In commencing this digital humanities project, the primary purpose was to present one that binds politics and digital humanities. In trust with this challenging task, a vital question always presented itself: what is digital humanities? And what is politics? Though the purpose of this project was not to answer these questions, I needed to ground my foundation before finding a topic I wished to explore and create. I realized that defining digital humanities and politics is different from what I want to show it should be. Digital humanities and politics should provide accessible insight into what can be made from observing what is accessible and what is missing. Creating a project that collides with the best of both worlds can be educational or, at the very least, provide an opening gambit on a topic and take it further in the future.

Once this foundation was established, I had a myriad of topics to research and created a project from. Though that presented another challenge, I realized that through my facilitation of a class this semester on genocide and mass atrocities, I already had a basis for what I wanted to do for this project. Before going any further, I would like to acknowledge my professor, Shawna Brandle, for introducing me to TimelineJS by Knightlab, which allowed me to access a readily available tool and made this project possible. TimelineJS is an “open-source tool that enables anyone to build visually rich, interactive timelines. Beginners can create a timeline using nothing more than a Google spreadsheet.” With TimelineJS being my main focus, the issue arose about how I would incorporate my political topic on genocide.

The option to make a timeline is intriguing and challenging. The issue was that I needed to learn to use this new interface. Figuring out how to use TimelineJS was simple, as their website provides a “How to use” video and through trial and error when tinkering with Google Spreadsheets. The challenging part was what most researchers face when writing a paper or creating a project: what should be in this project? In this case, what should be included/excluded in this timeline for genocide? I did not solely want to focus on dates or key genocides throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. I tried to include things other sites or timelines needed, such as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Due to time constraints and this being my first project, I decided to focus online on the 20th and 21st centuries as my focal points and key events for this project. Though there are instances of genocide before the 20th century, that could be possibly explored in the future.

With a solid foundation, a chosen topic, and a tool for my project, the next hurdle was determining what else should populate this timeline beyond mere citations and years. Some sites offer comprehensive information, but one must navigate multiple sources, cross-referencing about three sites to gather data on dates, key moments, casualties, and genocides not commonly discussed in recent centuries. This data acquisition process necessitated using journal articles and reputable websites, adding another layer of complexity to the project.

Once all the sources had been obtained, deciding what information would be used for this timeline was crucial. Selecting the information was difficult; it required what was missing from other sources and what information users should see when accessing the timeline. For the timeline to have an impact, I thought it was necessary to include the location, number of casualties, who the victims were, and how many of them were displaced due to genocide. In reaching this part of the project, it was evident that before proceeding, I needed to get a legal definition of genocide. Thus, I went with the legal term (Law Insider) as stated in Article II of the Genocide Convention, “Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

1. Killing members of the group;
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”

Using this definition made it efficient to decide if the information I was inputting into the timeline met the requirement of genocide.

Once all the information was there, the selection process began by looking at all the past atrocities within the last two centuries and if they met this definition of genocide, along with acts of genocide and critical events such as the codifications and prosecutions needed to be documented on the timeline as well. Knowing about what happened after the genocide and if there were any legal ramifications and justice for these acts was vital for users to learn and have access to.

Making the timeline required taking all this information and compressing it to get to the main points for each act of genocide and key events in the last two centuries. The process involved using Google Spreadsheet to add the dates, selective information, the name of the genocide/event, and source links to this information for users to cite. There was a limitation on TimelineJS that only recommends 20 timeline slides to avoid any interface complications. Thus, once I reached 21 timelines (including the title page), I was forced to make sure that I didn’t forget any genocide and events that were essential in this project.

When all the information was inputted, the final steps in this project would require providing images, if available, for each genocide time. These also needed to be cited and had to be checked for accuracy. Though each timeline was limited to one image, each image needed to be impactful. Lastly, I wanted to create a CUNY Commons page and embed the timeline for easy access. However, this was the most time-consuming part of this project. I could not easily copy and paste my HTML code onto WordPress, and it became an ordeal that kept bugging my post to include my timeline project. With perseverance and excavating the CUNY Academic Commons WordPress site, I was able to locate the TimelineJS plugin and install it. It allowed me to link my Google Spreadsheet and create and embed the timeline onto the CUNYCommons page I made for this project. I just didn’t want to link this project and this white paper for a grade, as the intention was to make it publically accessible for those interested in understanding genocide and the design process of making this project. Thus, the CUNY Academic Commons for this project has public access, as shown in the link below.

This project serves as both a resource and a call to action. Genocide has been and continues to be an issue that our society and world still face. Many lives have been lost and displaced, and there has been no way to deter these acts completely. You can reach your conclusion through this project, but the end is nowhere in sight. There is no international police to call and arrest those responsible when these acts of genocide are being committed. A whole process occurs before justice is brought upon those who indiscriminately attempt to harm others.

Furthermore, my hopes for this project are also to educate and allow other users to access this timeline without the hassle of having to go to multiple sites (Rogers, 2018) to find all the information, citations, and links available on the timeline. In learning about genocide, it has impacted the lives of many. It has also allowed many researchers and academics to create digital humanities projects that have helped document all these events. I strongly encourage others to conduct their investigation and make their timelines, but about other methods, I may still need to include them on my timeline. For example, a timeline of narratives and failed genocide attempts. The culmination of other digital humanities projects working together can make a stronger case for making a change in our society. It all starts with just one project.

Link to Genocide Timeline Project

https://genocidepoldh.commons.gc.cuny.edu/

Works Cited

Genocide Definition: 185 Samples | Law Insider. https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/genocide

Rogers, J. (2018). Supporting Research, Public Engagement, and Learning through the Use of Archives in Digital Humanities. https://core.ac.uk/download/159312500.pdf

All citations and sources on acts of genocide are located on the Genocide Timeline to make them more accessible to users.