My final project, “Paws and Petticoats: A Digital Exploration of Victorian Pet Ownership in Britain,” investigates how pets became central figures within Victorian society, reflecting broader societal attitudes toward class, gender, domesticity, and the human-animal bond. The central argument of my project is that Victorian pet ownership was far more than a personal or aesthetic choice; it actively reflected and reinforced social values and distinctions, becoming a potent symbol of identity and class status. As the rest of the class and I finish our project, it is beneficial to reflect on the central questions that guided it.

Central questions guiding the project include: How did social classes view pet ownership? Did the type of pet or variety of pets differ between social classes? What constituted an aristocratic pet compared to a middle or working-class pet? How were these pets portrayed visually and textually in media?

Overall, I wanted to explore the impact and importance of pets in society during the Victorian period, the central era I study. Beyond this, I wanted to explore whether there were any deeper connections to the present, as pet ownership remains somewhat of a status symbol. Not to mention the pivotal role that pets still play in society today. This project is not a final assessment of Victorian pet ownership, and I envision it as a starting point for a much larger project that will facilitate connections between historians and everyday people alike. I am glad that I get to combine my passions of technology, pets, and history into another passion, sharing knowledge with the world.

The evaluation of this project will focus on user engagement metrics, including site visits, interaction levels, and audience feedback.  Additionally, assessing the project’s impact will involve analyzing audience comments and the depth of discussion generated, with a particular focus on how effectively the project conveys the interplay between pets and Victorian cultural and social values.  Not to mention, a rigorous social media campaign preceding the project’s release will assist in its promotion. Ultimately, the project’s success will hinge on its ability to illuminate historical trends in pet ownership and foster meaningful conversations about cultural continuity and change.

This week, I picked up my progress on my project. After receiving clarification about a few items, I continue building my exhibits with photographs and paintings. I had to make a few changes to my representations of pets in various classes, as I could not find many sources of lower-class individuals with their pets. After reflection, this makes sense of the time period that I am studying. I am still working on the various aspects of the project, such as the timeline, mapping, and data analysis. These are a bit more time-consuming parts, which have been my most significant challenge lately, finding the time to carve out to work on my project. I know that, moving forward, I will dedicate myself specifically to this project. Cohesively, another challenge that I see happening is further integrating my data into the website framework I have already created. The timeline process should be relatively easy, but the mapping will be a bit more complicated. Making the data for the visualization will also take some time, but not so much that I can not manage. As stated before, I will be diligent with dedicating all the small moments to work on my project.

I will continue to work on the various aspects I mentioned above. I plan on working more on the project this weekend and have a barebones idea of what the finished project will look like by next week, so that it can be peer reviewed. I am very optimistic and excited to continue working on my project. Moving forward, I need to be more intentional and thorough to progress and create a project that meets my standards.

So, since last week, I have been rather busy. I am presenting at my first conference on Saturday, April 5th, so I have been preparing for that. One of the most significant challenges I am facing currently is carving out the time to work on this project. I now know that I strategically need to carve out time each day to make progress on this project. I can even continue to find my sources before I go to sleep. I can see my primary sources, which will be one less step I need to accomplish. Finding as many lower-class sources as possible may be difficult compared to the other two classes, but I will try to see as many as possible. I can accomplish quite a bit if I dedicate more time and effort in the coming weeks.

That being said, I still have several things I need to do. First, I need to add all of my collected sources to my Omeka site and ensure they are placed in collections. Not to mention I need to compile the information that needs to go in each of the collections I have created. Beyond this, I need to figure out the coordinates that will be used to make my map and input them into Kepler.gl and integrate this into Omeka. I also need to choose the items I want in the timeline and place them there. Finally, I need to compile my data from the sources I will be using when I make my data visualization in Voyant to integrate these into my Omeka site as well. I have much to do in the coming days, but my passion for this project will see me through.

Living in a relatively rural community, I knew an organized app would not be an option. I decided to utilize Historypin to evaluate my community, Carbondale, Illinois. Starting out, I was already embraced by the number of photographs that had been entered. Beyond just photographs, there are also forms of media, specifically audio, that pertain. One of the most remarkable features I enjoyed was the virtual tour of different areas. I was very interested in the collection created by the university I attend, which acts as a virtual tour of the campus through photographs. I could see some of the oldest buildings still standing on campus and various buildings that have since disappeared. One in particular, Old Main, was a building at the center of campus that has long lived in infamy on campus as it was set on fire by an arsonist during anti-Vietnam protests in the 1970s. Another beneficial feature was the timeline feature that lets you choose a specific year and see what that year entails. Beyond this, using Google Street View, which enables you to drop yourself into the current landscape, is beneficial. Theme collections that anyone can create also add various levels of contributions from throughout the community. Finally, many photographs contain metadata that allows historians and others to understand the picture far better.

Historypin utilizes many historical theories, but the most prominent is the bottom-up approach. Rather than having those on the upper levels of society contributing, Historypin allows everyday people and anyone to contribute to the project to help share their story. It also accounts for place-based storytelling that enables the user to see precisely the history as it was and how it looks now. Using a place to tell the story allows for deeper connections and experiences. Finally, the concept of public history that this project highlights allows personal memory and community collaboration to tell a story to everyone, and history that affects everyone.