Title: Digital Public Humanities: Forts of Verdun
URL: https://maximiliansmith.com/mykitchen/exhibits/show/photographs
Audiences: The primary objective of this project is to reach as many users as possible, both those who are interested in, and have studied the First World War, as well as those who have never approached the subject at all. The key to achieving this lies in balancing a level of approachability and accessibility with well researched and nuanced historical information. With this project I am hoping to attract a wide array of users ranging from old to young, College professors and history students, high school students, Museum curators, project researchers, and amateur history enthusiasts, or simply future travelers looking to plan a trip to the Verdun area.
Description: The goal of creating a project that focuses on such a niche part of an often overlooked conflict such as the First World War is to ultimately bring to light how rapidly changing dominant military doctrines of a given era have dire consequences on human lives. It aims to inform the public of the role which the defensive fortifications of Verdun still played even in modern warfare, the methods that went into their construction, their symbolic importance, and how their existence shaped one of the bloodiest and longest battles of an even bloodier and longer war. The Battle of Verdun is a historical event which deserves the attention not only of historians, but of humanity in general. The now battered and weathered ring of fortresses which surround the city serve as a reminder to us just how important they really were, not only to the inhabitants of Verdun who depended on their protection, but also to the men who gave their lives within their walls. Although they are only buildings, many of which reduced to mounds of steel and concrete, I believe they are a vital source of connecting such a distant conflict to real human experiences, and in learning about their functions can help new generations understand the brutality of war.
Features: Within the allotted time frame I am hoping to gather as much data as possible without overburdening the user and providing them with too many choices. The front page of the site contains a description about the project goals, and what the user can expect when navigating through the various elements. On the right hand side is a list of some of the largest and most important Fortresses located around the city of Verdun, clicking on any of these will bring the user to a dedicated page with specific information about that site. On one side of these pages are images of the fort in question, with descriptions of each image beneath explaining what exactly the user is looking at. The other side contains a more general background history of the fortification including its role in the battle, location, significance, and noteworthy events which took place there. Clicking on any one of the images will bring the user to a page where they can view the citations for that picture as well as the relevant Dublin Core metadata fields, and clicking on it once more will make the image fullscreen to be examined closer. At the top of each page are tabs to access the individual items; I.e. pictures, as well as the. collections; I.e fortresses. There is also a search bar for users who already hav a specific location in mind which they might want more information on. The next part of building this site is to include an interactive map using software such as kelpler.gl which marks out the position of all the locations where this information can also be accessed, as well as possibly creating a moving frontline graphic to demonstrate the course of each army during the battle.
Elements: I want the tone of this project to reflect the somber nature of war itself, not to glamorize or romanticize it. As such, I have chosen a dark background theme for this project to highlight that fact. Historical discipline and thorough research is a key feature for my project, I believe it is our obligation as historians to get the information correct especially when it comes to sensitive topics such as war and death. All of the images used have been verified to fall within fair use laws or the public domain, including my own images taken when I visited the city in 2018. As such they can be re-shared by users in their own projects because I want to encourage the spread of information concerning the Battle of Verdun to as many people as possible. If I have time I will also add a comments section to my website where users can engage with each other about their own thoughts about the battle, or personal experiences of visiting these sites as well as stories of relatives who fought there.
Leave a Reply