Working as a Digital Humanities Associate — collaborating with the DH team, faculty, and students — was a genuinely enlightening experience that deepened my understanding of how digital tools can transform humanistic inquiry. My introduction to the field came through “Hacking the Humanities,” taught by Professor Austin Mason during my freshman winter, which grounded me in both theoretical frameworks and interdisciplinary practice. The DHA role extended that foundation, connecting me to meaningful projects across campus and sharpening my interest in academic civic engagement.
Mapping Japan Project
The highlight of this academic year was my continued work on the Mapping Japan Project. Since my freshman year, I have served as a Research Assistant for Professor Asuka Sango, analyzing and indexing Japanese military maps from World War II held at the Gould Library. The index draws primarily from Tohoku University’s cataloging system, with an emphasis on accessibility and utility for Japanese researchers. As a DHA, I was able to approach the same project from a new angle — researching metadata frameworks used by institutions in both Japan and the United States, and evaluating how they might be integrated or prioritized. I applied these insights to Carleton’s Digital Collections platform, working closely with Katie Lewis, Hsianghui Liu-Spencer, and Wei-Hsin Fu. A particular highlight was implementing IIIF annotation functionality within the Omeka S site, a feature directly inspired by my final project in “Hacking the Humanities.”
Indigenous History Initiatives
I also contributed to digital projects supporting Professor Meredith McCoy’s work on Indigenous history, which incorporates StoryMaps and interactive timelines as part of the Indigenous Engagement in Place initiative. This work resonated with me deeply, as it centers underrepresented histories and demonstrates how digital tools can serve as a vehicle for recovery and visibility, making marginalized narratives more accessible and compelling to broader audiences.
Undergraduate Journal of Humanistic Studies
Additionally, I supported the Undergraduate Journal of Humanistic Studies by working on LaTeX formatting, contributing to conversations around publication design and the presentation of scholarly work.
Across all three projects, a common thread emerged: my commitment to academic civic engagement and the democratization of humanistic knowledge. Scholarly research in the humanities has long been confined to traditional academic formats, but I am genuinely interested in how digital tools can make that research more intuitive, interactive, and accessible to general audiences. As I move forward with my Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship and my senior comprehensive project in Political Science and Anthropology, I hope to draw what I have learned as a DHA, using digital tools not just as a means of presentation, but as a mode of thinking and communicating ideas more fully and effectively!
Acknowledgments
I am deeply grateful to everyone who made this experience so meaningful. Special thanks to Sarah Calhoun, Wiebke Kuhn, Austin Mason, and Em Palencia for their mentorship, guidance, and unwavering support throughout the year. Special thanks to Aiden Johnson and Zhuokai Yuan for their collaboration, creativity, and camaraderie as fellow DHAs.
