Abstract
In this project, I want to show the connection between common topics in Braiding Sweetgrass that are perceived as existing entirely unattached from one another; plants as organisms, botany as a science, Native language, and Native spiritual beliefs. These four themes would be represented by common plant names, Latin/scientific plant names, Native language words, and names of Native folklore characters. I would do this through a Network Visualization project, making a website showcasing every common plant name, Latin/scientific plant name, words in any Native language, and all the names of Native folklore characters that are mentioned in Braiding Sweetgrass. When a user hovers their mouse over one of the words/names on the site, a small description and image of the word/name would pop up, and dotted lines would grow from that word, leading to all the other words in other categories that are in the same essay as the chosen word. If a word is clicked, the user is brought to another page with a more detailed description of the word and stories that relate to that word from interviewed individuals. These four word groups would be floating in a digital 3D space, so the user could click and drag to navigate around to different word groups, exploring where each line leads. Additionally, scrolling up or down with the mouse wheel would zoom in/out on whatever the mouse is hovering over.
The significance of this project is to show that there are shared experiences between the very different cultural realms that Kimmerer is a part of. I want to show that scientists, Native peoples, plant lovers, and any other everyday American citizen actually don’t have to be held at arm’s length from one another just because their knowledge or beliefs might be different. With this in mind, my final audience is intended to be anyone who identifies with any of the groups I just mentioned.
Methods
This project would need computers, an array sorting program to run each essay through to find the words that fit each category, a website-building platform, and a digital form of Braiding Sweetgrass.
Relevant digital humanities processes that would apply to this process include transcription, database building, text mining, data sorting & inputting metadata.
I know that these processes and tools are needed because my prospective team and I would need computer programs to do the data picking and sorting for us for time’s sake, a platform to host the finished website, and devices to complete all this work on (computers).
Team & Timeline
Expertise needed would be a skilled Java coder (I know Java is a good option for array sorting to pick out words in each essay), someone in expertise in website building, someone with data sorting skills (maybe in excel, maybe in a different spreadsheet platform), and possibly someone who understands portions of the Indigenous languages that Kimmerer includes (this could aid the site’s pop up descriptions/definitions that appear when a user hovers over a word in a Native language).
These team members could be aided by “communication groups”. These groups would be a network of individuals from different backgrounds to share their personal stories and help educate others. I would research and reach out to people to form this network so my team members could communicate with individuals with personal experiences to share, possibly organizing interviews. This could help add more information to the site’s Indigenous cultural aspects or add anecdotes about botany as a profession to the plant-based word groups.
Project steps:
- Acquire access to a digital copy of Braiding Sweetgrass, or contact the company that owns the copyright for Braiding Sweetgrass for access to Kimmerer’s book.
- Interview “communication groups” for stories to add to words that stand out to the individual. These stories are for the words’ separate pages.
- Run the entirety of Braiding Sweetgrass, essay by essay, through a computer/array sorter that can pick out the words of each category (common plant names, scientific plant names, Native language words, and Native folklore characters) & make a spreadsheet to sort all words into their categories, making sure to note which essay they belong to, and organizing all data to attach the categorized words from each essay to one another.
- Create some kind of word-linking program that makes sure that every word hovered over creates lines that show connection to the other terms across all categories
- Make a website that hosts this program and showcases it in a visually appealing way!
I qualify to lead this project because I have grown up with Native American stories and folklore, and I want to show the world how everyday life is connected to the Indigenous stories I love.
Project Sketch
