For my midterm project I create a time line for Charles W. Cushman. After selecting some of my favorite photos from his collection, I created colorized versions and put them together on a time line. This was simply a process of looking through a few pages of Cushman’s collection and selecting my favorites. If you would like to see his full collection you can follow this link here. The time line is shown below!
I decided that a timeline would be ideal way to showcase Chushmans photos as his collection was created though a long career. The time line is able to display this dimension of time in a more interpretable way than printed dates would be able to accomplish. You are better able to see the relative distance between photos and the ordering of photos better.
Using TimelineJS ,this process was very simple. By formating all the meta data associated with the pictures into a spreadsheet, TimelineJS was able to create a interactive time line application. There were a few decisions I had to make such as styling and placements of information, but this was a quick process to complete using the provided spreadsheet.
I also included colorization as way to connect these distant photos to a more relatable and current context. Using DeOldify implemented in a prebuilt Google Colab script, I was able to upload and colorized some of Cushman’s collection. The combination of colorized photos and a timeline depiction creates a relevant and interpretable depiction of Cushman’s collection.
The only thing I wish I was able to do with TimelineJS is show images along side one another. Being able to see both the colorized and original photos at the same time would be beneficial to my interpretability goal. Unfortunately, TimelineJS only allows one photo per time line slide.
The last process of this project was to host the webpage online. Using the resources provided by Carleton this was very simple. I created a new subdomain for the midterm project and install WordPress software. Once this was complete the completion of the page was nearly identical to publishing a weekly blog post.
This project seeks to revitalize Cushman’s collection in a more present and user friendly way. Visualizing the collection on a time line along with colorized photos is a much more enjoyable experience than sifting through archive databases. As a by product, I believe this type of depiction promotes engagement with Cushman’s collection and provides information about the photos in a more digestable manor.
Moving forward, I would like to add more photos to the time line. Cushmans collection includes more than 2000 photos while the time line above only showcases 4 of his photos. If this were done for the entirety, or at least a larger amount of the collection, I believe it could be a great way to promote and show case Cushman’s work.