to find a topic that could encapsulate it all. <em>Ritual <\/em>is an extremely broad subject. Can we really capture it all?<br \/>\nI trust the team. Partially why I have not put the brakes on our brainstorming is because I believe that if there is a way to do this, my team will figure it out. We won&#8217;t know how it all connects until our research is done\u2014then we can be selective.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>The Team\u2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Team roles include a timekeeper, a reporter, a recorder, and a facilitator. All roles have been well matched with a team member. \u00a0Our process of delegation came pretty naturally. Right off the bat, Nathan helped to facilitate the group. Not all the roles were as clear though; every person seems just as equipped to take on any of the roles. So, more out of default we assigned Emily to be the reporter, Jilly as the recorder, and Emma as the timekeeper. So long as each person stays engaged with their position I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll run into any problems.<br \/>\nOn top of their team roles, they all have their individual research to do. Emma is specifically looking at the ways in which diffusion has influenced musical instruments along the Silk Road. Emily is researching musical movements and the ways they have influenced the performative qualities of Shamanism. Nathan is interested in religious ritual as well, but with a specific focus on music\u2019s role in medicine and healing.\u00a0\u00a0 Jilly is observing the ways in which place, religion and politics have influenced traditions of dance and music.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>Research Methods\u2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>I need to stress finding common ground. Of course, there is some overlap in subject matter, but I think we also have to shape our ideas to compliment one another. Thus far, the common thread seems to be <em>the<\/em> <em>horse<\/em>. Perhaps I will suggest that in these next two weeks we start focusing our research on the horse and allow this information to determine our personal topics.<br \/>\nI am afraid that having such a broad topic will lead our members to stray far apart, causing our collective body of work to not be cohesive. Because of this, having regular meetings will be very important. Perhaps, we should also have work-sessions in which we allot time with the group to do our own personal research.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>How\u2019m I Doin\u2019\u2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Enough about my team\u2014what about me? When I first started working on the Digital Silk Road Project, my role was a lot different than what it is now. Essentially, I was doing what my team members are in the midst of\u2014deciphering my passions and matching them to a time and place along the Silk Road. I chose photography as my passion and devised a plan to explore the ways in which photography is used and exploited, and how it reflects culture along the Silk Road. This project has been left incomplete. When I chose to be a part of the Heart, I had a secret wish that we would focus on photography. Immediately it was made clear that the team\u2019s interests are elsewhere. We decided on music not because any of us are super passionate about music, but because music has a wide enough scope to incorporate our other interests.<br \/>\nIn a way, to create this project everyone has had to make a compromise. At first when I realized that my team was interested in music and not visual arts, I felt panicked. How can I be expected to work hard on something if I don\u2019t care for the subject matter? This is what I&#8217;ve concluded: Digital Humanities calls on us to work as a team\u2014it doesn\u2019t necessarily matter what the subject matter is because our personal role is what defines the project. So, what I need to figure out is what my personal skills are and what I have to offer to my team. I believe that my background in visual arts will be essential in making a tangible product. In which case, I am not making a compromise; instead I\u2019m expanding upon my knowledge and skill base.<br \/>\nSo in other words, to evaluate myself, I am thinking of myself as less of a backseat driver and more as someone who has something important to offer. Just like my team though, I need to do my own personal work\u2014I need to work with Tierney and utilize other resources at Guilford to gain proficiency and confidence in digital media and databases. Like the rest of my team members, I have to stay connected and keep bouncing ideas off of the group to ensure that their vision is coming true.<br \/>\nTo answer the question, I think I am doing well. I am in active communication with the team while being set slightly apart. I\u2019m available for questions and concerns, but also serve as a critic for the ideas that come forth. In the breadth of the whole project, I feel strong in my position. I am a student, a Silk Worm, and a junction between my peers and the amazing resources and people we have available to us.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Just for funsies (and because I&#8217;m kind of obsessed with photography), I&#8217;ve also included a <a href=\"http:\/\/en.threeshadows.cn\/index.html\">link<\/a> to the first art space in China\u00a0 dedicated exclusively to photography and video art, the Three Shadows Photography Art Center.<br \/>\nHere is the work of and a link to the artists RongRong and inri, who founded Three Shadows:<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.blindspotgallery.com\/en\/artists\/artists-18\/rongronginri\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-282 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ds.guilford.edu\/projects\/silkroad\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/InBadGoisern.Austria.2001.No_.1-3Web.jpg\" alt=\"inbadgoisern-austria-2001-no-1-3web\" width=\"2740\" height=\"530\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ds.guilford.edu\/projects\/silkroad\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/InBadGoisern.Austria.2001.No_.1-3Web.jpg 2740w, https:\/\/ds.guilford.edu\/projects\/silkroad\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/InBadGoisern.Austria.2001.No_.1-3Web-300x58.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ds.guilford.edu\/projects\/silkroad\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/InBadGoisern.Austria.2001.No_.1-3Web-768x149.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ds.guilford.edu\/projects\/silkroad\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/InBadGoisern.Austria.2001.No_.1-3Web-1024x198.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2740px) 100vw, 2740px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Heart&#8230; I am [the head of] the Heart. Puns aside, this simply means that I am the Project Manager of the Heart Team.\u00a0 Thus far, my role has led me to take a bit of a backseat in developing our research topic. My work instead is mainly advisory. I\u2019ve facilitated the team as they\u2019ve &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/ds.guilford.edu\/projects\/silkroad\/silkworms\/inside-the-heart\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Inside the Heart<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-silkworms","category-team-heart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ds.guilford.edu\/projects\/silkroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ds.guilford.edu\/projects\/silkroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ds.guilford.edu\/projects\/silkroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ds.guilford.edu\/projects\/silkroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ds.guilford.edu\/projects\/silkroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ds.guilford.edu\/projects\/silkroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ds.guilford.edu\/projects\/silkroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ds.guilford.edu\/projects\/silkroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ds.guilford.edu\/projects\/silkroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}