What’s a Network? How “to Database”? Lab Meeting Sept 28, 2017

The Traveler’s Lab met on Wesleyan Campus, September 28 2017 to welcome our new student members, and begin working on defining and transmitting one of the core skill sets we employ: turning a variety of historical sources into databases that represent networks of travel and communication.

Prof. Pavel Oleinikov gave us a presentation entitled “Networks in History,” on the history and theory behind use of network analysis for historical research questions.

Traveler’s Lab students Elizaveta Kravchenko (’19), Brendan McGlone (’18) and Ilana Newman (’18) then gave us working examples of how they have and are turning historical sources into spreadsheets of data.

We were joined by Prof. Christine Axen (Fordam University), in person, and virtually (via Google Hangouts) by a half dozen students of Prof. Kathryn Jasper from Illinois State University.
Prof. Jasper and her students are exploring starting either a satellite of, or their own version of the Traveler’s Lab.

Meeting in action: