Michael High ’23 — I’d like to thank the generous donors for making possible the incredible internship I was able to experience this summer. I worked as a research intern for the French Department at Wabash College under Dr. Karen Quandt, on a digital humanities research project in French environmental literature. I also want to thank Wabash College and especially Dr. Quandt for the chance to grow and develop my skillset through this virtual opportunity.
The work for this digital humanities project was focused in mainly two areas; the research on French environmental literature, and the development of a website which would display the literature and research. The large majority of research on environmental literature has been devoted to North American writings, which is hardly surprising considering the large environmentalist movements in North America. Because of this, environmental literature from other areas and cultures can often be overlooked. The aim our project is to bring French environmental literature into focus, in a meaningful and efficient manner. A website offers a user more tools to explore the literature and find a deeper understanding.
The web development section focused on learning HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), and JavaScript. I also investigated other technologies like React, Bootstrap, and several Google plug-ins, including the Google My Maps feature which allowed for vague areas as well as specific locations related to the authors or the literature to be displayed in a user-friendly manner. Version control was handled with GitHub and the website will be hosted with Google Firebase.
