My First Experience of Github
Stepping into the unknown world of Github was thrilling but puzzling, simultaneously. I have not been familiar with the knowledge related to computer programming and coding, which made me nervous to explore the world of Github. Contrary to my first impression, Github interface is approachable to the beginners, like me, if following the instructions carefully. I really enjoyed exploring the Github interface, and Github desktop program and Atom were easy tools, as well. I hoped that I could become accustomed to and familiar with the whole process soon.
However, a small error happened while working with Github: what I created and edited was not displayed on my website, which made me wait and wait anxiously throughout whole night. Eventually, I had to delete my repository and re-start the whole process from the scratch, and that was the beginning point where the small issue with Github became a never-ending one that frustrated me for several days. I searched for information regarding the issue(s) similar to mine but it was not found easily. Tried several times more, I finally understood how to deal with my issue.
What I need to do is become familiar with the coding skills to personalize my website. Now I am searching for various tutorials and watching YouTube videos in order to get accustomed to the knowledge regarding to coding programing. It is still unfamiliar to me, but I hope I could enjoy all the work soon.
My Goals for this Semester
My primary goal for this course is to become accustomed to and familiar with the knowledge and skills I am working with and DH research methods. At the field of academy where my academic interests lie, Early Modern literature studies, Digital Humanities research approaches are common. Last semester, I could experience the fascinating world of Book History research through various online resources, especially EEBO (Early English Books Online), which I had not have accessed to when I was in Korea due to the limited information about DH research to the students and school’s cutting off subscribing EEBO. I am sure that gaining the skills related to DH research would expand my insights and potentialities of my current and future research and it would be a precious academic asset and appealing advantage for me in job market.
I would like to know the methods and approaches of DH research in my academic field and how they have been developed; and consider any alternative or new methods and approaches of DH research that could be deployed in my academic research. Also, if possible, I would like to launch my own DH research project, collecting data about women’s writings in Early modern period that have not known nor studied yet; organizing the data set with those data which could be accessible to general audience in the future. From my experience of being excluded from DH research as a not-yet-academic researcher, I realized the importance of introducing DH research methods and approaches to non-academic audience through which the interest in the fields of Humanities studies would increase and any opportunities for the fields of Humanities to be regarded to be still worth researching even in IT era.
I also want to consider how DH research could be employed in classes. As a future academic researcher and teacher, my interest always lies in how I could teach better. It would be more convenient for me to follow the traditional methods with whiteboard and pen; but I am sure that using more latest skills, not only the latest topics or issues of literature, would be one of the effective ways to encourage students who are more familiar with high techs to participate in the classes. I might introduce various interesting topics or research methods of literary texts with the knowledge and skills of DH research.